Season's Greetings and See You on Symi in 2018

It doesn't take much to make the Stanni patisserie next door to the Symi Visitor Accommodation office look festive.

A festive glimpse through the door of the butchery.

The Symi Flower shop is always a cheerful sight.

This is how fuel arrives for the petrol station in Yialos. Tankers roll off and drive round to the fuel station to fill the bunkers.

Oranges and lemons for sale in the square in Yialos.  Most Symiots have lemon trees somewhere but Symi oranges tend to be extremely bitter and are only suitable for marmalade or glykos.  Oranges for squeezing or eating come from Rhodes or Kalymnos.

Fresh fish for sale, straight from the boat. The cats are optimistic.

Down in the Pedi Valley.  The  bare brown bits are where water washed through in the storm.

This will be my last blog for 2017 as I am going to England to visit family and friends for the festive season.  Leaving Symi is often a fraught business in the winter. This time I will be missing a 24 hour shipping strike by a mere 24 nail-biting hours!  The 5.50 a.m. departure on the Blue Star is not an attractive prospect either!  In the winter the Blue Star serving Symi fits in a quick trip down to Karpathos and back on a Wednesday so instead of the extremely civilised 8.15 departure from Symi that we enjoy in the summer, in the winter we have to be down in the harbour in the dark at 5.30 a.m.  Fortunately the weather forecast is good so there are no gales to worry about and it won't be raining.

Christmas is only a fortnight away and a few more decorations are putting in an appearance. There still isn't much in the shops - the main holiday supplies will arrive on the big boat on the Friday before Christmas.  Anyone with premature Christmas cravings has to take the Blue Star to Rhodes on Wednesday or Friday to buy goodies at Lidl!  No Aldi in Greece - they pulled out early in the economic crisis - but Lidl and Praktiker are stalwarts, particularly in these times of austerity. The other great source of Christmas bling is Jumbo, a huge jolly junk Greek chain store out in the middle of the island and thus only accessible by car or taxi.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

See you in January!

Regards,
Adriana

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Symi Christmas Countdown

If there are any mycologists out there, does anyone know what kind of fungus this is?  It is growing on the stump of a dead deciduous tree in my garden on Symi and is quite impressive.

This shack probably has one of the best views in Pedi, high above all the other buildings. It does,  however, seem to lack some basic creature comforts. Sometimes one needs a bit more than just a panoramic view!  For a more comfortable stay that still has fabulous views, try Villa Jasmine.

There isn't much for children to do in a small and isolated place like Symi and treats are scarce, so this travelling fairground that has appeared in the town square in Yialos is a welcome sight for any parent of children under 10. There has also been a 3-day Christmas fair with face-painting and other amusements for Symi's children in the new sports facility in Chorio which was, by all accounts, a great success.

Symi's 'train station' . The noddy train has been packed away for the winter and the travelling vegetable hawkers make use of the spot instead. Boats are a popular motif for Christmas decorations at this time of the year. The Greeks are a sea-faring nation and have been since ancient times.

An elaborately painted pediment on the waterfront in Yialos.

Garlic in the boatyard in Harani.

Autumn colours.

Indoor bathrooms are a relatively recent innovation on an island that has always been short of water.

Working underneath a boat can be backbreaking work.  A little stool to sit on is much more comfortable that squatting  or perching on an old crate.

The Poseidon excursion boat from an unfamiliar angle 

A neglected and uninhabited old mansion in Harani.  It has not had to good fortune to be restored like the one next door which is now the Dorian hotel or the one in front which is the Aliki.  Restoring these old places is very expensive and a real labour of love.  In the present economic climate few people  have the resources to tackle such ambitious projects which may offer no real financial return.

Looking across at Pitini and Milos (the windmills) from the Mouragio, the section of Yialos by the clock tower.

Oranges ripening outside the police station in Yialos.  The oranges on Symi are usually very bitter and not suitable for anything apart from making glykos, candied rolls of orange peel.  Some of the foreign residents make marmalade as the bitter flesh is so full of pectin there is no problem with getting a good set.

It is a chilly Monday morning on Symi.  Midday highs are around 12 degrees centigrade and night time temperatures are around 7 degrees.  North facing properties that get little or no sun in December are much colder than this.  Symi's elegant neo-classical houses with their high ceilings, stone walls and tiled floors are very difficult to heat, not to mention expensive, so everyone is well wrapped up even when indoors.  In the late afternoon, when everyone is home and has settled down, wood fires are lit and little plumes of smoke can be seen rising over the rooftops of Chorio.

Symi post office will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week as the staff are going to Rhodes for the post office Christmas party. As there won't be any post on the island until Thursday anyway this won't have much of an impact on our lives.  Symi's post comes and goes on the big Blue Star ferry. The couriers, on the other hand, also use Dodecanese Seaways which is more expensive.

The foreign community on Symi has had an impact on what is available in the shops in Symi in the winter.  When I first came here parsnips and Brussels sprouts were unheard of and met with some bafflement as they don't grow very well in a Mediterranean climate.  Now at least two shops on the island make sure that they have imported stocks of both to keep the British expat festive table going and I have heard that one of the supermarkets in Chorio has packets of stuffing mix. The Greeks themselves are not tied to a turkey dinner and their traditions are very different.  Pastitsio, a sort of hybrid oven dish that combines macaroni cheese with lasagna is more likely to appear on the Christmas table, as may roast suckling pig.  Italian coffee, prosciutto and various salamis have also become Christmas supermarket staples as the other significant group to come to Symi over the holidays is the Italian property owners.

At the moment it looks as though we will have a dry albeit chilly Christmas.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Winter Ferries Past and Present

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office balcony at 9 this morning.

And again an hour or so later.  

If you see a house decorated like this in Greece it means that there is going to be a wedding very soon.  The dowry house is prepared by the women  in the family, cleaned from top to bottom and decorated with ribbons.  A special ceremony then takes place in which the bridal bed is made up with beautiful linen and blessed.  Lots of babies and young children in their best clothes are then rolled across the bed to bring fertility to the happy couple.  An ancient and charming tradition that probably goes against all sorts of modern beliefs about marriage but has withstood the test of time this far so is unlikely to die out any time soon.  

Cabbages, caged birds and camo pants for sale in the Kampos parking area.  You can buy anything on Symi as long as you are prepared to wait long enough!

The acorns are falling from the big oak tree in Lieni.

Oranges and lemons ripening in old Yanni's garden in Lieni.

The rain has softened the earth and it is time to start planting before the weather turns too cold.

Herbs and vegetable seedlings outside the Symi Flower shop in Yialos.

Old hand-forged wrought iron in a window in Yialos.

Christmas decorations in the window of the Greek produce shop in Yialos.  If you want to support small Greek businesses, this shop stocks a veritable cornucopia of artisanal goodies and traditional organic groceries including sweets, wines, dried fruits, herbs, spices, bottled Greek delicacies, Greek pastas and so on.  It is also a good place to look if you need gluten-free products or health food items.

After a weekend of very unsettled weather with thunderstorms and showers the week ahead looks calm, clear and mild.  I will take a chance and leave the webcam and router plugged in!

It is three weeks to Christmas and I spotted a chocolate Santa in Hatzipetros supermarket this morning so some goodies are reaching the island, despite the on-going Pan-Hellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) strike.   Dodecanese Seaways is not affected by these strikes but the Blue Star is and as the Blue Star is the only way trucks and freight can reach Symi and other islands, not to mention our post, it does affect us all one way or another.  Dodecanese Seaways is only serving us with a catamaran at the moment and then only on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  As their routes are the 'wrong way round' we can't use them for a day's shopping in Rhodes. Those of us who have lived here a while get nostalgic at this time of the year.  Not for Christmases past but for the days of the ANES boat 'Symi I'  and Captain Phil who always got us to Rhodes to do our Christmas shopping,  no matter what.  In those days the boats used to operate out of Mandraki and most of the shops were in the centre of town so we used to trot back to the boat at intervals to drop off our purchases on board and then make a fresh foray.  Very civilised. Now the 'Symi 1' takes day-trippers to the old leper colony of Spinalonga off Crete, Captain Phil has long since retired and ANES' only nautical activities take place at the other end of the Aegean instead of serving the people of Symi as was the original intention.

Enough reminiscing.  At least Dodecanese Seaways is fast and the Blue Star is punctual when not affected by strikes and there is talk that the Mayor's appeal for a third Blue Star a week has been successful so maybe we will have boats on Mondays as well as Wednesdays and Fridays!  Keep an eye on Andy's travel blog for more information on this and other travel stories.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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