Signs of Spring

Spotted outside the butcher in Chorio this week - a shepherd's crook.  Perhaps Easter lamb negotiations are taking place inside.

Kiosks are not always kiosks.  Sometimes they are small shops.  The entrance to the square in Chorio.

An extraordinarily detailed restoration on the square in Chorio. This house must have belonged to someone quite rich and prosperous as it is a lot bigger than it looks as it is deeper than it is wide and actually has an internal staircase of quite grand proportions.  Most traditional Symi houses have external stairs to connect the floors and then open tread ladders or open spirals inside to save space.

The top of the Kali Strata, the 19th century staircase that connects the upper village, Chorio, with the harbour, Yialos.

The site has been cleared and the spa bath has arrived. What more do you want?

Valentine's Day, Symi style.

Modest but putting a brave face on it, the first daisies open in the chilly winter sunshine.

The first asphodels are also opening up.  

A wild cyclamen in Chorio.

The buds are swelling on the valonia oaks.

The bougainvilleas may be bald but the birds are back.

A little patch of sun.

Cold, clear and dry, Symi is starting to dry out.  Yesterday was 'Smokey Thursday', the start of carnival which is celebrated with lots of grilled meat.  In these times of austerity that is mostly pork souvlaki but meat never the less.  In the big cities carnival is for all ages but here in the islands it is mainly the children who have fancy dress parties and enjoy showing off their costumes.  It looks as though the dry weather will continue until Clean Monday on 27 February so no one risks turning from Sleeping Beauty to Drowned Rat and mothers don't have to worry about crepe paper leaking dye everywhere.

One sad piece of news to report is the passing this week of Captain Gabriel from the Diagoras excursion boat.  He contributed greatly to the sum of human happiness over the decades as he introduced many of Symi's visitors to the island's picturesque beaches and rugged coastline.  This summer will be very odd without him.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Symi's Special Magic

Looking along the quay from Harani towards the Clock tower.  The three storey building with blue trim and white panels catching the light is the well known Nireus Hotel.  Immediately to the right of that is Sofia's House, followed by the Vaporetto restaurant and the Aliki Hotel.  The Merchant House is one tier up, behind the Aliki Hotel.  In the distance, on the opposite side you can see the row of old windmills in Chorio.  Among the houses on that hillside you will find Charitomeni restaurant and Villa Rose.

The road along the water's edge between the Clock Tower and NOS beach is exceedingly narrow, really just the quayside, and it has bites out of it with steps down to make accessing the boats easier.  This narrow strip is actually also the road to Nimborio so it is hardly surprising that there is no public transport out to Nimborio bay.

As September slips towards the autumn equinox the number of clouds is increasing and we had a brief spattering of rain on Sunday.  The air is clearing, revealing more rows of hills on the distant shores of Turkey, opposite Pedi Bay.

The same row of old windmills that I pointed out to you in the earlier photograph of Harani, but this time seen from across the Pedi Valley.  Nowhere on Symi is very far from anywhere else and it is the many hills and valleys that makes this tiny island so fascinating. The whole island is only about 8 miles long.

A harmonious line up of colours on the Kali Strata washing line.  

An appeal in Greek and English for people not to dump their rubbish outside this old house on the Kali Strata. For logistical reasons there is no system of 'dustbin men' collecting refuse directly from the houses.  Instead, as is common in this part of the world, there are skips placed in convenient locations that can be accessed either by the big municipal dump truck or by a tiny little Piaggio mini dump truck that can squeeze through some of the lanes.  Householders take their rubbish with them when they go out and drop it off in the nearest skip. The skips are emptied every day in the winter and often twice a day in the height of the season.  Unfortunately at this stage there is no viable system for recycling plastic and glass on the island so this all goes into the landfill up on the top of the mountain.

Fishing boats, yachts and a small ferry, the Nikolaos X. The harbour seems strangely empty with the Panagia Skiadeni still off the schedule for repairs.  Her return has now been put back to the 22 September.  Please keep an eye on Andy's excellent travel blog for regular updates.

The Greek flag, high on a rocky hillside overlooking Yialos.

September on Symi brings many familiar faces back to the island and our little office has been full to overflowing this morning with people coming in to say 'hello'.   Symi's uniquely authentic Greek island atmosphere has many loyal fans.  Visitors who have been coming for decades and can remember when there were no cars and, indeed, no roads.  Visitors who came with their children every summer for years and can now enjoy the peace and quiet of holidaying outside the school holiday period.  Visitors who came on holiday with their parents and now come as adults, sometimes with their own small children too.  Visitors who bring friends to share Symi's special magic.  When will you visit Symi and with whom will you share your special Symi holiday?

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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September Symi Sunshine

The clouds are back!

Clouds over the hilly peninsula that separates Pedi bay and the Pedi valley from Yialos, Symi's main harbour.

Some spectacular thistles in the Pedi Valley - all that is left after the long summer drought.

The cars were dripping dew this morning - a sure sign that the weather is turning and the nights growing cooler.

The last steps of the Kali Strata before one reaches the Syllogos Square in Chorio.  Next year this view will be slightly different as sadly the Symi Dream shop is closing at the end of October, victim to changing times.  Neil and James will, however, remain on the island and will no doubt reinvent themselves in a new venture, as yet to be announced.  For many regular visitors to Symi this marks the end of an era of wine nights on the steps and shopping for books, calendars and unique cards.

It may be September but the megayachts are still in evidence and there is still the possibility of some celebrity spotting!

Few plants can survive the harsh conditions of the Symi summer drought but this Virginia creeper on a house just above the Kali Strata seems to have plans for global domination.  Perhaps it has its roots firmly in the rain water cistern!

Who needs a tumble drier when Symi sunshine is free?

The bright parasols are carried by tour group leaders from Rhodes.   Everyone looks out for the appropriate umbrella for the correct group and language.

Day trippers from Rhodes, listening to a talk about Symi's sponge diving history and wondering who has to carry the shopping up all those steps.

Visitors staying on the island don't need tour guides - they are on the water taxis outside our office, heading for the beaches.

Dino, the chandler opposite the entrance to the Symi Visitor Accommodation office in Yialos, always has a splendid collection of brightly coloured flags.  

A new month has started, as has a new week so the greetings are 'kalo mina!' and 'kalo ebdomada!' The weather remains hot and humid but the breeze is cooler and there was heavy dew last night.  The wet weather that is currently causing problems in Italy and the Adriatic is expected to reach mainland Greece in the next day or so.  We are just seeing random clouds.

Many familiar faces are arriving on the island and popping into our office to say 'hello'.  September has always been a popular month with Symi's regular visitors and this year proves to be no exception.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Good Old Fashioned Family Holidays

The white horse in pensive mood.

The gold and green of the Pedi Valley.

An old Ottoman roof at the bottom of the Kali Strata.

There is no shortage of places to eat and drink on Symi. We have everything from the traditional to the sophisticated.

The water taxi and excursion boat jetty in Yialos with Mavrovouni in the background.  Spiti Grand Helene and Villa Iris are visible in this photograph and have the advantage of lovely views combined with convenient proximity to the water taxis and excursion boats.

Symi Tours - the ferry ticket agency on Symi. They also handle bookings for Aegean Airways.

The landmark herb shop near the bridge in Yialos.

Symi's fish market - best visited very early in the morning if you want to be sure of getting the day's catch.   This photograph was taken at 8 this morning.

The Meltemi has found us this year and today it was too windy for the taxi boats to go out to the beaches.  It has, however, broken the worst of the heat and lowered the humidity so temperatures are in the high thirties rather than the low forties and nights are bit cooler.

Symi is humming with people.  Many of the families that have been booking their accommodation through us for years are appreciative of the fact that we now have wifi in most of our houses and the teenagers are able to keep up with their social media commitments without the embarrassment of having to go out and search for an internet connection.   We all know how humiliating it can be for a modern 15 year old to be off line for an hour or more and miss out status updates ...  But on Symi there is always the opportunity to spot some visiting celebrity and let us not forget the incredibly glamorous yachts that come in every night which can do a lot to improve adolescent Facebook cred.

Symi is not your traditional family holiday destination with amusements on tap but none the less a lot of families have been coming to Symi for years and, internet aside, there are certain advantages to Symi as a family holiday destination.  One of the most obvious is that it is incredibly safe.  The local children enjoy a measure of independence unheard of in many places and parents do not have to worry about their teenagers going off by themselves for a pizza or coming home separately.  Wifi aside, it also provides the opportunity to enjoy the kind of old fashioned family holiday that we remember from a generation ago - the kind of holidays where families go exploring, do things together, enjoy local culture and learn something new to talk about rather than staying in an anodyne generic resort that could be anywhere from one end of the Mediterranean to the other and possibly even the Caribbean as well.  Symi is a wonderful opportunity to 'go native' as thanks to its unique protected status, accommodation is in restored traditional houses rather than boring generic tourist boxes and wherever you are you are mixing with the locals at all levels. Although accommodation on Symi can be more expensive than in other places, the properties that Symi Visitor Accommodation lets out are the sort that you can actually live in, with decent facilities for preparing meals and good outside space, so you can enjoy actually living in a real Symi house rather than camping in a box and eating out for every meal of the day.

Although the official Symi Festival fell victim to the recession and government cutbacks, cultural activities such as the Symi Shrimp Festival, organised by the Symi Women's Association, and various film shows, recitals, exhibitions and live music at various tavernas and bars mean that there is plenty going on during the season.  If you are on Symi this evening, for example, you can go to the weekly Wine Night at the Symi Dream Gallery near the top of the Kali Strata and then head for the Secret Courtyard, a tiny courtyard bar at the top of the Pedi Road, to enjoy an evening of live traditional music. There is always something to do or see on Symi, but it may not always be what you expected!

All the best.

Regards,
Adriana

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Will There be Rain on 1 October?

I never know what I am going to see on my walk to work in the morning. A laden donkey munching thistles next to two boats half way up a mountain is not as odd as it sounds when one lives on Symi.

A donkey and pony train being loaded up to take building materials to a property that does not have vehicle access. This is one of the reasons why building or restoring properties on Symi is so expensive. Very few properties have close vehicle access and all building materials have to be carried up and down steps and along narrow lanes.

A lone dove on a wire above the Kali Strata.

The view from my office balcony this morning.  The water taxis are still operating but are not as busy as they were a few weeks ago and there is a definite 'winding down' feel to the island now.  Some businesses are already laying off staff for the winter and the ferry schedule is much reduced.

The metallic blue bus is the one that goes to Panormitis monastery on the south side of the island.  The timetable is up on the kiosk at the main bus stop in the harbour.  The diagonal contraption across the hillside towards the right of the photograph is a contraption devised to send building materials down a chute to a building site among the houses from the road above - a contrivance to avoid having to carry materials up 80 steep steps from the quay and along a lane. There is another chute, somewhat shorter, down to a gap between the houses on the quay for removing rubble from the same site.

As the weather is becoming cooler the range of fresh produce available on the island is becoming more varied. Other parts of Greece have already had rain and market gardens in Rhodes and Crete are able to produce under irrigation all year round.

It is the last day of September and Symi is starting to wind down for the long winter sleep. The ferry schedule has diminished considerably and will be reduced even further from the middle of the month.  The weather forecast is once again promising us countrywide rain tomorrow with possible thunder storms to help it on its way.   Temperatures are still in the high twenties and it is very humid. 
After so many months of drought and only a muddy sprinkle a few weeks ago there is an air of eager anticipation among the locals who are keen for the weather to break and the growing season to begin.

On a more serious note, a group of 22 Syrian refugees has arrived at Symi police station. The group includes women and children and once again the island's support group is swinging into action to provide clothes and bedding.  Food, water and medical facilities have been arranged as two of the women are in poor health.  It is believed that they will only be on Symi for a few days but whether their destination will be a holding centre elsewhere in Greece or if they will be returned to Turkey is unclear at this stage.  If you are on holiday on Symi and have any clean suitable clothes or left over toiletries (shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste) that you don't want to take back home with you, please can you contact us at Symi Visitor Accommodation.  Thank you.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana



 

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All the Way from Symi

The sun catching the monastery on Nimos early on Wednesday morning.  Nimos is a small steep island just to the north of Symi, separated from Symi by a narrow channel which is too shallow for the big Blue Star ferries but serves as a handy short cut for the Dodecanese Seaways catamarans and other shallow draught vessels.



Harani is in the sunshine but the sun has yet to reach Mouragio, the area of Yialos from the clock tower to the bridge.



Villa Papanikola's facelift is nearing completion and should be ready to welcome the next generation of visitors next summer.  Many of Symi's September 'regulars' had their first Symi encounters as single holidaymakers at Villa Papanikola in years gone by.



A window with a fig tree. 
Note the etched lines in the plaster where the house was originally intended to give the impression of being made out of expensive dressed stone rather than the usual careful jigsaw puzzle of local stones held together with a mortar of mud and lime.



The plants have arrived for the garden I mentioned in an earlier blog.  This is going to be a very splendid garden indeed, judging by the specimens of trees, shrubs and perennials dotted around as the gardeners worked out their planting plan.



Sunrise over Pedi at 8 a.m. 
With Symi's steep topography it takes a long time for the autumn sun to find its away over hills and mountains and into steep valleys and gorges. 



Now you can shop at Soroco, Symi,  all year round with their new on line shop.  This features all the beautiful high quality crafted garments and lifestyle accessories for which this boutique has become known so you can treat yourself to an exciting parcel all the way from Symi whenever you want.

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