Spring has Sprung on Symi

Mimosa madness in the town square, Yialos.

The valonia oaks are covered in tassels and humming with bees.

Every scrap of wasteland is covered with daisies and chamomile.

Even the  most neglected citrus trees are laden with ripening oranges and lemons.

An old courtyard wall in Chorio has become a vertical garden.

Freesias in front of the hardware store in Chorio.

Pink doesn't get any hotter than this.

As I was walking down the Kali Strata this morning I heard a snicker and a bleat.  It was a nanny goat, trimming a fig tree.  Her colouring makes her virtually invisible against the rocks and if she hadn't made a sound she would probably  have been unnoticed.

Her friend emerged from the ruin next door,  munching some rogue nasturtiums.  Now do you understand why the municipality defers weeding the Kali Strata until the last minute?

Fresh fish for sale from a step in Chorio.

After a stormy few days and some heavy rain - yes, even in Greece we can have wet bank holiday weekends! - the weather has cleared. A brisk north-westerly wind has dropped temperatures back to the levels they should have been in February and the children are dressed like little Eskimos as they head for their chilly classrooms. As far as nature is concerned, however, the equinox is only days away and flower power is taking over. Summer time visitors may think of Greece only in terms of bougainvillea tumbling over walls and pots of pelargoniums, the stuff of postcards and brochures, but the cooler months of the year bring forth a far wider range of flowering plants than those clichéd stalwarts. The shady places in the Pedi valley are still carpeted with wild cyclamens and the corona daisies are waist high on open ground.

The long-range forecast remains fairly cool and there is the possibility of rain again on Friday night and Saturday. Who knows? Perhaps we will make up for the drought of February after all.  As Greek Easter is quite late this year, at the beginning of May, a wet March isn't too much of a disaster as there is still all of April for painting houses and shops and whitewashing steps. Most of the restaurants and tavernas are still closed or engaged in essential maintenance such as cleaning cisterns, servicing refrigerators and fixing up tables and chairs.  Job lists are being drawn up and plans made.  One advantage of the seasonal nature of Symi's business is that the cafes, tavernas and restaurants on the island have a thorough clean out every year and everyone starts the season with fresh stock and new paint. There are no forgotten corners as everything is taken outside and the whole place scrubbed from top to bottom.  The Greeks take spring-cleaning seriously.

Greek Orthodox Lent has officially started.  Unlike Catholic and Protestant Lent where denial is part of the definition and virtuous children give up chocolate and sweets, Orthodox Lent focuses on giving up those foods that contain blood and to a lesser extent dairy products. This means no meat but lots of seafood, taramasalata (cod roe) and sesame products such as halvah and tehina.  There is an amazing array of recipes for fasting cakes and confections, using oil instead of butter, and vegetarians can also dine very well at this time of the year with lots of seasonal vegetable dishes. If you are visiting Symi in April you will find some unusual and delicious seasonal specialities on the menu that  you would never have the opportunity to sample in July!

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

Read more...

Unique and Beautiful

Looking across the harbour to the bus stop on the south side.  The Kali Strata steps pass diagonally behind the houses and the photographs I take of the harbour on my way to work are often taken from between the cream and ochre buildings in the upper centre of this photograph.

The largest building on Symi, the new sports complex, gleaming marble and white plaster.

Peeping between the buildings on the Kali Strata.  The paintwork on the Katerinettes building is nearly finished.

Free range in the truest sense of the word. As we don't have foxes and other predators on Symi, poultry can wander about with equanimity.  These chaps can out wit any dog and often flap over the fence into my potato field.

Breakfast by the side of the road.

One of the Kali Strata mansions, the Villa Rousso splendid in her new paint.

Occasionally we receive an email that reminds me that many would-be first time visitors have a vision of Symi as a stereotypical Greek island, based on visits to other parts of Greece and how they are represented in the media.  Symi is not a 'typical' Greek island.  It is not Corfu, Santorini, Hydra, Myconos or any of the other trendy destinations with their luxury resorts, fancy swimming-pooled villas and exotic night life.  Symi is a beautiful neo-classical gem, much loved by those who put the aesthetic ahead of creature comforts and can tell the difference between quality of life and standard of living.  Symi's quaint architecture and steep landscape frequently require the tolerance of a certain level of discomfort, on the part of visitors and locals alike, but wow is it worth it for the views and the loveliness of the houses.  The archaeologia may rule Symi with a firm hand when it comes to new buildings and the reconstruction of ruins but while other islands are disappearing under a creeping tide of golf courses, oligarch's villas and concrete, Symi retains a charm that is increasingly unique.  Part of that charm is that visitors to Symi stay within the Symiot community. They ride the same bus as the locals. They eat in the same tavernas. They drink in the same bars and cafes.  The neighbours to your holiday accommodation are more likely to have lived there for a hundred years than come from Manchester or London for a fortnight. There are no tourist ghettos. The closest we get is the handful of restaurants and bars along the waterfront that only open for the summer season but that is largely because these days the locals can no longer afford to go out for more than a gyros during the long winter months of unemployment in this economic crisis.

The island is very steep and mountainous. The beaches are surrounded by cliffs and few can be safely reached by any means other than water taxis.  As the shoreline is mostly cliffs there are few waterfront properties and aside from the steep amphitheatre harbour, most habitation is up in Chorio, the original village, far from the reaches of pirates and marauders.  Water is in short supply as the island has no natural water supply so there are no villas with swimming pools.  Instead everyone heads for the sea and the 4 o'clock bus on a hot afternoon in July or August is full of local children with their grandmothers and inflatable beach toys, heading for a paddle in Pedi.

So, if you are looking for a luxury resort with a pool, all modern conveniences and a glittering international night life or a cheap all inclusive holiday where you never have to mingle with the locals or leave the resort, Symi probably isn't for you. But if you are looking for an authentic island experience where you will make many friends and probably return year after year to sit at the same cafe table where the proprietor knows you by name and remembers your special from last time, Symi is for you.  Celebrities pass through Symi discreetly and the nationalities of Symi's visitors are many and varied but Symi's character remains, unique and beautiful.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

Read more...

Waiting Patiently

In a few weeks this lane will be bustling but at the moment everything is still firmly closed apart from the pizzeria at the end.

Waiting patiently to be let in.

In the summer this is a busy street with cafes and shops on both sides.  At the moment the only place open is Symi Tours, the shipping and airline agency.  Easy to spot at this time of the year as it is the only place with people outside it.

A steel rolling shutter, probably about a century old, but still functional.

The tinsmith is busy in his workshop, turning olive oil cans into useful household objects.  This is a rare example of artisanal skills being passed down through the generations. The young man learned the skill from his grandfather who was the 'tin man' when I first came here, 20 years ago.  If you see the shop open when you are in Symi, do pop in.  Dustpans, olive oil dispensers, lanterns and candle holders - he still makes the traditional household items that people used to use before the ubiquitous plastic took over the world.

A Dodecanese Seaways catamaran.  The ferry schedule for the summer is now available on line but there may be changes along the way, particularly for the peak month of August.

It is still very quiet on Symi. It is too wet for outdoor activities such as painting and preparing shops and tavernas for the season and in any case more rain is forecast for today and tomorrow.  This will be followed by high winds mid week and fairly low temperatures for the time of year.  It could drop as low as 9 degrees on Thursday.

The fish pedicure place next door to the Sunflower Laundry and our office in the harbour is now being transformed into a cafetiera.  The big sign that they had on the top of the building has been taken down so at the moment we have a fairly panoramic view, on that side at least. It is unlikely to last long, though, as it will probably be replaced by a new sign advertising the latest venture.

Meanwhile, in the Pedi valley, the lambs are fattening nicely for Easter on their diet of wild flowers, herbs and grasses.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

Read more...

Narrow Winding Lanes and Alleys

Waiting patiently for her owner.  

If you look carefully, there is a clump of white freesias growing from the top of the wall in the centre of the photograph.

The rubble filling this ruin turns into a vertical garden at this time of the year.

While Yialos, Symi's harbour, is famously steep with the houses lining the amphitheatre connected by perpendicular flights of stairs, up in Chorio, the old village, approaches are more gentle, along narrow winding alleys and lanes, punctuated by only occasional flights of steps.  Look at those orange trees overhanging the walls.

With so many Symiots reverting to their agrarian roots to weather the economic storm, the agricultural shop next to the town hall in the harbour is doing well.  This is the place to go for mushroom spawn, seed potatoes and commercial quantities of wheat, barley and other field crop seeds. They also stock organic fertiliser.

The locals usually pull their boats out of the water in the winter, parking them wherever they can find a vacant spot.  This one, tethered to a tree in the town square, is providing a sunny conservatory for a local cat to nap in.

A sheep in the Pedi Valley, happily munching among the oregano bushes and wild grasses.

February has come to an end and it looks as though the wet and windy weather we usually have in February is coming to us for March instead.  There has been a marked deterioration in the weather and rain, thunderstorms and strong winds are forecast for the next few days - a bit disappointing as Monday is Clean Monday, a holiday traditionally spent in picnics and kite flying in the mountains.  At the moment the forecast is for 90% rain on Monday - an uninspiring start to Lent.

Apart from Clean Monday there is a second bank holiday next week, 7 March which is Dodecanese Day. This commemorates when the Dodecanese group of islands became part of modern Greece after the Second World War.  Every island has a parade with traditional dancing in local costumes.  Although it is Lent, wine and meat are permitted on Dodecanese Day.

Have a good weekend.  I will be back on Tuesday, after the holiday.

Regards,
Adriana

Read more...