The busiest week of the year

Mike has kindly sacrificed some beach time to put this up so I have set aside the emails and telephones for a moment.

This is the busiest week of the year on Symi culminating in the busiest long weekend of the year. It is a bank holiday long weekend as Monday is the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin, the Big Panagia that everyone refers to enigmatically when visitors say at Easter, ‘Busy, isn’t it?’ and the locals say, ‘Ah, you haven’t been here for the Big Panagia…’ Apart from the religious festivities and all night parties on the night of the 14th, there are several celebrity concerts lined up too.

The holiday season got off to a good start when both the Rhodanthi and the Romilda broke down, leaving 2500 people stranded in Pireus for 14 hours. This was followed by the Dimitroulla breaking down and various other mishaps so the Ministry of the Marine has now announced that it is going to lease a big ship to keep handy for ‘gap-plugging’ if there are further embarrassments. ANES did that a long time ago when it leased the Symi car ferry to compensate for the unreliable big boat supply line.

We’ve had a few days of slightly cooler weather with a bit of a breeze but according to the Met office we can look forward to a weekend in the 40s, a prospect that does not fill our hearts with joy. There are fire warnings out for many parts of Greece as it is wild-fire season. It is not for nothing that camping is prohibited outside of designated areas in Greece!

Mike is champing at the bit so I’d better wind up now.
Have a good weekend!

Regards,
Adriana