Playing Tourist on Rhodes

First rains - we woke up to a showery Tuesday with lots of thunderstorms hovering around but no serious downpours.  

On Wednesday I went to Rhodes for the day and played tourist in the Old Town.  This is the big mosque at the top of Socrates street, at the top end of the Old Town.

Looking down Socrates street towards the harbour. This is the main shopping street in the Old Town.  Rhodes Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and behind the tourist tat there are some amazing old buildings.

Like this one, for example.

And this old Ottoman coffee shop with its pebbled floors and bric a brac. This style of coffee shop with its high vaulted roof, straight-backed chairs and walls lined with memorabilia is found throughout the old Ottoman empire and could be anywhere from Cairo and Jerusalem to Damascus and Istanbul. The uniquely Rhodian feature is the pebble floor.

At the bottom, looking through a ruined church and an Old Town gate at a glimpse of the sea.

Some of the ruins in Rhodes Old Town are of archaeological interest.  Others are ancient ramshackle buildings in which people are eking out a living.  The side streets beyond the cruise ship visitors and tourist crowds reveal the realities of a frugal life with no funds to indulge in authentic restorations or gentrification.

Here is an example of what I mentioned above.  In the foreground is an archaeological excavation of a Byzantine church.  In the background is a lovingly restored 19th century town house.  In between there is someone, probably an elderly woman judging by the washing line, living in a partially ruined building.

The view from the balcony of room 303 at the Hermes hotel in Mandraki.

The Italian Art Deco fish market in the Nea Agora, Mandraki.

Guardians of the gold - spotted inside the Nea Agora, Mandraki

Tuesday's rainy day marked the start of autumn and although it was still hot walking around Rhodes on Wednesday, there is now a brisk north wind blowing and temperatures are firmly in the twenties.  Rhodes is busy, mainly with Russian package holiday tourists and cruise ship passengers.  Mandraki harbour, however, which used to be popular with the yachting fraternity, is empty with only a few locally owned motor boats in evidence and there were no megayachts berthed in Kolonna.

September on Symi is always the month for the island's many regular British, Scandinavian and German visitors and there are a lot of familiar faces around.  It is a good month for those who aren't tied to school holidays and want to avoid the heat of high summer.  We are still taking last minute bookings for late September and October so it looks as though this year Symi will be busier in October than it was in April and May. We have now also opened booking for 2017.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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The First Rains!

Reflections.  Our first puddles in months!

When the torrent comes down the mountain road it brings with it a summer's accumulation of fallen leaves, pine cones and other debris.

Time to fit the plastic drop cloths that enable cafes and tavernas to function in all weathers.

Bright early morning sunshine and amazing visibility.

The rising sun catching the Kastro.

A bright splash of bougainvillea where Chorio meets the top of the Pedi Valley.

The Mavrovouni area of Yialos in blinding sunshine before the autumn sun reaches the harbour itself.

The island of Nimos with the sun just reaching the small white monastery and chapel.

Local fishing boats rafted up in Yialos.

Well, the drought has broken. The first rains reached us around midnight on Friday night but the serious stuff settled in on Saturday afternoon, culminating in a torrential rainstorm on Saturday night.  All told, we measured 27 mm in our rain water gauge over the weekend and gained a few centimetres in our cisterns.  The rain was followed by very strong winds on Sunday and there was some disruption to the ferries.  Everything is back to normal now.

The long range forecast is showing fine weather for the week ahead so early October arrivals will still be able to enjoy some sunshine. Temperatures are now in the mid twenties during the day, dropping to around 18 degrees in the evening and it is much cooler in the shade.  If you are coming to Symi now you will certainly want an extra layer in the evenings, particularly when dining al fresco.

The island is still quite busy, mainly with Scandinavian, German and British tourists, many of them kitted out for serious walking.  With excellent visibility and reasonable temperatures it is wonderful time to explore the interior of Symi with its tumbled terraces, ancient chapels, unspoiled woods and infinite vistas of distant islands and azure seas.

We are now open to start taking bookings for 2015 so if you need any help with choosing your perfect holiday home with us, please email us.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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The Clouds are Back

A quiet spot for a siesta in Chorio.



A nanny goat and her two kids have just discovered this haystack in the Pedi Valley.



Free range sheep on the loose in the Pedi Valley. 



When they saw me the two grubby white sheep ran off in different directions, leaving the lone black sheep looking foolish and wondering where to go next.



The two local women in this car had a miraculous escape when their car failed to make the bend at Lieni.  Although the car rolled it did not hit either the reinforced concrete columns on the steps or the trees.  The driver and her daughter were wearing seatbelts and emerged shaken and shocked but otherwise all right.



The clinic in Chorio is now much easier to recognise with its newly painted sign. 



 We had a light sprinkling of rain around midnight that did little more than make patterns in the dust but the clouds are back and the air is fresher.  Temperatures are in the mid twenties.



Bells in Lieni

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