Sunshine After Rain

Most of the wild anemones in my garden were buried under rubble in the big storm on 13 November 2017 but this one survived and is putting on a brave show.

The big valonia oak at Lieni is very confused by the mild winter temperatures and is still hanging on to a lot of last year's leaves.

I was pleased to see that some long-overdue work is finally being done on the roof of the old pharmacy building in Chorio.

After weeks of rain and damp weather, washing lines are blossoming all over Chorio.

The wonderful miniature gardens of dainty ferns and moss that sprout in the dry stone walls and ruins of Chorio during the rainy months of winter are a seasonal delight.

The blue shutters are part of the museum in Chorio.

What could be more Mediterranean than ripening oranges against a clear blue sky?

Looking at massive sheets of impermeable rock like this, it is hardly surprising that flash floods and torrential rainwater run off are a problem in the rainy season.  There is literally nothing to hold the water.

A cold blue sea.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.  Calm seas and cloudless skies make a pleasant change after weeks of rain followed by last week's gales.

Well, I didn't get to Rhodes on Friday. The Force 9 winds in the Aegean threw out the Blue Star's schedule by about 18 hours so I shall be trying again on Wednesday.   There are only two possibilities for a day trip to Rhodes from Symi - Wednesday and Friday.  As both are with the Blue Star, the bigger weather picture has an impact on this.

The weather is expected to change again on Thursday with rain forecast for Friday.  At the moment midday temperatures are around 14 degrees, falling to around 10 degrees at night.  Places that are in the shade most of the day are significantly colder.  Places that face south and are getting 8 hours of sunshine are much warmer.  Location, location!

Symi is very quiet with few people about.  Netflix must be doing well at weekends as on a Sunday Chorio is deserted.  The bus is still in Rhodes which also limits activities.  What goes down must go back up again and those Kali Strata steps give pause for thought when carrying shopping bags.  Those who live in Chorio, shop in Chorio.

Speaking of shopping bags, Greece is implementing the requirement to charge for single use plastic bags.  Signs in Greek and English are popping up, even in the shops on Symi, although I have not known anyone yet be charged the 4 cents per bag.  Another change regulars might notice this year is that Symi, like many other remote Greek islands, has lost its tax concession due to the bail-out requirements so VAT is now 24%. 

Unlike many other countries, Greeks have to pay VAT on all foods so this is going to be quite inflationary for the locals.  At the moment it is not quite clear which things will be at 24% and which at 13%, 17%, 9% or any other random number you would care to think of but presumably this will all be sorted out in the coming weeks.  Symiot shopkeepers seem to be trying to absorb as much of the increase as possible themselves but it is quite a hike so they won't be able to keep this up for long, particularly as the cost of getting stuff onto the island has also gone up.  We are certainly seeing far more cheap Bulgarian imports in the shops than we used to and far fewer items from more distant parts of Western Europe.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Rendering Unto Caesar

A smart bow in Chorio.

Wind on the water in Pedi. There is a gale warning today as it is a Force 8.

White horse galloping across the sea from Nimborio bay.  There is a strong north-westerly wind blowing and it is just above freezing.

The sunny side of the harbour.  The houses across on the shady side get little or no direct sunlight at this time of the year and are very cold indeed.

Wild clematis climbing high in the everygreen holly oaks.

Pomegranates are a popular motif in this part of the world, symbolising fertility and prosperity. These plastic ones are stuck onto laurel branches for decorative purposes. The grocers have lots of real ones.

Manoli feeding the pigeons while a cat looks on.  Manoli is one of the last surviving sponge fishermen, diving for sponges with a bell stone off the Libyan coast before the Second World  War.  We interviewed him many years ago for the Symi Visitor newspaper and he told us about how he was rescued by a dolphin after a shark cornered him among some rocks.  

After heavy rain on Friday and showers on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day dawned bright, clear and cold.  We woke to church bells followed by carols broadcast over the town's public address system to put everyone in a festive mood.  26 December is a  holiday in Greece, not because it is Boxing  Day but because it is a day honouring the Virgin Mary for giving birth to Jesus.  A nice tradition that has nothing to do with manic shopping or camping outside department stores to be the first to grab sales bargains.

Rain is forecast again for Wednesday and Thursday this week and temperatures will stay low with strong winds.  We can expect ice on the puddles, particularly in areas exposed to the north wind.   The snow over on the Turkish mountains is now clearly visible from the top of the island.

Something that is a cause for celebration and some relief in the border islands is that the government has announced that our VAT rate will stay as is for another year, despite outside pressure from the country's lenders to remove the VAT concessions for the small and remote islands. These concessions were brought in many decades ago to compensate for the high costs of shipping goods to these out of the way places and encourage people to stay on the islands.  VAT on Symi will remain at 17% instead of going up to 24% as is the case on Rhodes.  We do,  however, pay 24% on many services that come from the main land or are country wide and the special taxes on certain things like mobile telephony, television, wine, coffee (a new one that is coming in soon) and so on still affect us.

The reason for retaining the concession for islands like Symi, Samos, Lesbos etcetera is that the economy on these islands has been hard hit by the refugee crisis and an exceptionally bad tourist season so raising the cost of living still further will cause even more hardship and possible depopulation.  Many people are already struggling and many small business have gone under.  The prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, made his announcement while visiting our volcanic neighbour, Nissyros recently. He also gave pensioners a Christmas bonus of 300 euros each, by way of compensation for the fact that their monthly pensions have been cut repeatedly in recent years.  This week we must also all remember to pay the annual taxes on our vehicles.  Sometimes the deadline for this is extended to mid-January but one cannot count on it so best to play safe and pay now as if it goes beyond the deadline one has to pay double - plus the added expense of a day trip to Rhodes to the tax office to pay the fine.

On that cheerful note I shall leave you until Friday!

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Warming Up

Heading for the beach - the best place to be in this heat and humidity.  Most of Symi's beaches are surrounded by steep cliffs and cannot be reached by road or easily on foot.  Water taxis operate out of Yialos and Pedi, connecting the beaches along the east side of the island - Nimborio, Agia Marina, Agios Nikolaos (St Nick's), Agios Giorgio's (St George's), Nanou and Marathounda.

The Blue Star Diagoras is out of commission now for her annual maintenance so today marked the start of the Blue Star Paros which will be doing the Symi route for the next few weeks.

The Dodecanese Seaways Panagia Skiadeni, dwarfing the clock tower and police station yesterday afternoon.  If you look carefully you can see the Noddy train passing along the waterfront on the left.

Yachts milling around in Yialos in the early morning. We aren't seeing much megayacht activity yet but there are plenty of cruising yachts and flotilla boats in the area at the moment.

Harani is a popular area to the side of the main harbour.  The boatyard in the corner is just for boat maintenance these days - the only boatyard on Symi where boats are built from scratch belongs to the Haskas family down in Pedi, the next main.  There are several hotels, bars and restaurants in Harani and we also have some rental properties there, including the Merchant House, Villa Karnayo and Villa Nicola.

Symi's architecture is predominantly neo-classical in the harbour area, yet it is amazing how many variations there are on this style.  Some of the largest house on the island were built in the Harani-Mouragio area, in the vicinity of the police station, as the rich sponge merchants wanted to be close to their businesses and keep an eye on their fleets.

The ancient valonia oak in Lieni pursues its own rhythm dictated by the seasons and immune to the whims of man.  It has doubtless witnessed countless cycles of poverty and prosperity as Symi's fortunes have waxed and waned.

I wasn't fast enough to catch this globe artichoke for culinary purposes - in the warm temperatures everything grows very rapidly - but it is going to give us a few days of aesthetic pleasure instead.

A Virginia creeper gone mad on the Kali Strata.

It is a warm hazy day on Symi. The maximum temperatures are now around 30 degrees at midday but feel a lot warmer due to the humidity.  The breeze offers a slight respite in the late afternoon and evening and night time temperatures are around 20 degrees.  The sea is warming up nicely in the sheltered places like Pedi bay and St Nicholas.  Symi is very quiet at the moment, much quieter than is usual for this time of the year. We are receiving reports from other islands and popular tourist destinations around Greece and it seems Symi is not the only one feeling the pinch at the moment.

The flag below shows all the Dodecanese islands and is part of a campaign against the proposal to remove the VAT privileges in the Dodecanese islands, an arrangement that was implemented many years ago to compensate for the high costs of shipping goods to the most remote islands in Greece. In the past VAT increases have been moderate and businesses have managed to absorb most of the cost and only increase their prices moderately, but the new proposals would be too great and prices would have to go up considerably at a time when local consumers are already strapped for cash and tourism is down. The last time a similarly dramatic VAT increase was implemented a few years ago, when VAT was increased on meals in tavernas and restaurants to the highest tax bracket, hundreds of businesses closed down around the country within a matter of months as neither the owners nor the customers could absorb the new prices.  That increase was promptly reversed when it became apparent that the net result was negative, but it came too late for those businesses that closed down and their employees.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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