Early Morning Peace and Quiet

Nimborio - Calm and not a soul to be seen.

The Nireus Hotel and the Aliki Hotel have started to pack out their outdoor furniture and prepare for the season.

Yialos - deserted on a Saturday morning.
The bollards have been newly painted, with numbers so that the berths can be identified.

The Monday Morning Rush Hour in Lieni, Chorio

Figs ripening in a ruin on the Kali Strata

Cats enjoying the early morning peace and quiet

It is a cool and cloudy day with the promise of rain in the air.  Heavy rain is forecast for tonight with the possibility for thundershowers tomorrow.  April showers indeed.  With no proper rain since 13 March Symi is very dry and the wild vegetation is dying back rapidly now.  A heavy shower or two would not come amiss to keep things going for a while yet.

 There was a small flotilla of charter yachts tied up on the quay in Pedi overnight, their masts glinting in the early morning light.  Yialos, Symi’s main harbour, is still very quiet though as the water taxis and excursion boats are still out of the water and there is very little other maritime activity at the moment.  On the subject of maritime activity, the bad news is that there will be a 48 hour shipping strike from midnight tonight as the Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation is protesting changes to their medical insurance.  The government has been negotiating for days to no avail so it seems that this strike will be going ahead, despite the huge disruption this will cause in the run up to Greek Easter and the thousands of people who will be affected, one way or another, as many islands have no other connections.  This will not, however,  affect Dodecanese Seaways which operates out of Rhodes but it does affect the Blue Star ferry service which operates out of Pireaus. For more information please refer to the Living In Greece website.   

Here are some photographs to give you an idea of how quiet it is on Symi at the moment.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana