Happy New Year from Chilly Symi

Pedi Bay during the December supermoon. This photograph was taken from high up in Chorio,  That bright light is actually over in Turkey, several miles away.  In the winter when the weather is clear one can see the opposite shore quite clearly.

As I was saying!  This was the view from Lieni this morning.

Looking the other way, those are the wind turbines between Datca and Marmaris!

The view from the  Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.  The Blue Star Patmos has been seriously delayed due to Force 9 gales in the Aegean which precipitated a shipping ban.  It was supposed to have left Piraeus at 10 this morning but at time of writing is still tied up so unlikely to get here before midday tomorrow (Saturday).  The truck you can see in the photograph comes over from Rhodes with fruit and vegetables for the Symi supermarkets and is waiting to go back with a load of empty crates.

Yanni proudly showing off the octopus he caught in Harani recently.  Octopus stifado is a popular winter dish here. The octopus is braised with red wine, vinegar, spices and lots of small onions.  

Free range Fred looking for breakfast in Lieni.

Now that we have had a sustained cold spell the remaining leaves on the valonia oak trees are starting to turn colour like proper autumn leaves.

It has been a cold wet and windy week with heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday. This morning dawned bright and clear and it looks as though we will have a cold start to the new year with daytime highs on Symi and Rhodes of around 9 degrees, dropping to 5 or 6 at night.  Much of Greece has had snow and icy weather.  Even nearby Rhodes experienced snow flurries on the highest points at Ataviro and Profiti Ilias.  More rain is forecast for next week with a slight rise in temperatures to around 12 degrees at midday.

Rick Stein's cookery show, 'From Venice to Istanbul' is evidently being shown on TV in  Australia at the moment and we have received many emails from people wanting to book 'Rick Stein's house'. To set the record straight, the house is actually Sofia's house in Harani.  It was sold some years ago to a Symiot family who now live in it year round so it is no longer available as a rental property.  It never belonged to Rick Stein and he himself only used it as a film set as it had a big open plan kitchen dining room with plenty of space for the cameras.  He himself stayed in Iapetos Village Hotel at the back of the harbour. There are lots of lovely houses to rent on Symi and we are happy to help you book one but it won't be 'Rick Stein's house'!

Still on the subject of food, Symi has a great selection of good restaurants and tavernas in the summer so there is no need to slave over a hot stove in the heat of a Symi summer.  If, however, you do want to dabble in the culinary arts and try your hand at Greek recipes, most of our rental houses are fully equipped for self-catering and you will find the ingredients for seasonal Greek cuisine in the local shops and markets in Chorio and Yialos.

The town public address system is pumping out Christmas jingles and it is time for me to head for the bus stop.  My next blog will be on Tuesday as the office is closed on Monday. All of us at Symi Visitor Accommodation wish you a very happy new year and we'll be telling you soon about our planned birthday celebrations as we turn 20 in 2017!

Regards,
Adriana

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Autumn Crocuses

Autumn crocuses in a field in the Pedi valley.



Preparing for celebrations at the little chapel on my corner on Tuesday. It drizzled intermittently with squalls all day but the main rain held off until evening.



The name means The One Who Comes Swiftly. 



A grape vine with ambition on the Kali Strata. 



Rain clouds over Pedi at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning.



The view from my office window just after 9 on Wednesday morning, as the rain began. The heavens opened a few minutes later and we received 22 millimetres of rain, most of it within the space of twenty minutes or so.  The Kataraktis flowed, as did every gully, street and staircase and the harbour was quickly a sea of mud.  We can safely say that the Rainy Season Has Begun.



On a clear day you can see forever - almost. 



Patterns in the sand.  Much of the run off from the mountain road to Panormitis comes swooshing down into Lieni, hits a rather badly designed culvert and floods into the dirt road at the bottom bend, from whence it spills over into the small farms and allotments below.  The bits of old lathe wall have been lying here for a while, probably waiting to be recycled into a chicken coop, but the flow of water made some interesting patterns in the sand that washed down.



The Friday morning Blue Star Diagoras, hauling up her anchor in a stiff breeze.  She is usually able to hold her place in Yialos with bow thrusters and two stern ropes but this morning the wind was so strong she had to lay an anchor as well which delayed her departure. The 7.30 a.m. boat actually left here shortly before 9 a.m. so the same scenario had probably played out at every stop along the way from Piraeus.

We are all shivering in the sudden cold and smelling vaguely of mothballs as winter clothes that haven't been worn since March are being dug out of storage.  Temperatures have plummeted as first everything was soaked in two days of rainy weather on Tuesday and Wednesday and then the wind swung to the north, bringing with it unseasonably low temperatures.  It was about 12 degrees centrigrade last night which is chilly indeed when a week ago it was still warm enough to eat outside at night.  It is not expected to get much about 20 degrees today.  The weather is expected to improve from Sunday when the wind drops and should settle into the more seasonable mid twenties.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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