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| The view from Symi Visitor Accommodation today. There isn't much happening in Yialos this November morning. The only yachts passing through now are ones waiting to take up their winter berths in the many marinas on the Turkish coast. |
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| All packed up for the winter. |
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| The greengrocer in the lane is busy all year round. I like buying from him as much of his stock is locally grown in Rhodes and he always marks the place of origin on the price cards so I know whose economy I am supporting. |
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| A bird's eye view of the Kali Strata, or should that be birds' eyes? |
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| There were quite a few clouds around early this morning. As you can see, the Panagia of the Kastro is still wreathed in scaffolding. |
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| A breakfast meeting at a popular hangout. |
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| It is not much but it is a start - the first wild flower seeds are starting to germinate as a result of last Monday's rain and a light shower early on Saturday morning. It is not very clear in this photograph but those are daisy seedlings you are looking at. They have tiny serrations along the cotyledons. |
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| Shadow play over Pedi. The footpath to Agia Marina beach goes past that old farm and through the hills. If you look carefully you can just make it out. |
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| The Turkish hills look very close at this time of the year. |
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| A big poinsettia in Chorio. The bracts turn red as the days grow shorter and by the time I get back from England in a few weeks it will be quite spectacular. |
There are a lot of people on Symi at the moment for the Panormitis Festival but as they are over at Panormitis, Yialos is pretty quiet. Greeks come from far and wide on a pilgrimage to the monastery at this time. The lucky ones have rooms or beds in the communal dormitory. The less fortunate and the late comers bed down on the verandahs and hope that the weather stays dry. A lot of the locals went over yesterday in search of bargains as the stalls are all set up now. Today is a school day but tomorrow, the day of the festival itself, is a local holiday.
This will be my last blog for a while as I am leaving for England on Wednesday on the diabolically early
Blue Star Patmos - even as a 'morning person' 5 a.m. is an uncivilised departure time! I hope it is not affected by the stormy weather that is expected to reach this part of Greece by Wednesday. Luckily my flight is early on Thursday morning so it doesn't matter if the boat is late, but it does matter if there is a shipping ban and it doesn't run at all! Living on a small island with no airport has its drawbacks when one wants to travel in the winter.
While many of you may be fed up with Christmas already having been jingled and jollied since September, here the only concession to the season is that Yanni's poinsettia in Chorio is starting to change colour. Now that is one of the advantages of living on a small Greek island. There is a time and a place for everything and right now the focus is the Festival of St Michael the Archangel at Panormitis, Roukoniotis and Kokkimides. Christmas starts with whatever comes in on the
Blue Star at some point in mid-December.
Have a good month and I'll post from Symi again around the 25th of the month, depending on the ferries of course!
Regards,
Adriana
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