Sunshine After Rain

Most of the wild anemones in my garden were buried under rubble in the big storm on 13 November 2017 but this one survived and is putting on a brave show.

The big valonia oak at Lieni is very confused by the mild winter temperatures and is still hanging on to a lot of last year's leaves.

I was pleased to see that some long-overdue work is finally being done on the roof of the old pharmacy building in Chorio.

After weeks of rain and damp weather, washing lines are blossoming all over Chorio.

The wonderful miniature gardens of dainty ferns and moss that sprout in the dry stone walls and ruins of Chorio during the rainy months of winter are a seasonal delight.

The blue shutters are part of the museum in Chorio.

What could be more Mediterranean than ripening oranges against a clear blue sky?

Looking at massive sheets of impermeable rock like this, it is hardly surprising that flash floods and torrential rainwater run off are a problem in the rainy season.  There is literally nothing to hold the water.

A cold blue sea.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.  Calm seas and cloudless skies make a pleasant change after weeks of rain followed by last week's gales.

Well, I didn't get to Rhodes on Friday. The Force 9 winds in the Aegean threw out the Blue Star's schedule by about 18 hours so I shall be trying again on Wednesday.   There are only two possibilities for a day trip to Rhodes from Symi - Wednesday and Friday.  As both are with the Blue Star, the bigger weather picture has an impact on this.

The weather is expected to change again on Thursday with rain forecast for Friday.  At the moment midday temperatures are around 14 degrees, falling to around 10 degrees at night.  Places that are in the shade most of the day are significantly colder.  Places that face south and are getting 8 hours of sunshine are much warmer.  Location, location!

Symi is very quiet with few people about.  Netflix must be doing well at weekends as on a Sunday Chorio is deserted.  The bus is still in Rhodes which also limits activities.  What goes down must go back up again and those Kali Strata steps give pause for thought when carrying shopping bags.  Those who live in Chorio, shop in Chorio.

Speaking of shopping bags, Greece is implementing the requirement to charge for single use plastic bags.  Signs in Greek and English are popping up, even in the shops on Symi, although I have not known anyone yet be charged the 4 cents per bag.  Another change regulars might notice this year is that Symi, like many other remote Greek islands, has lost its tax concession due to the bail-out requirements so VAT is now 24%. 

Unlike many other countries, Greeks have to pay VAT on all foods so this is going to be quite inflationary for the locals.  At the moment it is not quite clear which things will be at 24% and which at 13%, 17%, 9% or any other random number you would care to think of but presumably this will all be sorted out in the coming weeks.  Symiot shopkeepers seem to be trying to absorb as much of the increase as possible themselves but it is quite a hike so they won't be able to keep this up for long, particularly as the cost of getting stuff onto the island has also gone up.  We are certainly seeing far more cheap Bulgarian imports in the shops than we used to and far fewer items from more distant parts of Western Europe.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Fair Weather February

Two unusual things about the view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning. The first is the water boat which seldom comes in during the winter as in theory the town's reservoirs should be full of free rainwater.  The second is the Dodecanese Seaways catamaran heading for the 'wrong' side of the harbour.  The road around the harbour, from the bridge to the clock tower, has been closed since Saturday while the roadworks and paving project proceed.  As vehicles can't get round and the catamaran brings in fresh produce for the island, she is coming in by the bus stop for the moment.

Another view of the water ship.  Symi has no natural fresh water supply.  What we don't harvest from our roofs into cisterns during the winter rains has to be produced by a small desalination plant on the Pedi road or shipped in by boats such as this one.  This is why Symi is one of the few Greek islands where you won't find 'villas with pools' on the accommodation listings.  Fortunately Symi's pretty beaches are sheltered and calm for summer-time swimming.

Lemonitissa church peering down at Yialos from the Kastro, the old castle mound.

Oranges and cabbages, ladders and ropes.  One can buy most necessities on Symi - as long as you are realistic about your definition of 'necessity' and can adapt your plans according to what is available. There is no point in pining for peaches in February when oranges are in abundance!

The paving project between the town square and the bridge.

Roadworks outside the National Bank.

Artisanal cheeses and an interested feline audience.  Foodies look out for the cheese man who comes round about twice a month on the Blue Star.

The oranges that grow on Symi are usually very bitter, like Seville oranges, hence the hawker with his truck of oranges.  It is a curious thing that when growing citrus in drought conditions, oranges become bitter whereas the Symi lemons are surprisingly mild and sweet, regardless of the variety.

The Kali Strata is fast becoming a mossy landscape with weeds and grass popping up wherever there is soil.  Regulars to this page will know that at some point in April, May or some years even as late as June, some brave soul from the municipality weeds the whole flight of 360 or so steps and then whitewashes the step fronts for the summer.

Off street parking on the Kali Strata.

Free range Fred playing chicken on the road out of town this morning.

A rare glimpse of Profiti Ilias monastery through the trees.  In the summer the oak tree has leaves and the monastery disappears from view.  Profiti Ilias is one of the many ancient sites on Symi and fragments of  pre-Christian masonry hint at the possibility of a temple to Apollo on the site.

Wild cyclamens.  One of Symi's seasonal secrets.

The work on the new commercial harbour continues at a steady pace. They have laid out the harbour front with concrete blocks and are now back-filling while at the same time cutting away the hillside to create a large level area for trucks and vehicles coming off the car ferry to turn and park.  It is not much fun for the houses in the immediate vicinity of the construction work but once the project is completed, they will probably get a new lease of life as commercial properties close to the port.  

After a fairly wet and humid week the wind is once again blowing from the north, bringing clear skies and low temperatures.  Midday highs will be around 13 degrees or so this week, dropping to around 6 degrees at night.  The two main projects on the island, the paving around the town square and the construction of the new commercial harbour, are proceeding well. So far this February has been very mild with none of the storms and floods usually characteristic of February in the Aegean so if the rest of the month continues like this, with no extreme weather, they should all be on schedule. Fingers crossed!

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Walking in the Valley

A privately owned solar farm in the Pedi valley.  The main use of solar power on Symi, as in many countries in the region, is in the form of solar water heaters but there are quite a lot of solar panels around once one starts looking out for them. The combination of ever increasing electricity prices and a steady reduction in the cost of solar power systems makes this an attractive proposition for rural dwellings.  Some years ago Symi municipality installed solar panels on the roofs of some of the island's reservoirs to provide power for streetlights.

Looking across the Pedi valley towards the Kastro, the oldest part of Chorio, from the path to Drakos, an early settlement on Symi that has had little archaeological attention, despite being about 2000 years old. One can see why that hill would have been an appealing site for the knights to build their castle. All that is left now are fragments of the castle walls and there is now a cluster of churches at the apex.

The path to old Drakos in the Pedi Valley - overgrown with thistles but reasonably easy to find as one follows the wall.

We were last here 10 years ago, when the wall was capped and the sign put up.  It doesn't look as though anyone has done anything to maintain it since then.  That is a small goat perched on the wall on the left, beyond the squill.

Symi has no shortage of mysterious old walls and terraces and in many cases little is known about who built them or why.  As you can see, this is an incredibly arid landscape with little soil to sustain agricultural activities.

This length of dry stone walling has collapsed along the path and the vegetation is taking over.

If you are on Symi now and are wondering why your eyes are itching and you are sneezing you may be allergic to tamarisk pollen.  Tamarisk trees have very fine wispy flowers and produce clouds of very fine pollen.

The Symi Flower shop is in autumn mode now - lettuce and brassica seedlings, onion and garlic sets and broad bean seeds have taken over from flowers and pot plants.  The rainy season can't be far away now and it is important to make the most of the crucial combination of warm days and water to get the vegetables started before the cold dark days of winter take over.  The rainy season runs roughly from October to March and is the main growing period in the Mediterranean basin.

The water taxis are busy, taking visitors and locals to the beaches.  With temperatures in the mid to high twenties and the sea still pleasantly warm, a day with friends on one of Symi's picturesque beaches is an important part of any Symi holiday.

Yialos in the early morning light.

Autumn is taking over from summer and the season is drawing to a close.  Temperatures are pleasantly mild - between 25 and 28 degrees during the day, falling to around 18 degrees in the evenings. The breeze has turned cooler and the humidity is gone.  The harvest moon has been replaced by clear star-spangled skies and visibility is infinite.

Many of the boutiques in the harbour have clearance sales now as they will be closing in a week or two.  If you want to buy designer beachwear with 50% discounts, now is the time.

The ferry schedule for October comes into effect at the end of the week. If you are planning on coming to Symi in October, it is a good idea to check Dodecanese Seaways and Blue Star Ferries when making your plans as overnight ferries from Rhodes to Symi come to an end after 1 October.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Rosy-Fingered Dawn and A Lone Duck

Homer's rosy-fingered dawn has been very much in evidence this week - and one doesn't have to get up very early to see it either. This was just after half past six on Wednesday morning.

It is amazing how different the same landscape can look. This was Pedi bay at half past seven on Friday morning.  We had had some heavy showers during the night which moved away towards Turkey, defining hills and valleys that remain hidden from view for most of the summer.

I took these two photographs on Wednesday. The sunken yacht has finally been raised. She has a damaged bow including a big hole just on the water line.

Those drums the gypsies were selling from the truck in Monday's blog evidently came in useful for extra bouyancy during the salvage operation. Through the slime of a fortnight's immersion in Yialos one can make out that she is the Lavinia of Prague.

Eye-catching colours in Chorio.

For those too impatient to wait for the flowering of the wild cyclamens in January, the gaudier cultivated ones are available from the Symi flower shops.  

Breakfast in Chorio.

This bright yellow fishing net hanging outside a house off the Kali Strata caught my eye on the walk to the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.

We don't get much in the way of traditional autumn leaves here on Symi but the Virginia creepers more than make up for the deficit.

Some of the recent showers were heavy enough to flatten the grass that is growing among the stones on the Kali Strata.

There are at least four cats in this photograph.

Parking can be a problem on Symi, just like anywhere else, but even so I wasn't really expecting to see a little girl's bicycle balanced on some ropes outside a window above Antoniades' hardware store this morning.  On Symi you can always expect the unexpected - and there is usually some sort of rational explanation for it too!

As I was sitting at my desk this morning I heard the resident duck quacking vehemently and went downstairs to investigate.

There didn't seem to be much happening so perhaps he was just asking where everyone has got to. He seems to have the harbour pretty much to himself these days.

He uses the slip at the customs house to get in and out easily.  Yes, that is a small Christmas tree on the left, behind the hazard tape that usually marks the slip way.  The municipality has started to put up Symi's Christmas decorations.  Of necessity they are placed next to streetlights so that they can be tethered securely in place and power is available for the illuminated decorations still to come. The man just visible on the other side of the bench is chipping rust off an anchor chain - not, however, the big black chain that you can see on the right which belongs to that huge anchor in front of the car.  One way of getting round the shortage of parking on Symi is to park on the pavement but that is another story.

The big area of low pressure that has brought storms and heavy rain and strong winds to the Adriatic is now winding its way eastwards.  So far the weather has been better than expected.  More rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow and then showers on Monday.

As you can see from the photographs, it is very quiet on the island now.  Forget about Christmas shopping hordes on Symi - any significant Christmas shopping is done in Rhodes and a lot of people went over on the Blue Star this morning. The boat was an hour late as there were so many vehicles waiting to board. A casual analysis of 'foreign' shopping bags in the island's skips reveals that the usual destinations for Symiots shopping in Rhodes are Jumbo, M&S, H&M, Lidl and Carrefour. Looking at the ferry schedules, weather permitting there are only 2-3 more shopping days until Christmas - unless one is planning a mini-break on Rhodes as Friday is the only day of the week where there is a day return to Rhodes that offers a reasonable amount of time.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Perfect Poppies

Perfect poppies

Last year's Christmas tree finds a summer home on the Kali Strata.

Bee hives in the shade of an oak in the Pedi Valley.  That is Profiti Ilias in the background.

Waiting for a new roof in the harbour.

The view from my office balcony this morning after the rain.

They don't make padlocks like this anymore.

A new ceramics shop opening in our lane.

All set for the season.

Spring flowers outside one of Symi's boutique wine shops.

Symi awoke to the rumble of thunder this morning and a short sharp storm rolled over the island at dawn, dumping some hail and a fair amount of rain on the island as it headed east to Turkey.  The sun is out now and everything looks fresh and perky.  After a windy weekend and today's showers it looks as though the weather will be more settled for the rest of the week.  Next week is 'Big Week', the big run up to Easter so everyone is flat out busy with painting, cleaning and baking in anticipation of the holidays.  The tavernas and gyros bars that are open usually switch to a strict fasting menu for Big Week so expect seafood specialities and pulses rather than meat dishes on the menu.

There are quite a few new shops and enterprises opening up on the island this year and browsers will find more interesting and artisanal gifts to take home as souvenirs.  I'll be taking photographs as I go about my errands in the course of the week to share with you on Friday.

There is a big nationwide strike scheduled for tomorrow, mainly affecting the major ports, railways and public services.  At this stage there is no mention of air traffic controllers being involved.  Please keep an eye on our travel blog http://symivisitor-accommodation.com/blog/ and also http://livingingreece.gr/strikes/ for updates and information if you are visiting Greece at this time.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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