Adriana's Symi-a Greek island diary: Some Late Summer Symi Sunshine

Clearing a space for the Blue Star Diagoras.

The Blue Star Diagoras departing.
If you are wondering, that is not a small grey tug, it is just a private yacht designed to look like a small grey tug. The big ships visiting Symi have no tug boats to help them and depend upon bow thrusters and superb seamanship.

I wonder who was on this expensive toy...

It is the last day of August and Symi harbour is still bustling with yachts and gulets. The Cypriot cruise ship, Salamis Filoxenia, visited Symi yesterday morning and the horse and carriage seemed to be a great hit with the passengers, judging by the number of times it clip-clopped past my balcony in the course of the morning. Weather wise, temperatures are in the mid to high thirties and the worst of the heat is now behind us for another year.

We are still waiting for the completed ferry schedules for September and October from Dodecanese Seaways. At present only the first fortnight of the month is more or less complete on line and the rest is patchwork. I am reminded of the late Kate Murdoch, co founder of the now defunct Laskarina Holidays, who, in her handbook ‘How to Survive Your Greek Island Holiday’ defined the Greek word ‘avrio’ (tomorrow) as having the same meaning as the Spanish ‘manana’ but without the same sense of urgency.

As August draws to a close the French and Italian visitors are disappearing and the new arrivals are predominantly English-speaking, whether from the UK or further afield, such as Australia and South Africa. This year we have seen fewer North American arrivals. This may be because there are fewer direct flights from the USA to Athens this year. Some American guests we have arriving in September will be spending almost as much time travelling to get here as they will actually spend on Symi but it is gratifying to know that there are still people who are prepared to make that kind of effort to visit Greece. Scandinavians and Germans also prefer to visit in the cooler months and many of Symi’s Northern Europe regulars, as well as some new faces, will be arriving over the next few weeks. We even have some visitors from Russia, escaping the Moscow autumn for some late summer Symi sunshine.

There is a poetry reading at the Symi Gallery this evening at 8 p.m. There is also live bouzouki music at the Hidden Courtyard, the new bar that has opened in Chorio, on Sunday evening.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana