First Plantings

The golden days of autumn have arrived and the island is full of painters and photographers. Temperatures are in the mid twenties at midday and evenings are mild enough for dinners al fresco and cocktails in pavement cafes. Some windy weather is forecast for the weekend as it is the equinox but Symi is sheltered from the northerly gales that buffet the Cyclades and Sporades at this time of the year. Down in the harbour power definitely gives way to sail as flotilla yachts and privately owned small cruising vessels, many with red ensigns and Small Ships Register numbers on the transom, fill the quays each evening. The glitterati have fled to other playgrounds.

Up in Chorio, the bougainvilleas are putting on a final flush of colour and night-scented jessamine and lemon blossom fill the evening air. Although the first rains are still some weeks away trees and shrubs are starting to recover from the heat of summer, putting forth soft new shoots. Market gardeners are digging and manuring their vegetable plots, preparing for the first plantings of lettuce and spinach. The basil is now a mass of flowers and droning bees and tentative blue blossoms are appearing on the rosemary bushes. Wavering spires of squill blur the rocky slopes, animated by scrambling, jostling sheep as the flocks come down the hillsides at feeding time.

The tamarisk trees outside the Symi Visitor offices are in full bloom at the moment, masses of feathery pale pink flowers and drifts of pollen-laden bees. And choruses of sneezes from all of us whenever the windows are open on that side!

Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana