Sunny and Mild

Family wheels

Symi isn't really biking country, being very steep and with few roads, but in recent years we have noticed that the children living in the harbour are increasingly using bicycles to get around and to play with their friends.  Perhaps this enthusiasm will extend into adolescence and adulthood and we will see fewer motorcycles and scooters on the island.

Keeping out the storm surge.  It is not uncommon for the harbour to flood in the winter, particularly if a barometric low coincides with a spring tide.  This shopkeeper is taking no chances.

Chatanooga choo - choo! We seem to be back to the original Noddy train, complete with Tschu Tschu printed on the front as it came from Germany.  The one emblazoned with Rodos Casino advertising has, presumably, gone back to Rhodes where the advertising hoardings are more appropriate.

Homing in on the cheese man.  

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation window this morning. As you can see the harbour is pretty much deserted now.  The main activity is over at the other end of the island, at Panormitis monastery, as preparations hot up for the big festival on Wednesday.

Good bye, sun beds!  On a clear sunny day, however, it is warm enough to swim in the sheltered beaches of Pedi.

Pedi bay.

It doesn't really get clearer than that, does it?

The tamarisk trees in Pedi have all had their winter hair cut.  Pollarding the trees lets more light into the houses and also reduces wind damage.

After a Saturday of solid rain the sun came out on Sunday and it has been beautiful weather ever since.  It looks as though it will remain sunny and mild for the rest of the week, with the next expected band of rain to only reach us on Sunday.  When we checked our rainwater gauge on Sunday morning, we had logged 60 millimetres of rain since the rainy season began.  Not a bad start!  Temperatures are in the low twenties now, falling to around 16 degrees at night.  Some people have started using their wood burners and other forms of heating, depending on which side of the harbour they live.  Location really is important on Symi in the winter as some areas are in shadow most of the day now and may also receive the full blast of the north wind.  Others bask smugly in the sunshine, their reward for bearing the full brunt of the summer heatwaves. The sea is still warm enough for swimming if you chose your beach carefully.

All the Dodecanese Seaways boats are operating in and out of Panormitis bay this week, giving Yialos a miss. Fortunately there are now plenty of buses connecting the two and we are now seeing the unusual sight of Panormitis pilgrims coming across to Yialos by bus for the day to see the harbour and do some shopping.

The tourist shops are effectively closed.  Many of the cafes and tavernas have packed up their chairs and tables for the winter and secured their premises against the anticipated storms.  Those who are not involved with the Panormitis festival are fishing or rotovating their fields in the Pedi valley. The island is slipping into winter mode.  I saw big sacks of fava, the yellow split peas that are a popular winter meal in Greece, for sale in the supermarket this morning.  When money is in short supply, the Greeks turn to lentils, fava, black eyed beans and other simple ingredients that have fed the people of the region for millenia.  A dish of pulses, a drizzle of olive oil and a chunk of bread and you are set up for the day.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

Read more...

An Exotic and Cosmopolitan Air

An unusually empty quay - a cruise ship was expected in so all the gulets had to depart early.  Those little boats visible to the right of the clock tower are available to hire by the day.

 A more typical view at this time of the year.

I wonder who owns this one.  It looks as though one could land a helicopter in the stern.

 A French boutique cruise ship, Le Boleal, visited Symi earlier this week. There was also a much larger cruise ship in yesterday but that had to anchor off Nimborio with the guests ferried ashore in little orange lighters, so I never did find out which one it was.

The train is proving very popular.  Apart from transporting tourists it also takes the children out to Nimborio for their swimming lessons!

The horse and carriage are the elegant alternative to the train.

Elpida's traditional cafeneion and the colourful tourist shops next door.

A quiet moment among the fishing boats.

High season is well under way and every boat and ferry brings more people to the island.  Every language and ethnicity you could imagine seems to be on Symi at this time of the year and the island has an exotic and cosmopolitan air.  Gulets, yachts, megayachts, cruise ships and ferries, all coming and going at all hours, Yialos and Harani are at their busiest in July and August.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

Read more...

Small but Perfect

 The heat wave continues and the Hellenic National Meteorological Service says that this is one of the hottest summers on record. Temperatures are supposed to drop in northern and central Greece this weekend, with plenty of thunderstorms to break the heat but it will take a while for any change in the weather to affect Symi so far south. 

Purists may despise the Symi train as an affront to the island’s aesthetic, but the local children just love it.  Every evening one sees young families, children bright eyed and eager, boarding the train for the trip around Harani to the hill above Nimborio and back again.  In a small place that offers few amusements for young families and where many parents are working long hours in tourist related jobs and cannot take time off to take the children to the beach every day, a 40 minute train ride is an exciting adventure before bed time.  In many ways Symi seems like toyland with its small but perfect houses and bright white churches gleaming on the hills.  Perhaps a toy train is not so out of place after all.

A Cypriot cruise ship, the Salamis Filoxenia, paid Symi a visit yesterday morning.  In previous years we used to have two visits a week from Cypriot cruise ships as well as weekly visits from Seabourne Odyssey and more random ones from various boutique cruise ships such as Hebridean Spirit and Mayan Queen.  According to recent newspaper reports we may see more cruise ships in these waters in 2013.  We certainly hope so.  One of the reasons why the Michalaki was moved from the clock tower to outside Pachos two years ago was to widen the harbour at the clock tower to facilitate cruise ship docking.

On a more serious note, anyone who is travelling in Greece in the next fortnight is strongly advised to prebook all ferry tickets.  Even in a recession the boats are very full this time of the year and we are already hearing sad stories of people being left on the dock in Rhodes because they did not book their tickets in time.  The websites are www.anes.gr www.12ne.gr/en and www.bluestarferries.gr

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

Read more...

The Most Perfect of Weather

There's something interesting going on with the windows of the house on the right.

If you would like to wake up to this view this August, please contact us.

Symi is as famous for its steps as it is for its beautiful 19th century neo-classical architecture.  

Train-spotting Symi style.  Symi town hall's controversial 'choo choo' train as it passes the police station in Yialos, en route to Nimborio.  It is currently offering 40 minute tours of scenic Symi, departing from the town square.  

The Aegean Rally is in town.

Symi continues to steam with humidity levels reminiscent of my old home town, Durban.  Yesterday I emptied the bucket from the office air conditioner three times whereas in July it barely filled in a day.  The past two afternoons there have been big storm clouds looming over Turkey and the growl of distant thunder rumbling away. There have been reports of a few rain drops over Rhodes on Wednesday.  It was this kind of August weather that had everyone worrying about the Athens Olympics in 2004 as the stadium was roofless. That year, however, Athens did not have an August downpour and the events took place in the most perfect of weather.

This weekend the Symi Women’s Association is putting on an evening of traditional Greek and Symiot dances.  There are also the traditional name day celebrations at Megalo Sotiris, the roadside monastery just before the road descends to Panormitis.  Over at Toli Bay there is the Saturday night bouzouki at Daphne’s taverna and on the Pedi road Bloom is also offering live music.  Despite the lack of an official Symi Festival from the town hall this year there is still plenty going on on the island, and a lot of it is free.  Just keep an eye open for posters and flyers on lamp posts and an ear open for announcements over the town’s tannoy system.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

Read more...