March Postcards from Symi

Fishing boats at the head of the harbour.  The water taxi boats leave from this area during the season.  Our Symi Visitor Accommodation office is in the small ochre double storey with the terracotta pediment, partially hidden by the tall palm in the middle of the photograph. There are also several popular cafes along this stretch, ranging from the traditional to the trendy, to suit all tastes and budgets.

It is traditional in Greece to exchange elaborately decorated candles as gifts for Easter.  A spin off of the church processional candles, these are far to fancy - and flammable - to light.  They are decorated with small toys, flowers, dolls, emblems and motifs.  Some shops even sell them in novelty shapes including candles moulded to look like rolled up gyros, the popular Greek street food!

Dino, the chandler opposite the entrance to the Symi Visitor Accommodation office, busy painting his cupboards.

More painting and cleaning going on around the corner.  The retro purple and orange is a herb shop.  Most places aim to be open by Greek Easter, which is next weekend.  Many that are specifically dependent on foreign tourists don't open up until June or July these days as Symi doesn't have as many visitors in April and May as it did 10-15 years ago.

Hooray!  The ice cream fridges have arrived!

We don't see many early season yachts these days either.

Last minute preparations at the war memorial before the 25 March Independence Day parade on Sunday. The next parade day on Symi is 8 May for VE Day.

A brave poppy perched on the rubble left by 13 November 2017's devastating floods.  This is in the Pedi valley.

Outside the clinic in Chorio.

The dust cloud is still with us.  Apparently up in the north, in Romania, Bulgaria and Russia's Black Sea coast, they have been experiencing pink snow as the Saharan cloud mingles with the snow.  Down here we just see dust and red rain and very poor visibility.  There have been some flight disruptions this past week, particularly in Crete which was very badly affected by the dust and gale force winds. There are lots of amazing orange photos out there in social media.

Organic verge trimming on the Kali Strata.

A designer cat, waiting for the Krysallis boutique to reopen.

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A Quick Hello from Symi

The view from the terrace, Lemonitissa Studio in Chorio.

Crumbling glory in Chorio.

Magic clothespegs.

Nature taking hold.

Waiting for breakfast outside a supermarket in Chorio.

Even paint peels more picturesquely on Symi!

A venerable vine on the Kali Strata.

After a weekend of gusty dust storms, thunder showers and the dreaded 'red rain' that covers everything in a fine crust of Saharan sand, the weather is set fair for the next 10 days or at least for as far as the computer projections the meteo sites use can run.  If the webcam goes murky, that is usually the reason!

More people arrived at the weekend to open up their houses and I have had a busy morning of visitors in the office. There is a lot more activity generally in the harbour and where once there was silence punctuated by occasional voices there is now a continuous buzz.

Time to dash for the bus.

Have a good week!

Regards,
Adriana

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Happy Easter to Our Western Friends

Wednesday's southerly gales left us choking in a cloud of Saharan sand when the wind stopped. This was Pedi bay on Thursday morning.

Nimos lost in the haze.  The Navy came in to shelter from Wednesday's storm and were still tied up alongside on Thursday morning.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office balcony on Thursday  morning. A municipal employee was riding slowly around the harbour, hoisting bunting from a cherry picker for Friday's parade.

Friday morning and Nimos is back!

A relic of Clean Monday a fortnight ago - the mangled remains of a kite, wrapped around a power line in Chorio.  All the power and telephone cables on Symi are above ground which is why they are very vulnerable in stormy weather and lightning damage is common in the winter.

The poultry man has arrived, selling chicks and ducklings.  He was feeding his chirruping family when I walked past this morning.  People don't keep poultry as pets here - they are an economic necessity, keeping families in eggs and meat through the year, and in these days of austerity many more Symiots are returning to their agrarian past, keeping livestock and growing produce in gardens and family plots in the Pedi valley and other sheltered areas on the island.

There aren't quite as many family donkeys as there used to be but these two still see regular service.  Cheaper to maintain than an SUV and they give you manure for the vegetable garden. 

I never did manage to work out what this cat was watching so intently on the Kali Strata.  It was perched on a very precarious flat stone at the top of the wall, staring up at the building behiind, and evidently deaf as is so often the case with white cats as it did not move at all when I went passed.

The poppies are back.

Spring greenery in the Pedi Valley.

It has been a wild week with a south-easterly Force 9 gale on Wednesday that is still disrupting shipping 3 days later as the Blue Star still hasn't caught up with itself after only being able to leave Rhodes at 9 p.m. on Wednesday evening, without stopping at Symi and about 6 hours later than scheduled so the Thursday/Friday schedule was also knocked out, resulting in the Friday night 7 p.m. from Rhodes only actually passing through Symi in the early hours of this morning.

At one stage on Wednesday Rhodes airport was actually closed as conditions were so bad that planes could not land safely and flights diverted to Dalaman (which was also having problems) and Antalya or returning to Athens - an exciting start for the first charter flights coming into Rhodes for 2016.  The wind brought with it a great dust cloud from North Africa, a common occurrence at this time of the year, hence the photographs at the top of this blog.  Luckily the anticipated rain passed to the north of us as when it rains in these conditions it is the dreaded Red Rain (Blood Rain if you are Sicilian) that covers everything in a crust of fine red dust which is very difficult to remove. The wind has now switched to the north, bringing clear skies and a fall in temperatures once again, a reminder that it is still winter in Russia and the Ukraine.

If you follow our Facebook page and Twitter feed you will have seen photographs of the braziers around the harbour and up to Evangelismos church on Thursday night, heralding the eve of the Annunciation. Fridays parade went off without a hitch and, despite the forecasts, was neither too windy nor wet.  That's it for our month of long weekends and it is time to knuckle down to some serious fasting as Greek Easter does not arrive 1 May so there are no more distractions and frivolities.  April will be a month of preparations for the forthcoming summer tourist season.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Fluffy Clouds and Symi Blues

The goddess, Pallas Athena, looking down from a harbour rooftop.  That is the dome of Lemonitissa church you can see in the background.

The customs' house slipway in Yialos with friendly ducks and fishermen contemplating the day's catch.  As you can see from the clothing, it is still decidedly chilly here at the moment and everyone is well wrapped up, particularly those who travel by motorbike or scooter.  Yes, that is a small BBQ standing on the kerb, no doubt ready to receive some of those fish.

Fluffy clouds and Symi blues.

Wind-blown skies and a cold dark sea.  The Nireus and Aliki hotels are still closed which is why there are no umbrellas to be seen along the quay.  The Harani boatyard is still full.  The Merchant House, Sofia's House, Villa Nicola and Villa Karnayo are all in this area adjoining the main harbour, Yialos.

Buoys bobbing in the harbour.

Friday morning's Blue Star Diagoras.

The Monday morning Dodecanese Seaways catamaran. The schedule does not fill out until April and even then there are a lot of gaps in the program. The online schedule is only available until 19 April, the weekend after Greek Easter.

A place in the sun.  Cats making use of a well-wrapped quad bike near the high school as a sun lounger.

Typical access steps to Symi houses.  As the houses are small and built into the hillside if there is an internal connecting staircase it is usually an open tread wooden ladder through a trapdoor to save space.  The main access between up and down is usually an external staircase such as these.  

Someone thoughtfully gave this cat an old sleeping bag to snooze on.

It is one of those overcast and drizzly days that happen quite frequently at this time of the year.  The dreaded 'red rain' from the Sahara has begun.  Fine particles of sand arrive on water droplets and cover everything with a thin film of pinkish dust which dries to a crust.  This is probably why ochre is such a popular tint for whitewash here rather than the dazzling white of the Cyclades. The forecast for the week is unsettled, with showery weather and strong winds, particularly at the end of the week.

Wednesday is Greek Independence Day and also the Feast of the Annunciation so both a religious and a public holiday.  Evangelismos church, the church on the headland in Harani that is dedicated to the Annunciation, is the main focus for the church festivities on Symi and on the holiday eve burning braziers are put along the ramp leading up the church.  There is also a parade in the harbour on Wednesday morning.  It is very much a family holiday and people usually get together for gyros after the parade as it is a fast-free day.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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A Feeling of Optimism and Endeavour

Happy Easter to all those who celebrated this weekend.  We have another month to go but I noticed on the way to work this morning that the first chocolate Easter Eggs have arrived at Sotiris’ supermarket in Chorio.  The weather remains murky but with the new month there is a feeling of optimism and endeavour in the air and everyone is working hard, preparing for the season ahead.  There is plenty to be done to clean up after a very stormy winter and we still have a few weeks of unsettled weather and mud showers ahead.  Washing windows is always a last minute thing on Symi as 5 minutes of red rain can destroy hours of hard work. 

Every washing line and balcony in Chorio seems to be draped with drying washing, airing blankets and quilts and carpets waiting to be beaten as the island’s housewives get stuck into their spring cleaning.

Down in the harbour the Symi Flower shop has a wonderful display of flowers and vegetable seedlings for sale and we will soon be seeing the hawkers coming off the bigboats, laden with garden supplies, outdoor furniture and baby chicks.  Speaking of boats, the Panagia Skiadeni is now only starting her Symi Rhodes service later this week.  Please check www.12ne.gr/en for updates on the schedules.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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