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| A promising sight - men on the roof of the customs house. |
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| Workmen have been clearing debris from the gutted customs house building and plans are being made to facilitate reconstruction as quickly as possible. This building is not just a Yialos landmark - it is important for clearing people - and goods - coming in from Turkey and it also effectively the local representative of the Greek tax authorities. The local customs man is also responsible for apprehending foreign licensed vehicles that have outstayed their 6 month duty-free stay. A lot of paperwork will have gone up in flames along with those bottles of whisky, vodka and Chanel! |
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| The water taxis are now all in place for the summer. The boats in the foreground are part of a flotilla of speed boats that came over from Rhodes for the weekend. The Symi Visitor Accommodation office is tucked back to the right of the cream double storey with the light green shutters on the waterfront. |
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| Ambulances in this part of the world don't always have wheels. This high speed marine ambulance was part of the flotilla. I haven't seen this one in Yialos before as medical emergencies from Symi are often evacuated by the coastguard boat or by helicopter if there isn't a ferry departing soon. |
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| Then there are the flotilla yachts, chartered out of Rhodes, Kos and sometimes Marmaris. |
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| Fresh produce on Symi is usually sold from the crates and boxes in which it arrives - no prewashed prepacked preprepared veggies and designer fruit here. Every so often all the empties are loaded onto a truck and sent back to Rhodes market by ferry. This one is ready to go on the Symi ferry this afternoon. |
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| A large Turkish gulet, chugging off into the sunrise this morning. |
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| Not everyone wants to tie up at the quay, even if there is plenty of room. It is much quieter to swing at anchor in Harani. |
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| We now have a third ATM on the island. This one, belonging to Pireus bank, is between the pharmacy and the jeweller on the south side of the harbour, convenient for the taxi rank and the bus stop. |
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| We seem to be fast approaching 101 uses for a dead traffic cone. This one is bonding with a petunia in a harbour planter. |
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| Oleanders by the high school. |
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| The rain yesterday was heavy enough to make the Kali Strata flow, leaving a trail of pomegranate petals adhering to the new whitewash. |
After a surprisingly wet weekend the sun is out and May is back on track with calm seas, sparkling sunshine and lots of activity of a mainly maritime nature. The weather will be windy but dry for the rest of the week with temperatures in the mid to high twenties. The
Symi Visitor Accommodation office has been quite busy this morning as many regulars to the island come in for a chat, even if they have not booked their
accommodation through us this time. We will soon be switching to summer time office hours but at the moment I am still only in 3 mornings a week. The joys of internet mean that we can answer your
emails from wherever we are so just because we aren't 'here' doesn't mean we aren't working :-)
Have a good week.
Regards,
Adriana
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