Spring, Glorious Symi Spring

The Vigla is the highest point on Symi so all the antennae and beacons are located up there.  If, however, you are in the shadow of the Vigla you may find that your phone picks up a stronger signal from Turkey than from Symi.  In direct line of sight, however, one can actually pick up quite strong 4G signals these days.

I can assure you that this poppy is absolutely real!  I spotted it on a verge next to the football field behind the power station in Pedi.

Best friends.

Lemon blossom

Rogue nasturtiums

The grape vines are waking up.  

You can see why wild clematis is sometimes called Old Man's Beard

Oak leaves unfurling in Lieni

The Pedi valley.

A lonely cloud between Symi and Turkey.

I spotted this atop a chimney that I pass every day and have never noticed before.  There is always something new to see on Symi.

We have been exceptionally lucky with the weather this March.  After that week of solid rain at the beginning of the month it has been sunny and mild and, as you can see, nature is reveling in the ideal growing conditions.  March can be a very stormy month so it is really exceptional to have such a long run of fine weather.

Tomorrow, 25 March, is a double holiday in Greece as it is the anniversary of the start of the Greek War of Independence from the Ottomans and it is also the Feast of the Annunciation.  The flags are up in the harbour and the children are running about, pursued by harassed teachers trying to coral them into groups for marching practice.

It looks as though there may be a break in the weather in the middle of next week with a possibility of rain showers. These, unfortunately, are likely to be of the 'red rain' persuasion, a phenomenon that combines fine dust from North Africa with moisture and turns everything ochre. We shall see!

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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The Joys of Spring - My Walk to Work

The wild hollyhocks are in flower.  The recent strong winds have knocked their spires into various crazy angles but they are still delightful.  My little Olympus camera does not really do the color justice - a voluptuous satiny pink.

A defiant clump of poppies, hanging on despite the rising temperatures. With midday peaks around 30 degrees the flowers don't last very long.

Looking across to the windmills from Lieni, Symi is still predominantly green.  The dust of summer has yet to settle on all those shiny new leaves.

Clumps of daisies, plumes of grass. 

Symi is famous for its beautiful neo-classical architecture. While the houses seem quite uniform at first, close attention reveals all sorts of little details, like this carefully cut stone work above a doorway on the Kali Strata.

Or this eye on a pediment, also on the Kali Strata.  In this part of the world, houses and boats are often marked with eyes to protect them from evil.

The fascinating staircase leading to the current home of the peripatetic Symi Gallery.  Gallery events are advertised on their Facebook page and you can see more work by Ian Haycox on his website.

Two beautifully restored mansions on the Kali Strata.  Symi is so steep that very few properties have gardens and those that there are are usually full of useful things like lemons and oranges, as is the case with these two.

It is such a bright and cheerful time of the year here on Symi.  The sun is shining, there are people about, everything is growing and looks fresh and perky - only the most determined pessimist could be gloomy in such circumstances.  That said, this was the quietest election I have ever experienced on Symi.  Usually Pasok heartland, there was no reason for dynamite and victory toots last night.  Coming in third was a definite shock to moral and there was a lot of discussion going on in the cafeneions and lanes this morning.  New Democracy, who won by a very slender majority, have 3 days in which to create a coalition government.  If they fail, there will be another election.  For tourists this will have little impact, except that those coming to Greece from outside the Eurozone may well benefit from the fact that the value of the euro has dropped slightly on the results of both the French and the Greek elections.

Tomorrow is VE Day, a local public holiday.  If you are on Symi, come down to the harbour and enjoy the annual parade.  If you aren't on Symi, photographs of the parade will be on the Symi Dream site as they will be covering the parade as usual.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Food for the Imagination

It is a bright sunny spring day on the small island of Symi in the Dodecanese. Day trippers are inspecting the racks outside the tourist shops for bargains and yachts of varying sizes and styles are rocking gently on the quay. Temperatures are pleasantly warm rather than searingly hot and it is still quite chilly in the shade. The water taxi boats are not in operation as the beach tavernas are not open yet but round in Harani the sunbeds at the Nireus Hotel and NOS Beach are seeing some use. It will be a while yet before the sea warms up but some hardy souls are already braving the waters. May is more of a month for hikers, walkers, photographers and painters rather than dedicated beach babes.

Despite a dry spring there are still a lot of flowers around and the gardens in Chorio are a wonderful sight. As there is so little arable land here Symiots have to create gardens among the rocks and make small stone terraces for planting hardy and drought resistant flowers. Courtyards usually have a lemon tree or a grape vine for shade. Old feta cheese and olive cans are often used as plant pots. Their straight sides make them fit neatly close together, shading each other’s roots and maximizing on space in a way that more curvaceous plant pots never can.

Many of the larger mansions are still closed up for the winter, waiting for summer owners from Athens or further afield to bring them to life in July and August. The rest of the year they guard their secrets behind sealed shutters and wrought iron gates, food for the imagination of those of us who pass by in the lanes. Apart from the Symi Dream Photography Walk on Sunday mornings which I mentioned in Monday’s blog there is also another guided walk in Chorio that will appeal to those who are curious about the island’s history and want to explore the labyrinth without fear of getting lost. This is run by Ian Haycox and takes place on Friday mornings from 09.00 to 13.30. For more details and to book please contact Symi Visitor Accommodation at symi-vis@otenet.gr

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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April on Symi

That patch of snow is still there, over on the left horizon.

A lone fishing boat slowly passes Pedi, heading south.

Pedi Bay early the following morning, calm and serene.

It is only a week to Easter and Symi is suddenly humming with activity. There might not be as much money to spend on painting and decorating this year but a frenzy of spring-cleaning has gripped Chorio. The rugs and carpets of winter are dripping over railings or subject to vigorous beating before being put away for the summer and walking through the lanes this morning I could hear a chorus of vacuum cleaners.

Wild grape hyacinth, Muscari, in my garden.

We went to Rhodes yesterday on the last scheduled Symi-Rhodes-Symi day trip on the Proteus for who knows how long. The boat was packed for the return trip, mainly with young Symiots returning from university and college for the Easter holidays. Rhodes is home to one of the campuses of the University of the Aegean but many young people are sent further afield, to Crete, Athens or Thessalonica, and only get to see their families at holiday times. Greece is one of the few countries in the EU to still have conscription so between tertiary studies and 18 months in the army, young men often leave the islands as teenagers and don’t really return until they are in their mid twenties. It is not surprising that many of them settle in other places instead. There are several well known Symiots who actually come from other parts of Greece but came here to do their national service, married local girls and stayed on in Symi.

Not all pimpernels are scarlet...

Even the stoniest places can sustain a clump of hardy chamomile.

Weather wise, April on Symi is as variable as it is elsewhere in the world. Spring and autumn are always unpredictable. Showers, sunshine, thunderstorms, chilly squalls and the sudden realisation while walking home from the shops that one is wearing way too many clothes. We had 12 mm of rain on Thursday afternoon and there is the possibility of more wet stuff in the next few days. As northern Greece is actually expecting snow on high ground we cannot really complain about a few puddles in our corner.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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Rain-Swept and Deserted

The Katerinettes is getting a new coat of paint and

Kokkona's house nearby is have a complete facelift with new plaster.

Yes, he is using a mobile phone and no, he is not wearing a crash helmet.

After a very wet weekend the sun is out once more.  With a chilly breeze blowing from the north any patch of sunshine is worth seeking out and many of the foreign property owners who have arrived on the island for the Easter holidays are holding court on the pavement outside Pachos.  The island has filled up a bit today as many French and Italian expats arrived on the island on the Dodecanese Seaways catamaran this morning.  On Saturday Yialos, Symi’s main port, was rain-swept and deserted, today it is humming with many voices.

The rain clouds roll down, masking the Vigla and Kokkimides

The cheerful sound of 1960s Greek pop songs rings out across the bay as Costas, one of the island’s six taxi drivers, likes to liven things up when he is at the rank by playing old favourites on his car stereo and singing along with them.  The chaps on ladders fitting the awnings on the coffee shop next door often join in the choruses.  A school of dolphins cavorted off Harani in the rain on Saturday afternoon. Although dolphins are fairly common in these waters it is rare to see them so close in shore.

In a few months Symi town square will be the home of the Symi Festival but today it is deserted.

The weather is expected to remain unsettled for the next 10 days with more showers expected later this week and again at the weekend.  April showers are as common here as they are in more temperate climes but in the case of Greece, this is often the last rain we have until October and it is crucial for helping trees and shrubs make it through the long drought of summer.

Nasturtiums putting on a brave show.

Lemons in the rain

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Old Town Walls and Battlements

The Cottage, one of Symi Visitor Accommodation's popular Chorio rentals, in a sea of daisies.

Athena smiles down from a rooftop in Yialos.  She could tell a few tales.



Symi is in a pink haze of Saharan sand as a dust storm is curling up from Africa, bringing with it the threat of red rain and muddy thunder showers. This is a common phenomenon at this time of the year and invariably coincides with the spring whitewashing. As I have observed before in these pages, there is a very good reason why the traditional colours for Symi houses are shades of ochre, cream and terracotta. The next few days will be very unsettled as this weather system passes over us. With the high pollen count as well as all the fine dust in the air it is advisable for anyone with respiratory problems to stay indoors until we have at least had sufficient rain to clear the air once more.

Poppies, wild mustard and an improvised football pitch in the moat of Rhodes Old Town.

Akandia Harbour, from which the Proteus and various other ferries and freighters depart.

Rhodes Old Town Walls, fringed with poppies. 

That is the Blue Star Ferry from Pireaus just visible over the edge.

There are flowers literally everywhere at the moment. I went to Rhodes on Wednesday as there was that rare thing, a day return trip from Symi on the Proteus car ferry with sufficient time to actually get things done. Rather too much time, as it happens, because the boat was so full it was very late doing the Kastellorizon trip and we did not get back home to Symi until eleven at night. However, while Nicholas was doing the rounds of the agricultural suppliers I went for a walk through Rhodes Old Town. There was a Cypriot cruise ship in so a few tourist shops had opened, selling the remnants of last year’s souvenirs. What was more inspiring, however, was the sight of poppies growing wherever they can find a little earth and some moisture. There were poppies along the tops of the town walls and battlements and poppies in the moat. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be bright red blooms nodding gently in the spring breeze.

The ferry saga continues with the Proteus now doing a few tourist day trips from Rhodes in April and the Symi II still in mothballs in Mandraki. The new schedule means that while there is only one day a week, Friday, when it is possible for the people of Symi to go over to Rhodes with a vehicle, get things done and get back to Symi the same day, there are more frequent opportunities for goods and freight to be sent over unaccompanied. Who knows what May will bring but at least we have a reasonable schedule to get through April for the Easter visitors.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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Spring Fever

Many Symiots fly the Greek flag for holidays such as Independence Day on 25 March. 

Greece, along with the rest of the EU, changed to daylight saving summer time yesterday and spring has officially begun. With the first tourists arriving on Symi for Easter in a few weeks there is a lot to be done and the island is humming with activity. A shipload of building materials came into Pedi at the weekend – we could see it unloading from the roof terrace of our farm house. Apart from preparing tourist accommodation, restaurants, cafes and shops, many locals are also busy getting their boats ready for the season. Many places on Symi that are beaches in the summer are home to small boats and caiques chocked up on barrels for the winter and these all have to be painted, launched and moved to summer moorings so that the beach franchise holders can get on with preparing their sunbeds and umbrellas for the season. Other boats have spent the winter on trailers in car parks, orchards and olive groves and have to be similarly dug out of their winter hibernation. The car and bike hire companies are washing and polishing their fleets. There is a line up of gleaming copper Fiats over by the clock tower, clearly visible in the sunshine from my office window.

A bee making sure that we will have at least one apricot this year.

Wild sage flowering in a water course.

Everywhere one looks the island is smothered with flowers at the moment. Even the oaks and olives are doing their bit. Here are some spring fever photos for those visitors who have only ever seen Symi in her dry summer garb and find it hard to imagine that Symi is ever anything but burned brown in the sun.

A Valonia oak in spring finery

A scented carpet of wild cyclamens under the olives.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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A Delightful Time of Year

It is a glorious spring day and the flags for tomorrow’s Independence Day parade are fluttering gaily in the breeze. Webcam devotees will be able to watch part of the parade live on the webcam as the dignitaries walk along the front when they leave St John’s church and go along to the war memorial.  It is a bank holiday long weekend in Greece which is why I am posting this blog a day early. Two fields of potatoes are still waiting to be dug up so I know how I will be spending the holiday.

The latest update on the boat saga is that yesterday the Tilos Star, a catamaran belonging to the nearby island of Tilos, called in en route from Rhodes to Tilos with its football team, and was kept here overnight due to a gale warning for a Force 8 northerly in the stretch between Symi and Tilos and is still here. Yialos is full of bored teenage footballers. Mind you, there is slightly more life on Symi, with 3000 winter inhabitants, than Tilos which only has about 300, but even so they would like to go home now please.

The Dodecanese Seaways catamaran also came through yesterday, heading from Kos to Rhodes, but they weren’t forced to overnight on Symi as they were heading away from the weather. The Proteus came in from Rhodes, empty, to bunker up with fuel and then set off for Rhodes early this morning. She was supposed to be leaving Rhodes at 16.00 this afternoon but this has now been deferred to later this evening. According to Symi’s truckers, she will be bringing goods onto the island. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, the usual practice is for a driver to put a truck on the ferry in Rhodes and then for another trucker to drive it off in Symi. It is then unloaded at leisure and sent back. This saves truckers getting stuck in odd places and keeps costs down for the companies because by using local drivers they don’t have to worry about accommodation and subsistence.

We are all waiting to find out when, if at all, any kind of formal schedule for ANES is going to appear. At the time of writing, there is still no announcement on ANES’ website.

Today’s photographs were taken by Ged Horton. As you can see, it is a delightful time of the year for walkers.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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