Spring on Symi and a Walk in Rhodes

Yialos at half past eight this morning.  The calm after yesterday's storm.  We had very strong winds on Sunday and there was a shipping ban.  The flags are up because Saturday was the investiture of the new Metropolitan (bishop).

The many priests and officials who came over for the investiture ceremony and celebrations on Saturday were unable to get off the island on Sunday because of the wind.  I spotted this group waiting for the Dodecanese Seaways catamaran this morning.  People came from all over the Dodecanese for the event.

Meanwhile, in the Pedi valley, Nature is staging her own celebrations.

Who would think that the barren dust of summer would hide such potential abundance?  Just add water for a wonderful wild garden.  This is along the roadside in Lieni, Chorio.

Mother and child, out for a morning stroll in the Pedi valley.

The olive trees are smothered in millions of tiny pale green flowers.

I had to go to Rhodes on Friday for various appointments.  Inevitably I had several hours to kill between finishing my business and taking the Blue Star back to Symi.  It seemed a waste to spend them reading in a corner of the Plaza Hotel so I took my camera for a walk.  If you chose to walk from Akandia, the commerical ferry port, into town, you will pass this attractive kiosk (periptero) near the old town walls.  An ideal pit stop for an ice cream.  

Rhodes is full of ruins spanning millenia of continuous occupation.  Invaders came and went and everyone left their mark. Somewhere along the line the end wall of a Byzantine church became the wall of a house, with windows overlooking what would once have been the nave.

This is the altar of the same church.  You can take a short cut through the open area into a park on the right of the photograph that takes you eventually to a gate in the old town walls that opens out over the moat, near the kiosk above.  There is a more direct  route out onto the waterfront on the left, through another gate.

Rhodes old town closes down during the winter months and all the tourist tat disappears, leaving the underlying architecture exposed to view.  A great opportunity to see the buildings as they really are.

Spring flowers are everywhere, even on the old town walls.

A gargoyle leaping from the roof of the old library.

There are many Ottoman drinking water fountains dotted around Rhodes. This one is near Kolonna.

The Rhodes municipality has provided an information system that enables you to download an app on your smartphone.

The old shopping area behind Mandraki.  Bits of it have been restored like this section. Others are still falling down.  Many of the old speciality shops have disappeared, replaced by trendy cafes, bars and eateries.

The spring equinox is only days away and the weather is very unsettled.  Calm hazy days alternate with strong winds and shipping bans.  The major weather fronts generally pass to the north of us in March and April after causing disruption in the Ionian and on the Greek mainland.  Saharan dust is a familiar sight, turning the sky pink and leaving a film of red on everything when it rains. Temperatures are in the low to mid twenties.  It is still chilly in the shade, particularly in places still damp from the winter rains.  Distant snow is visible on the Turkish mountains but it is disappearing fast.

The weather this week remains unsettled with gale force winds forecast for Thursday and the possibility of thunderstorms over the weekend.

Rhodes was still very quiet on Friday with little sign of activity yet for the forthcoming tourist season.  With the main focus these days on all inclusive package holidays in the resort areas, Rhodes town is a lot quieter than it used to be.  It was quite sad really, walking around, to see so many small hotels and businesses closed up, not just for the winter but probably for a year or more judging by the hoardings and piles of dusty post visible on empty shop floors.  When you book a package holiday with a big holiday company, very little of your money actually finds its way into the local community and eventually the community withers and dies.  When you travel independently, dealing with Greek businesses and eating in family tavernas, you are putting money directly into the local economy, keeping small businesses and communities alive and growing.  Food for thought.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Springtime Symi

The view from Symi Visitor Accommodation this morning.  The bunting is up for the Dodecanese Day parade on 7 March 2018.

The Kali Strata in winter mode - rain streaked whitewash, moss, weeds, cats and an abandoned office chair.

Or perhaps not so abandoned...  

The first poppy photo of 2018.

No snow on Symi these year but, as usual, plenty of snow on the mountains across the way in Turkey.,

The second poppy photograph of 2018.

Yesterday was clear enough to see the snowy mountain tops. Today was grey and there are pockets of mist trapped in those distant valleys.

Thursday was the first dry sunny day in ages and everyone was out, doing things, including the municipality catching up on roadworks.

Vapour trails over an empty harbour.

A very wet February is behind us and March brings its promise of spring.  There is still lots of wet stuff showing up on the long range forecasts but temperatures are creeping upwards, the days are getting longer and lighter and Easter will soon be upon us. 

The international tourist season used to start in April with couples, families and walking groups coming to spend their Easter/spring break holidays on Symi.  In recent years, with the decline in niche market tourism to places like Symi, April and May are a lot quieter and it is mainly Greeks who come to the island.  June is the new April and the tourist businesses are slower in getting going.  This does mean that if you do opt to visit Symi in April or May, you will have a far more authentic island experience and the pleasure of having Symi to yourself. 

It is a beautiful time to visit as the island is still green and the spring flowers are quite overwhelming.  If you are a keen walker, photographer, writer or just want some time to yourself, there are worse places to be than Symi in April.  Just allow yourself a low stress schedule as you may have to spend a day/night in Rhodes at the beginning and end of your stay due to the vagaries of the ferry schedule. That in itself is no hardship as Rhodes old town is much nicer outside the main tourist season and there is plenty to explore.  Make the coming and going part of the holiday and enjoy the adventure.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Playing Tourist on Rhodes

First rains - we woke up to a showery Tuesday with lots of thunderstorms hovering around but no serious downpours.  

On Wednesday I went to Rhodes for the day and played tourist in the Old Town.  This is the big mosque at the top of Socrates street, at the top end of the Old Town.

Looking down Socrates street towards the harbour. This is the main shopping street in the Old Town.  Rhodes Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and behind the tourist tat there are some amazing old buildings.

Like this one, for example.

And this old Ottoman coffee shop with its pebbled floors and bric a brac. This style of coffee shop with its high vaulted roof, straight-backed chairs and walls lined with memorabilia is found throughout the old Ottoman empire and could be anywhere from Cairo and Jerusalem to Damascus and Istanbul. The uniquely Rhodian feature is the pebble floor.

At the bottom, looking through a ruined church and an Old Town gate at a glimpse of the sea.

Some of the ruins in Rhodes Old Town are of archaeological interest.  Others are ancient ramshackle buildings in which people are eking out a living.  The side streets beyond the cruise ship visitors and tourist crowds reveal the realities of a frugal life with no funds to indulge in authentic restorations or gentrification.

Here is an example of what I mentioned above.  In the foreground is an archaeological excavation of a Byzantine church.  In the background is a lovingly restored 19th century town house.  In between there is someone, probably an elderly woman judging by the washing line, living in a partially ruined building.

The view from the balcony of room 303 at the Hermes hotel in Mandraki.

The Italian Art Deco fish market in the Nea Agora, Mandraki.

Guardians of the gold - spotted inside the Nea Agora, Mandraki

Tuesday's rainy day marked the start of autumn and although it was still hot walking around Rhodes on Wednesday, there is now a brisk north wind blowing and temperatures are firmly in the twenties.  Rhodes is busy, mainly with Russian package holiday tourists and cruise ship passengers.  Mandraki harbour, however, which used to be popular with the yachting fraternity, is empty with only a few locally owned motor boats in evidence and there were no megayachts berthed in Kolonna.

September on Symi is always the month for the island's many regular British, Scandinavian and German visitors and there are a lot of familiar faces around.  It is a good month for those who aren't tied to school holidays and want to avoid the heat of high summer.  We are still taking last minute bookings for late September and October so it looks as though this year Symi will be busier in October than it was in April and May. We have now also opened booking for 2017.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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