Giving Something Back

No, this isn't the Dutch Royal Family's new yacht - minium, the modern equivalent of red lead, is a popular primer here for everything from wood to metal, houses to boats.  This little boat is probably white and blue by now.

A particularly irresistible wild hollyhock.  I don't think I have ever seen quite so many butterflies on Symi as this May.

A last lingering patch of poppies on a hillside in Lieni.

The Pedi Valley is turning from green to gold.  The bushes with the white flowers are wild oregano, the rigani mentioned in fashionable Mediterranean cookbooks. The flowers are gathered and dried for use as a herb throughout the year.

Apologies for being late again.  We are considerably busier at Symi Visitor Accommodation now that the season is well underway, which is why I am posting this from home via the mobile phone network on a Sunday morning.  There are plenty of visitors on the island this May, many of them old regulars who have been visiting Symi since the 1980s and 1990s and also a fair crop of new-comers.  Last weekend Captain Yanni of the Poseidon took a team of volunteers over to Sesklia island to clean it up for the season and laid on a BBQ lunch for the workers.  Symi is the sort of place that many visitors have come to regard as 'home from home' and there is a strong sense of giving something back to the place they love.

It has been a stormy week.  Just when it seemed as though the long summer drought had begun we had several cloudy days of thunderstorms and showers, culminating in an hour-long mud-shower in the early hours of Friday morning that turned the cars beige and had those who had just finished cleaning the windows and shutters cursing.  The weather is hot - in the thirties - and oppressive with the promise of more thunderstorms brewing.  There is also the possibility of strong winds from the North West tonight and tomorrow which may have an impact on shipping in the Central Aegean.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

The long and winding road - with plenty of steps - that teenagers living in the harbor climb every day to get to the Panormitis high school (gymnasium).

A view of Symi harbor, looking from the clock tower towards the bus stop. 
The houses are connected by narrow contour paths and irregular flights of steps. 
The Kali Strata, the main stairway, traverses diagonally up this slope but is not visible in this photograph as it runs between the houses.

Fish being sold off the back of a truck in the harbor.