Merry Early Christmas!

Autumn in Lieni, at the top edge of the Pedi valley.

The chapel on the corner.

This home-made kennel on the Kali Strata has plastic strips screening the door, presumably to keep the occupant warm and dry.  Like many Symi houses, the house itself does not have a garden or courtyard so this strip o f paving is the only outside space.  No sign of the dog and the kennel has appeared in the course of the weekend so no doubt I shall  meet the occupant when I return from England in January.  Jumbo is a big toy shop and discount housewares store in Rhodes and their plastic bags are used for all sorts of things - in this case, collecting litter.

Ripe for renovation.

Cool blues and calm seas.

An empty harbour. The yacht lying off shore is the one that was salvaged from the harbour recently.

The calm weather and high pressure system have created ideal conditions for doing some essential repairs to the quay.

Wild cyclamens in Yialos.

Symi is a famously steep island and most houses entail a climb of some sort.

A lone visiting yacht from Turkey.

All packed up for the winter.

Not so long ago this was a bustling row of sailing yachts.  Now it is winter and there are very few yachts on the move.  The ones you can see at the end are secured for the winter.

This is my last blog for a while as I am off to England on Wednesday to visit my family and will return in the middle of January.  In the meantime you can keep track of what life is like on Symi with the Symi Dream blog and also our webcam. Wendy will also be in the office during my absence to answer any emails if you have any withdrawal symptoms - she's not IT savvy to post on my blog in my absence (Wendy wants a smiley face so here it is :-) ).

A high pressure system continues to dominate over the area so the water level in the harbour is very low.  The weather remains dry and mild with little wind. Temperatures continue to fall and it is now only about 16 degrees at midday and 10 or 11 at night.  Everyone is talking about how unusually dry and mild it is for the time of year.

There are very few places open now - just the essentials really.  I noticed that Taxas has some strawberries in this morning so the Christmas treats are starting to arrive. There are parsnips in the freezers too.  If you ever want a quiet, non-commercial Christmas, come to Symi!

Happy Early Christmas everyone!

Regards,
Adriana