Happy New Year! Chronia Polla!

It has been a mild winter on Symi and the oak tree in Lieni is very confused - bare twigs, old leaves, new leaves and plumping buds, all at once.

The deciduous trees in the Pedi valley are bare, revealing glimpses of green terraces beneath.  As you can see, it is very calm today with exceptionally good visibility.  

Syringa berries and a wind streaked sky.  Strong winds are forecast for the weekend along with thunderstorms and rain on Sunday and Monday but for the moment we are enjoying the calm.

The grass is growing on the Kali Strata and there are clumps of wild flowers coming up wherever there is a pocket of soil.

The grape vines are turning russet in t he courtyards and many homeowners have cut them back to encourage more orderly shoots in  the spring.

The fig trees are also changing colour in the ruins on the Kali Strata.

Most of the Christmas decorations are gone now but this wreath  has survived on a restored mansion on the Kali Strata.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning - Yialos is very very quiet at this time of the year.

Happy New Year!  I have returned from my travels and this is the first blog of 2016.  Symi is experiencing a very mild winter so far with far less rain than usual and temperatures at the moment are around 19 degrees centigrade at midday, dropping to about 12 at night. This is expected to change this weekend as we will have first rain and thunderstorms and then a sharp drop in temperatures as the wind swings round to the north. The old houses are quite chilly now as many have been in shade for months and the thick stone walls make them difficult to heat.

As I only got back on Wednesday with the Blue Star and today is my first day in the office I have hardly seen a soul. There are very few people about now and Yialos is so quiet that any sounds echo round the harbour. This morning we were entertained by the chirruping of caged birds and the yowling of distant tomcats and yet neither was in the least bit visible from the balcony.  The bus is in Rhodes for repairs at the moment which also discourages people from venturing far afield - shop local is the order of the day.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana