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| Forget chocolate eggs. Greek children receive beautifully decorated candles for the Easter processions. |
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| The olive trees are now in full bloom and humming with bees. |
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| The iconic oak at Lieni, bursting with spring finery. Large trees are very rare in this climate and it can take centuries for an oak such as this one to achieve this size. |
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| All locked up on the Kali Strata. This neglected mansion was once an hotel. I was fortunate to see inside it about 20 years ago when Swedish/German artist, Wolfgang Rehbach, rented it one summer. The walls are painted with wonderful frescoes of Arcadian landscapes. I wonder what they look like now, after another 20 years of neglect and roof leaks. |
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| Cute cats hanging out above Chrysalis, one of Symi's many interesting boutiques. This one is not open yet as there aren't enough people around but it will be in a few weeks. |
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| The butcher at the bottom of the Kali Strata has gone for a striking facelift this year. |
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| This ornate mansion on the Kali Strata has one of the most interesting facades, with faces, fluted drapes, niches and other details. I wonder what the merchant who built it had in those niches. Statuettes? Plants? |
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| The Blue Star, several hours late. The big boats can run very late during holiday periods such as this one as there is a huge amount of internal tourism in Greece and it is much cheaper to take the ferry when visiting family in the islands. There is also the added advantage of being able to take the car, heaped with hard to get goodies for the holidays. |
Today is Good Friday, a most solemn day on the Greek religious calendar, with many people in church this morning and most businesses closed. There is a taboo on manual work on Good Friday and Easter Saturday, so carpenters and other artisans must down their tools. There were some roof-rattling explosions during the services last night and a lot more bangs this morning. Tonight there will be the solemn procession of the Epitaph from each of the parish churches. This is quite a dramatic sight as the biers are decorated with flowers, everyone carries candles or sparklers and the priests often toss fire crackers to keep evil spirits at bay. On Easter Saturday there will be further church services, the most important which is the vigil tomorrow night, culminating in the arrival of the Holy Fire and the celebration of the Resurrection at midnight. As the various parishes compete with each other to see who can make the most noise, it is advisable to open windows to avoid broken panes!
We had some rain showers in the early hours of this morning and more rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow. The weather should clear for Sunday, in time for all the spit roasts and garden parties, not to mention the burning of the effigy of Judas in the harbour on Sunday afternoon. Our office will be closed for Easter Monday so my next blog will be on Tuesday.
All of us at
Symi Visitor Accommodation and the Sunflower Laundry wish you a very happy and blessed Easter.
Regards,
Adriana
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