May Day on Symi

Today is May Day in Greece, celebrated with picnics and flowers. It is traditional to go out into the countryside and gather a posy or wreath of spring flowers with which to decorate the front door of each house and business. As I was walking to work this morning I passed many Symiots heading off into the Pedi valley to do just that. This is quite an important bank holiday long weekend in Greece and many of the hotels and tourist resorts are full, particularly down here in the south. Up in the north of Greece rain and thunderstorms are still a daily event and even here on Symi it is quite overcast today with the possibility of some showers.

Temperatures on Symi at the moment are in the mid-twenties at midday, dropping to about 18 degrees at night. The harbour is quite busy. Cloudy days always mean lots of visitors from Rhodes on the day boats so the shops and tavernas along the waterfront in Yialos are busy.

I have just had two surprise visitors in my office, Howard and Ellen Christensen all the way from Southern California. They have been to Greece many times but had never been to Symi before. Their mission? To ask me personally if I could please include more Greek vegetable recipes on my recipe blog, but this time without onions. This could be an interesting challenge. I see a weekend in the kitchen ahead.

Have a good bank holiday weekend.

Regards,

Adriana