Fair Weather February

Two unusual things about the view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning. The first is the water boat which seldom comes in during the winter as in theory the town's reservoirs should be full of free rainwater.  The second is the Dodecanese Seaways catamaran heading for the 'wrong' side of the harbour.  The road around the harbour, from the bridge to the clock tower, has been closed since Saturday while the roadworks and paving project proceed.  As vehicles can't get round and the catamaran brings in fresh produce for the island, she is coming in by the bus stop for the moment.

Another view of the water ship.  Symi has no natural fresh water supply.  What we don't harvest from our roofs into cisterns during the winter rains has to be produced by a small desalination plant on the Pedi road or shipped in by boats such as this one.  This is why Symi is one of the few Greek islands where you won't find 'villas with pools' on the accommodation listings.  Fortunately Symi's pretty beaches are sheltered and calm for summer-time swimming.

Lemonitissa church peering down at Yialos from the Kastro, the old castle mound.

Oranges and cabbages, ladders and ropes.  One can buy most necessities on Symi - as long as you are realistic about your definition of 'necessity' and can adapt your plans according to what is available. There is no point in pining for peaches in February when oranges are in abundance!

The paving project between the town square and the bridge.

Roadworks outside the National Bank.

Artisanal cheeses and an interested feline audience.  Foodies look out for the cheese man who comes round about twice a month on the Blue Star.

The oranges that grow on Symi are usually very bitter, like Seville oranges, hence the hawker with his truck of oranges.  It is a curious thing that when growing citrus in drought conditions, oranges become bitter whereas the Symi lemons are surprisingly mild and sweet, regardless of the variety.

The Kali Strata is fast becoming a mossy landscape with weeds and grass popping up wherever there is soil.  Regulars to this page will know that at some point in April, May or some years even as late as June, some brave soul from the municipality weeds the whole flight of 360 or so steps and then whitewashes the step fronts for the summer.

Off street parking on the Kali Strata.

Free range Fred playing chicken on the road out of town this morning.

A rare glimpse of Profiti Ilias monastery through the trees.  In the summer the oak tree has leaves and the monastery disappears from view.  Profiti Ilias is one of the many ancient sites on Symi and fragments of  pre-Christian masonry hint at the possibility of a temple to Apollo on the site.

Wild cyclamens.  One of Symi's seasonal secrets.

The work on the new commercial harbour continues at a steady pace. They have laid out the harbour front with concrete blocks and are now back-filling while at the same time cutting away the hillside to create a large level area for trucks and vehicles coming off the car ferry to turn and park.  It is not much fun for the houses in the immediate vicinity of the construction work but once the project is completed, they will probably get a new lease of life as commercial properties close to the port.  

After a fairly wet and humid week the wind is once again blowing from the north, bringing clear skies and low temperatures.  Midday highs will be around 13 degrees or so this week, dropping to around 6 degrees at night.  The two main projects on the island, the paving around the town square and the construction of the new commercial harbour, are proceeding well. So far this February has been very mild with none of the storms and floods usually characteristic of February in the Aegean so if the rest of the month continues like this, with no extreme weather, they should all be on schedule. Fingers crossed!

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Wind and Wood Smoke

A cold and choppy sea.

It was so rough this morning that the Blue Star Patmos did not stop, leaving lots of frustrated travelers fuming on the dock.

Pigeons may have small brains but they are certainly sensible.  This cornice on the National Bank is a nice warm sunny spot, out of the wind!

It may be a bit bumpy in the  harbour today but in the winter, when there are few boats and all the tourist trappings are packed away, the view of Symi's distinctive neo-classical architecture is unobstructed. That long stone building with the light green woodwork in the middle of this photograph is the highly-acclaimed Old Markets hotel.

The bus stop in Yialos.  The blue bus is the one that serves Panormitis monastery. Conspicuous by its absence is the yellow bus which serves the Yialos-Chorio-Pedi route as it is still away for maintenance.  Those cubes on the quay to the right are pallets of stone flags, similar to the ones already laid around the centre of the harbour, so we can expect a continuation of the paving project in the near future.  The ramp at the far left leads to the high school, the upper section of the Kali Strata and Chorio. 

It is not just the architectural detail that  is revealed when the sunhats and beach towels are packed away.  Walking back from the ATM at the Alpha bank this morning I noticed that this tourist shop is using an Easter themed plastic table cloth (plastic table cloths are sold by the metre in Greece) as a partition.  The other side is rather more sophisticated wood paneling as it is a posh boutique.

Breakfast for some of the street cats of Yialos. Symi Animal Welfare and various dedicated locals look after the various cat colonies in Yialos, Chorio and Pedi during the winter when taverna pickings are lean.  The shiny bag on the left seems to have shoes in it and has probably blown off the table so this is not a Symi interpretation of  the fairy story, 'Puss in Boots'!

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.  It is not particularly obvious but the boats are all rolling in the swell.

Work has started on the new road from the new commercial harbour.  Apparently it will curve around the hill and join the existing road just beyond the bend at the top, where you can see that blue tanker parked. When the harbour is completed, the big boats will dock there instead of by the clock tower and heavy vehicles will go up the new road and over the hill to the Pedi road where all the warehouses are, significantly cutting down on heavy traffic passing along the waterfront in Yialos.  

It is a cold, clear and windy day on Symi.  Temperatures are not expect to rise above 6 degrees centigrade today and with the wind chill it is actually only just above freezing.  Water froze in exposed places overnight and there was ice on the mountain.  Tonight is expected to be even colder. When I venture out of the office I can smell wood smoke from all directions as there are cast iron wood burners in several of the surrounding businesses and homes.

The Blue Star was unable to dock in Symi this morning.  Regular readers of this blog will remember that this was often the case in the days of the Diagoras (now ploughing the waves between Morocco and the Canary Islands) but it is unusual for the more modern Patmos with its sophisticated bow thrusters and more efficient underwater profile to chicken out. We hope she can dock on the way back from Rhodes tonight as this is the island's supply line for post, food, fresh produce etcetera and the next vehicle connection with Rhodes is next Wednesday! The Dodecanese Seaways catamaran should come through tomorrow en route to Kos but this only has limited vehicle and freight capacity and doesn't have the height to take trucks and vans.

Have a warm weekend wherever you are.  It is now less than two months to the spring equinox!

Regards,
Adriana

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June Postcards from Symi

Symi's famous amphitheatre harbour, as seen looking down from the windmill bus stop.  Our office and the Sunflower Laundry, the water taxis and excursion boats are all to be found at the narrow end.  Spiti Grand Helene and Villa Iris are on Mavrovouni, the Hill towards the back right, above the town square.

View of upper chorio, looking across from the windmill bus stop.  That scar across the hillside at the top is the motor road to Panormitis.  Chorio is much older than Yialos and is the original village. This is the area where you will find Villa Rose, the Little Blue House, Villa Anastasia, the Two Fishes and others.

The approach to Yialos, with the mansions of the Kali Strata on the left.  The red dome is Lemonitissa church for which Lemonitissa apartment and studio are named.  Other rental properties on this hillside include Villa Anastasia and To Plio.

Heading for the ferry - those are mountain bikes and cases lashed to the roofrack.

Roadworks ahead! The road is being resurfaced at the moment with a lot of disruption, unavoidable really as Symi only has the one motor road so there is no where to divert traffic and the work has to be done. The taxis refuse to run but everyone else, bus included, carries on regardless. We'll be picking the wet tar off our shoes for a while to come.

A mad moment in the harbour earlier this week.

The floating crane.  The calm before the working day begins, rearranging the seabed for the construction of the new commercial quay to take the big ferries and cruise ships.

St John's Wort flowering on the Kali Strata. There are lots of properties for sale on Symi at the moment, including the mansion in the background.

Unravelling a fouled anchor in Yialos yesterday.

Coming back from a night's fishing with a load of fish traps.

The swallows on the power line outside my office window early yesterday morning.  Their nests are actually in the light fittings in the high ceilings of Taxas supermarket round the corner.  Sometimes they take a short cut through our office, coming in through one balcony and out through the other.

After yesterday's heatwave with temperatures close to 40 degrees, today is quite pleasant at 25 degrees and is actually overcast with thunderclouds threatening.  I have just had a phone call from someone in one of the little Turkish bays along the opposite coast and she said it was pouring down.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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