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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Functioning Fine

Who needs cute kittens on the internet when Symi can provide a cute foal?

A group from the Symi Sea Dreams excursion boat, listening to a potted history of Symi from their guide.

The water taxis are back on their berths but aren't fully in operation yet as there aren't enough people around and the beach tavernas have yet to open.  Instead they have been taking locals out to waterside chapels for name days as much of Symi's shoreline is so precipitous that there is no other means of getting to many places except by sea.

Looking across at Harani and Nimos from the bend at the top of the Kali Strata.  That is a group of gulets lying at anchor off Harani.  They are large wooden motor-sailers, built in Turkey and sleeping up to 30 passengers.  Gulets often include Symi as part of their cruising itinerary although the island derives little benefit from them as they usually arrive fully equipped and the guests eat on board rather than in Symi's many waterfront tavernas and restaurants.

Wild oregano is irresistible to butterflies.

Pedi bay at 7 a.m. looking down from Lieni.

Looking up the Kali Strata from about half way down, still bearing the scars of a very wet winter.  At some point someone from the municipality will come along with bags of whitewash and do the backbreaking annual task of painting about 370 steps, working down from the top.

The carpenter's cats at the bottom of the Kali Strata.

Another view of Lemonitissa church, this time from one of the lanes at the back of the harbour. That is a caper bush growing out of the top of the building on the left.

The noddy train has a new coat of paint.

Looking across the head of the harbour from outside the National Bank.  That is Lemonitissa church with the red dome on the hill on the right.  The ruins of the kastro are on the peak above the church.  The Lemonitissa apartment and studio are in the trees to the right of the church.

It is a warm and hazy day on Symi. It is about 26 degrees centigrade and quite humid. The excursion boats are coming in and a truck has just driven past my office window, festooned with ropes of garlic for sale.  The Blue Star was only an hour late this morning, coming through from Tilos. This is the only direct connection between Tilos and Symi.  On the other days of the week one has to go via Rhodes and stay over night to make the connection with Dodecanese Seaways.

We have been hearing from regular visitors that there have been stories in the British tabloid press recently that there is no money in the Greek banks and that there is no food in the shops. Well, we can assure you that the banks on Symi are functioning fine and there is an abundance of food in the shops now that we have daily connections between Rhodes and Symi.  One can even buy such obscure items as agave syrup and a full range of sushi ingredients as well as the usual succulent sun-ripened tomatoes, crispy sweet cucumbers and voluptuous aubergines so please do not believe what you read in the tabloids!  While there are indeed many poor, unemployed and homeless people in Greece, particularly on the mainland, that does not mean that there is no food in the shops or the tavernas in the islands.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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