Sleepy Symi

Monday morning Yialos. There are far fewer gulets than usual. These boats come over to Symi from Turkey as part of a cruising itinerary and the passengers are usually foreign tourists so if fewer tourists are visiting Turkey this year, the knock on effect is that there are fewer gulets visiting Symi and the other border islands.

8 a.m. and not a lot happening.  I think the bright orange looks better on the fishing boat than it does on the building behind.

Early morning coffee at Pachos, waiting for the day to start.  Symi Visitor Accommodation is in the diminutive buildiing set back between Pachos and the shop with the sky blue sign.  Our entrance is in the lane around the corner, between Pachos and Enigma boutique.

Looking up at Lemonitissa church on the Kastro from opposite Symi Visitor Accommodation.  For some reason my little Nikon really battles to make sense of this view and I don't think I have ever really managed to capture just how perpendicular that hillside view is without winding up with leaning lamp posts like the one you see to the right!

It is not just the gulets that are conspicuous by their absence. We are seeing very few really big motor yachts and sailing yachts these days and in comparison to years gone by, Symi harbour is quite restrained this season. The rich must have another playground this summer.

Mind you, some of the local boats haven't seen the water in years.

This is the quietest July on Symi that anyone can remember.  It is as though Symi has slipped back to the 1980s and the early days of tourism to the island. Rhodes is fairly busy as the big resort hotels have benefited from the package holiday companies placing people there who would otherwise have been in Turkish resorts so we are getting a lot of Russian day trippers but in the evenings, when they have departed, there are very few people around apart from Symi's regular visitors that come year after year and the foreign property owners.

This morning as I was walking down to work a slightly battered white van pulled up along side me and one of the Yialos supermarket proprietors offered me a lift down to Yialos.  It was a very fragrant ride as he had just come down from gathering herbs on the mountain to sell in the shop and the back of the van was full of bundles of rigani, the Greek mountain oregano.  The smell reminded me of the very first time I came to Symi back in 1993. We were anchored in Panormitis bay at the south-western end of the island and decided to walk across to send a fax to South Africa to let our families know where we were.  It was July, just as it is now, hot and dusty and the hillsides were aromatic the wonderful smell of hot sage, oregano and thyme bushes. The plants themselves had dried to dust and appeared dead but the smell was fantastic.  Come the first rains in October and overnight these tough scrubby little bushes start shooting tiny green leaves again, a botanical symbol of Greek resilience.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Celebrating Eid in Safety on Symi

7.30 a.m. Tuesday morning and Pedi bay was pretty busy.

Symi is a very steep island with more steps than roads.  This view is from the top of the Kali Strata, just below the village square with its tavernas and traditional bars. Chorio is where the main permanent community lives and has its own shops, cafes, tavernas, bakeries and supermarkets.  If you look carefully at the hills behind the houses you can just make out the scar that is the big sweep the motor road makes to get from Yialos to Chorio.

Looking down at Yialos and Harani on Tuesday morning, even the harbour and outlying anchorages were full. Most of the yachts you can see in this picture are Turkish, even if they may be carrying US or other flags of convenience.

One of the alternative pedestrian routes to town, there is a broad turn off to the right about halfway down the Kali Strata, on the lower side of the high school, which zigzags down to the harbour and pops out near the bus stop.  Various lanes and contour paths branch off this, leading to other tiers of houses.

Yialos early on Wednesday morning.

Thursday morning and a most welcome sight - the water ship!  As Symi has no natural water it is dependent on a small desalination plant on the Pedi road and water boats that come in from Rhodes and even further afield. This is why swimming pools and water features are not a part of Symi's landscape and you won't find many bath tubs either!  Mind you, Symi's sheltered beaches with their spectacular surroundings offer an attractive alternative to swimming pools.

The waterfront in Yialos is lined with pretty cafes, bars and tavernas.  With so much maritime activity in the summer there is always something to watch.  Most of these venues offer free wifi to patrons these days, for those who prefer to spend their time in one of the world's prettiest harbours looking at cat memes on their devices.

Who needs cat memes when there are local cats of character to observe? This one belongs to one of the supermarkets in Yialos and is, as you can see, quite polite and very well fed.  He has appeared on this blog before over the years.  Many harbour businesses keep a cat or two as working cats to keep pests under control.

Up in Chorio this small supermarket is keeping the flag flying.

The most photographed sunflower on Symi just keeps on going.

Symi benefited vastly from the Eid holidays this year as hundreds of Turks, mostly on boats of various shapes and sizes, elected to celebrate the end of Ramadan on a peaceful Greek island with no security concerns.  Symi is the perfect get away from the cares of the world and those with access to visas and boats made the most of an opportunity to visit a safe EU destination on their doorstep.

The landmark Lemonitissa church is having a fresh coat of paint.

A concession to our many Turkish visitors - an ouzerie near our office, advertising mezzes and live Greek music in Turkish.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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The Summer Drought has Broken

Tuesday brought torrential rain until well into the evening. Rhodes had heavy weather and sustained damage to the runway which caused flight disruptions over 2 days.  Fortunately none of us sustained the kind of damage inflicted upon the island Skopelos, the Peloponnese and  the nearby Turkish coastal town of Bodrum.  It is unusual for us to get such heavy and sustained stormy weather so early as this is more common in October. 

The morning after the rain - drifts of leaves all the way down the road and a everything washed bright and clean in the September light.

No, this isn't a 'nodding dog' on the parcel shelf. This young ginger cat took advantage of an open window to shelter from the rain overnight - and the greenhouse effect the next morning was pretty cosy too!

Pine needles and random petals, caught in the storm water grating half way down the Kali Strata.  

The whitewashed monastery on Nimos, gleaming in the early morning sun.

A lizard drying out on the roof of the Sunflower laundry's shed.

I never know what I am going to see when I look out of the office window.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation balcony on Wednesday - a boutique cruise ship alongside, the Panagia Skiadeni stern to and a Turkish power boat in the middle.

The trees look so green after their recent wash.

The crew of the Sea Dreams Symi doing a spot of maintenance around the bow.

Pedi and Yialos are really full at the  moment, mainly with Turkish boats coming across for the Eid al Adha holiday.

This big cruise ship came into Nimborio bay early this morning. Too big to come into the harbour, it is anchored off and the passengers have been shuttling in and out of Yialos on bright orange lighters

Harani at 7.30 this morning, waiting for the Blue Star.

A quarter of an hour later and the Blue Star docked at the clock tower.

If it has an American flag, the chances are good it has come from Turkey.  Many rich Turks register their yachts and motor boats in America for tax reasons so if you notice dozens of Stars and Stripes around the harbour, it doesn't mean that Symi is the number one cruising destination for American yachtsmen.

One of the bright orange lighters from the cruise ship.  The passengers are brought ashore at the customs house by the bridge.

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