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| A peaceful morning in Pedi. The number of yachts has thinned out considerably now that Eid is over and the majority of Turkish yachts have departed. |
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| It is quiet, even off Harani. |
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| 8.30 a.m. on Friday morning in Yialos. |
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| The Customs House looks as good as new - no one who did not know would believe that it was gutted by fire in May. If you haven't been to Symi before, that hill immediately behind it is the Kastro and there used to be a castle on top. All that is left of the castle are a few fragments of walls but it is also the location of many churches, the most dominant of which on this side is Lemonitissa, the one with the red dome. |
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| Zooming in on Lemonitissa, you can see the scaffolding as the church is being repainted. Lemonitissa studio and apartment are screened by the trees on the right. |
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| Grapes ripening in a courtyard on the Kali Strata. |
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| Capers in their natural habitat - growing out of a crack in the concrete on the road in Lieni, Chorio. The familiar little murky green blobs that you buy in jars in delicatessens are the buds of these opulent white and pink flowers. The buds form in the late afternoon and the flowers open at dawn so gathering the buds for pickling is a nocturnal activity. The Symiots also pickle the most tender shoot tips and sometimes also the seed pods. Capers flourish in incredibly hostile conditions and while they won't add much in the way of nourishment to your diet, they were a way of turning something wild into something edible when choices were limited. |
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| An invisible cat in Chorio. I don't think he realises that the ears give the game away. |
As the world wakes up to yet another atrocity we have to reflect on just how fortunate we are to enjoy a safe and peaceful environment here on Symi. Symi has many French connections, starting with the many Symiots who emigrated to Marseilles in the 1920s to work in the sponge diving and boat building industry there and the island has many regular French visitors every year as well as French families who own holiday homes here. Our hearts go out to all the people of France in their time of travail. What more can we say?
Meanwhile the summer season continues to be very much quieter than usual. There are far fewer families on the island than is usual for this time of the year and most of the visitors seem to be couples. Temperatures on Symi are in the high thirties as the humidity is high. Apparently the meltemi is blowing hard in the Aegean but we are not feeling its affects here and the horizon is lost in the summer haze.
If you are looking for a last minute summer break, please
email us - we still have some gaps to fill!
Have a good weekend.
Regards,
Adriana
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