Signs of the Times

Friday midday in Yialos and there wasn\t much happening apart from a handful of locals fishing for their dinner.

Painting taverna tables outside Pantelis, a popular waterfront seafood taverna.  The seasonal nature of Symi's tavernas and restaurants ensures that at least once a year everything is stripped away, cleaned from top to bottom, repainted, repaired and replaced if necessary.  The traditional months for spring cleaning and preparation for the season are March and April, once the winter storms are over.

Once a week, very early on a Friday morning, there is a direct connection between Tilos and Symi on the Blue Star.  This woman comes over then to sell her fruit and vegetables, returning on the Blue Star late at night.  Tilos is about 2 hours away from Symi on the ferry and, unlike Symi, has abundant water and rich fertile soil.  It has a permanent population of only a few hundred people and is very isolated, even in the summer.

Every few years the Ministry of Random Signposts hits Symi with a spate of vaguely incomprehensible signposts. The last lot included one to the Ruins of Old Drakos which directed walkers into the bottom of my garden.  This time we have acquired a new Symi destination,  Palia Poli. This literally means old town, better known as Chorio (the village) to the rest of us.  While you may eventually hit the Kali Strata by dragging your suitcase up this ramp and then dithering between the steep steps directly to the high school or the not quite so steep steps to the school playing field, you will actually have missed most of it as you will arrive at the top of the Kali Strata, not the bottom.  A sign post marking the start of the Kali Strata which is behind Bella Napoli and the Vapori Bar in the back corner of the harbour would be much more sensible  - not to mention beneficial to people looking for the Old Markets hotel or the Krysallis boutique.

Empty!

Sunday was bright and clear, if a little windy, and we drove up the mountain to see how the rest of Symi was faring.  This is one of the hidden valleys above  the descent to Panormitis.

There aren't many ponds on Symi but those that there are are full after the heavy rains of November, December and January.

Yes, this is on Symi!

It is carnival season in Greece, although you would not think so here on Symi where life continues at its usual snail's pace.  Only the occasional bedraggled streamer in a gutter or fleeting glimpse of a child in fancy dress gives a clue to what used to be a very boisterous and fun-filled time of the year on the island.  The mood on Symi has been very subdued since Storm Eurydice hit the island on 13 November last year.  The economic losses suffered by many households and businesses at a time when there is little spare cash around will have a lasting impact. 

Nature, having caused so much havoc, now teases us with temperatures well above seasonal averages and weather that is only consistent in its inconsistency.  Showers, squalls, bright sunshine, downpours - February is the new April.  While Western Europe struggles with snow and bitter cold, the other side of the continent is experiencing a premature spring that is just as unusual.  Heavy rain is forecast for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The rain showers we had this morning, however, did not appear on any forecast.

Next Monday is Clean Monday, the first day of Lent in Greece. Traditionally celebrated with picnics in the countryside and the flying of kites, everyone is keeping a close eye on the weather forecast to see what will come our way this time.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Carnival and Clean Monday

Friday morning and the crowds gathering at the clock tower, waiting for the Blue Star...

... which has just rounded Nimos island and is steaming across Nimborio bay.

As it is a bank holiday long weekend a lot of people are on the move today - those who are going to Rhodes for the day to shop or do business, those who are going over for the weekend to visit family and people from other places arriving on the island, either to visit or to start the annual spring clean for the season after a winter away.

A couple of hours later I noticed more activity from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office window, this time of a feline nature. For those of you who have not been to Symi before, that blue booth is the ticket office for some of the water taxis which operate from this part of the harbour in the summer.

That's my fish and I am not sharing, so there!

Keeping an eye open for an opportunity.  The fishermen sort their catch into crates, tossing whatever is not suitable for sale to the harbour cats.

The entrance to St John's churchyard in Yialos.  The columns are left over from the pagan temple that used to be on this site before Christianity came along. The Byzantine double-headed eagle is the symbol of the Greek Orthodox Church.  You will notice that the churchyard railings are quite useful for drying carpets!

The painting and decorating season has now commenced.  This line up of paint pots and thinner cans was on the steps opposite the carpenter's shop at the bottom of the Kali Strata.

It will be a while, though, before the municipality starts weeding the Kali Strata.  The donkeys and sheep get first pickings and much of this lush vegetation disappears of its own accord when the summer drought begins in earnest.

A breezy day in Pedi and one can see for miles across the other side to Asia Minor.

Spring colours.

Good fences make good neighbours.

It is a bright and shiny spring day on Symi.  Warm in the sun, cold in the shade and for once not too windy.  There is a buzz of activity in the harbour as it is the carnival weekend and with such fine weather it is an excuse to be out and about.  The children will show off their carnival finery in Yialos on Sunday. While in mainland towns like Patras carnival is starting to look like Mardi Gras, complete with samba dancers, here on Symi it is very much a celebration for the children to dress up and have some fun with their parents.

In theory the tourist season starts in April so it is time to get on with painting and decorating and sorting stock.  Even if we don't really see any significant numbers of visitors actually staying on the island until June, we start to get day trippers coming over from Rhodes once the charter flights start at the end of March so it is worth the sponge-sellers and tourist shops getting ready for some day-time trade in a few weeks.

Monday is Clean Monday, the first day of Lent on the Orthodox calendar.  It is equivalent to Shrove Tuesday but instead of pancakes, everyone eats various forms of seafood, taramasalata, pickles, spring salads, halva and a special sesame seed flat bread called lagana which is only available on Clean Monday and not at any other time of the year.  It is a holiday but some shops and the bakers are open briefly in the morning so that everyone can buy the foods specific to the day and then, if the weather is nice, pack picnics and head for the hills to fly kites.  At the moment the weather forecast for Monday is unsettled and it may well be the one day this month that we will get significant rain but that in itself will be cause for celebration as the island is desperately parched and we really do need it.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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A Month of Holidays and Celebrations

Symi's war memorial is just to the left of the tall white flight of steps.  You can see the flags are up, ready for Monday's Dodecanese Day commemoration and wreath-laying ceremony.

Cheerful bunting on a grey day.  It will stay up until after the Independence Day celebrations on 25 March.

Oranges  in a garden on the Kali Strata.

The oak tree in Lieni, Chorio, is unfurling for a new year.

Breakfast on the hoof in a car park in Chorio.

Clean Monday falls on 14 March this year.  This marks the beginning of Lent in Greece and is celebrated with the flying of kites.  I have never found a satisfactory explanation for why kites are flown on this particular day. As it is pretty much a one-off thing, the kites are simple light-weight constructions made of thin plastic, not unlike supermarket shopping bag plastic and seldom survive longer than a day's use, depending on wind strength.  Football club colours are popular.  Kampos supermarket in Chorio is ahead of the game - I spotted these outside their shop in Chorio on Thursday this week.

This season's 'must have' plastic tablecloth design has pomegranates on it.  I think I might treat myself to a couple of metres to cheer up my kitchen.

An extremely narrow lane in Chorio.  Regulars to the island may be able to identify where it is.  

Bright blue among the ruins. The contraption on the left foreground is an electric winch, presumably used to hoist building materials when the upper floor of the house just off the picture was being finished as the family was already in residence below.

Random colours in Chorio.  

Co-ordinated catwalk.

We have had a few brief thundershowers over the past 48 hours, including a short sharp hailstorm this morning that only lasted about 5 minutes, if that.   There still hasn't been enough rain to make a difference to the island's water supply, unfortunately, and the long range forecast doesn't hold much promise that this will improve.  Looking on the bright side, it seems unlikely that it is going to rain on anybody's parade this month.

Monday, as I have mentioned previously, is Dodecanese Day, a holiday celebrated only in the Dodecanese. The bunting is up around the harbour and now that the rain  has cleared there are dozens of happy, squealing children, practicing their marching skills for the parade on Monday.  Yesterday was Tsiknopempti - Smokey Thursday. This marks the start of the carnival season with lots of grilled meat.  The evening showers held off until the BBQs were over so no one had soggy souvlaki.  Usually the carnival festivities fall in February but Greek Easter is quite late this year, falling at the beginning of May, so March is full of holidays and celebrations. The supermarkets are starting to get in more stock, much of it traditional seasonal fare for the forthcoming holidays such as that staple fasting food - sesame halvah in a wide range of flavours, including a version that is coated with dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has always been called health chocolate here. What with that and the pomegranates, the Greeks have always been ahead of the game when it comes to superfoods!

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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February Postcards from Symi

The Greek and EU flags,, fluttering brightly on the bridge in Yialos.

Ducks ...

... crossing the street...

... and heading for Eva's cafe.

The customs slipway, looking as it usually does in the summer.

Small birds in search of fallen crumbs outside the bakery.

Galloping white horses across the bay on Wednesday mornning.  The captain of the Diagoras chickened out of docking and will forever more be referred to as Captain Kotopolou (chicken in Greek)!

The cold north wind brings clear skies and an inky blue sea - not to mention plummeting temperatures.  It has been below freezing the last couple of nights.

Stormy seas off Pedi.

Happy Chinese New Year!  It is the year of the sheep...

The air smells of wood smoke as nearly everyone has a wood burning fire these days and in these temperatures they are in use.

It is another cold and windy day on Symi. The Blue Star should, we hope, be docking in Symi tonight en route to Piraeus.  Not only did she not stop in Symi on the way through to Rhodes on Wednesday but she was unable to dock in Rhodes either and spent the night lying off Pefkos/Lardos, half way down the south side of Rhodes, only making her way into Akandia late on Thursday afternoon, 48 hours after leaving Piraeus.  This winter really seems to have been worse than usual in terms of weather-rerlated ferry problems with not a single week going according to schedule.  We are all hoping that March will be better.

This weekend is a holiday long weekend.  It is Carnival on Sunday and Monday is Clean Monday, the start of Orthodox Lent.  I will be back on Tuesday!

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Lent has Now Started

Hail stones on Symi on Saturday.

A flourishing cabbage patch behind the church on the quay at Pedi.

Sheep indulging in yellow margueritas.

Symi harbour is full of vertiginous staircases.  This is the external staircase between upper and lower floors on a typical neo-classical house in the harbour.

Some of the newer flights, made of cement, have helpful white borders so that one can easily find ones way down.

Some steps are wider and shallower than others.

Sometimes they even have railings.

Half past eight on Tuesday morning and very quiet.  In a couple of months the season will start and Yialos will be bustling with gulets, yachts and ferries but at the moment it is deserted.

The head of the harbour. The building with the green shutters in the middle is Pachos, one of the oldest kafeneions on the island.  The Symi Visitor Accommodation office is in a small building set back just to the right of it and our entrance is in the lane to the left.  In the summer this is where all the excursion boats and water taxis depart.

After a stormy long weekend with hail on Saturday, a shipping ban on Sunday and Monday due to gale force winds and plenty of rain, Lent has now started. The Carnival finery has been packed away for another year and everyone is settling down to a fasting diet of seafood, lentils and chocolate coated halva.   Webcam devotees may have caught a glimpse of the Carnival procession and festivities at the weekend, particularly the energetic zumba display which can also be seen on Youtube and the Symi Visitor Accommodation Facebook page. There are also some great Carnival photos on www.symidream.com

The weather forecast remains unsettled for the next 10 days with more rain, storms and wind on the agenda.  Easter may only be 6 weeks away but it looks as though getting the island ready for the first tourists will be done while dodging the showers.

Friday is Dodecanese Day, a local bank holiday, so this is a short week on Symi. We hope that it won't rain on the parade.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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