A Drizzly Day on Symi in February

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.

Yes, we do get fresh cauliflowers and celery on Symi.  They are winter crops in this part of the world.  No one has to teach the Greeks to eat in season - they always have done.  It has only been relatively recently that we have been able to reliably buy tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines in the winter. They come from poly tunnels in Rhodes and Crete.  The usual Greek salad in tavernas in the winter is actually a green salad based on Kos lettuce and various wild greens and herbs not available in the summer.

Low cloud rolling down the Vigla warns of more rain to come.  That is the bell tower of St John's church in Yialos. The buildings on the hill behind are in one of the oldest parts of upper Chorio, dating back to when the donkey path up the Kataraktis was the main route up to the village.

The view from the bridge in Yialos. The water level is very low due to a barometric high over the area.  The water, which used to be very clear, is still discoloured by all the soil that washed into the harbour in the flood on 13 November 2017.  At least the sunken boats and wrecked cars have all been removed.  There are still odd chair legs and bits of bicycle sticking out of the silt though. Further up, in the upper parts of Chorio around Stavros Church, work has not even begun on rebuilding the destruction that the torrents caused and for many Symiots and expat residents it will be a long time before life returns to normal.. The Pedi valley and the football pitch are still awaiting attention too.

The slip by the customs house this morning.  With the low water level today this marvellous green carpet of weed has been revealed.  No doubt incredibly slippery.

As you may have gathered, there isn't much for men to do on Symi in the winter except fish or chat to friends who are fishermen.  In the summer those blue booths are the ticket counters for the water taxis to the beaches.

Empty vistas.

One can always feed the pigeons.

Symi is a very vertical sort of place.  The steep slopes of the amphitheatre harbour look like a hanging garden. That is an almond tree among the conifers, unfurling its spring greenery as the blossom falls.

Lemonitissa church on the Kastro overshadows Pallas Athena on one of the island's oldest jewellery shops.

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Symi - An Authentic Greek Island Experience

The glamour yachts are back.  We don't see as many huge megayachts as we used to but there is evidently still  money around, judging by this line up earlier in the week

A cat-nap

It is not all gin palaces and 'stink boats'.  We do see occasional sailing yachts like this one in Yialos.

Yes, this is Symi.  If you go up the mountain you enter a different world.  One of ancient forests, orchards and olive groves, mountain chapels and tumble-down terraces.

Cats and chickens living in peaceful co-existence on a corner in Lieni, an area on the top edge of the Pedi valley.

The voluptuously extravagant flowers of the wild caper bushes are a well-kept secret, only visible to early risers.  The tiny buds form in the evening, swelling over night and bursting into bloom at dawn, only to shrivel away in the morning heat.  The Greeks use almost every part of the caper plant, pickling and brining not just the immature flower buds but also the tender leaf tips and the seed pods.

A Symi scarecrow.

Blue and white.  The colonnade is part of Giorgio and Maria's taverna, a Symi landmark since the 1970s and still going strong, although the eponymous Giorgio and his wife have long since departed this earth.

The last gasp of the Kali Strata steps. The Olive Tree cafe is screened by the verdant garden on the left. Giorgio's taverna is the blue sign at the top centre.  There is a very charming small boutique selling artisanal sandals and other items immediately opposite the taverna entrance.  A bit higher up you will find the Rainbow bar and Boulmas/Lefteris Kafeneion, a butcher, a baker and various other shops.

The  blue studios at the Hotel Fiona in Chorio.

The traditional herb shop, just down from the Olive Tree at the top of the Kali Strata. They also sell Greek coffee and other ethnic delicacies.

Free range on the Kali Strata. There is no real division between town and country on Symi and many Symiots keep a small flock of hens and a rooster to supply the family with eggs and the occasional bird for the pot.

The lanes of Yialos abound with shops and boutiques to suit every budget and taste.  Symi has quite a reputation for its excellent shopping opportunities in the summer and you will find far better and more interesting items for sale here than in Rhodes Old Town.

Symi's new fresh fish shop, next to the Georgina's Market in Yialos.

Day visitors from Rhodes enjoying a seafood lunch at one of the traditional tavernas in Yialos.

Not all of the lanes are busy and bustling. Some of them are peaceful oases.

Symi is getting busier as July progresses.  Hot sunny days by the sea merge into warm summer evenings in the bars and tavernas.  Visitors grow browner by the day.  Most of Symi's beaches can only be reached by water taxis operating out of Yialos and Pedi.  Others can be reached on foot in Nimborio and Pedi and there is also a mini-bus service several times a week to take people across the island to Toli Bay for the day or down to Marathounda, the tiny seaside village near Panormitis.  On Symi you can go to a different beach or bay everyday, or find your favourite and visit it time after time. The choice is yours.

Symi is very popular with single travelers.  An advantage of staying on an island where visitors stay among the locals is that everyone quickly knows everyone else.  The locals eat at the same tavernas as the tourists, visitors travel on the same bus as the locals and shop in the same shops.  First names are quickly exchanged and no one remains a stranger for long. This is why people keep coming back, year after year, visiting friends and making new ones.  Symi is a totally authentic and unique Greek island experience.

There is still quite a lot of accommodation available on the island for this summer if you have flexibility with your dates.  Have a look at our travel blog to see what flight options connect with the ferries to Symi and drop us an email.

Have a good week!

Regards,
Adriana

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May Postcards from Symi

Pretty petunias outside the Vapori bar, one of several attractive bars and cafes in Yialos, Symi's main harbour.

Fresh fish at Symi's fish market, by the bridge in Yialos.  Just remember, this is Greece so you have to be up early if you want fresh fish.  By 10 or so it is all gone.

VE Day - 8 May 2017

I wonder how many thousands of soldiers have marched past this balcony in the last hundred years.

Greek oregano, rigani, growing wild on the terraces of the Pedi valley.  That black and red blob is a butterfly.  I was up on the road above, looking down, and hadn't realised the butterfly was there until I downloaded my photographs.

May Day in Chorio

Nearly done.  Only about 60 or so steps still to go!

It was extremely windy on Monday night and for most of Tuesday.  The super-sized Greek flags for the VE Day parade on Monday put a lot of strain on the flag poles. The one outside the customs house nearly took off, despite a couple of guy ropes. The ones on the bridge are just slightly bent at the top.

One wonky flagpole with the Kastro, Lemonitissa and Chorio on the hill in the background.

It will take a while to get used to seeing the Poseidon without her masts.

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office today. 

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Monday Musings from Symi

The Church of the Dormition of the Virgin of the Castle is having a facelift. Symi has no shortage of churches and there are several on and around the Kastro.

The Blue Star Patmos came through from Piraeus on Sunday after the shipping strike was temporarily suspended, bringing with it such high bulk items as toilet rolls and kitchen paper.

The dress shop in Chorio, flaunting a fabulous Christmas bow.

A flourishing fig among the ruins on the Kali Strata.

A glimpse of Christmas spirit near the bottom of the Kali Strata.

Storm clouds looming over Mavrovouni this morning. Rain is forecast from this afternoon through to early on Tuesday  morning, followed by a sharp drop in temperatures.

Yialos.

Wash day at Lemonitissa church.

The ferry didn't just bring practical things like loo paper.  It also brought these cheerful poinsettias.

The Petrides school at the back of St John's church looks wonderful with its new paint.  Whoever undertook to do that elongated meander frieze had a lot of patience and an incredibly steady hand.

Hibiscus in flower in the Metropolitan's garden next to St John's church.

Angels on an old grave stone incorporated into a bench in St John's churchyard.

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Symi Sunshine in October

The view from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office balcony this morning.

Hellenic blues by the bridge in Yialos

A pigeon heading for the ATM at the National Bank of Greece. The ATM is just inside the doors.  About 10 years ago there was a flock of geese living in the harbour as a local business man thought they were cute when they were goslings and bought them from a gypsy hawker.  Geese, as anyone who has ever kept them will know, are notoriously bad tempered and noisy and actually make excellent 'guard dogs'. Well, to cut a long story short, when the winter came the geese took up residence in the entrance to the bank in bad weather, preventing anyone from getting to the ATM and attacking bank customers and staff.  Eventually they were rounded up and rehomed in a more rural setting where their mean dispositions did not trouble the good citizens of Symi.

Looking back towards the National Bank building from the bridge.  Symi's war memorial and cenotaph is at the bottom of the long white flight of steps towards the right of the photograph.

The waterfront in Yialos is lined with colourful cafes, gyros bars,  tavernas and tourist shops.

Tamarisk stumps as firewood for the bakery by the bridge in Yialos. There are still two wood fired bakeries in Symi - the one by the bridge and then the one up in Chorio, just up from the Syllogos square.

The chain saws were busy this weekend, cutting the tops off the eucalyptus trees that line many of the roads on Symi. This is done every couple of years to prevent damage to the power lines by falling branches in winter storms.  So many trees have died from drought this year, there were plenty of chain saws in operation this weekend, cutting them down.  Usually at this time of the year we are listening to rotovators in the valley, not saws, but as we still haven't had any soaking rain, the ground is rock hard and impossible to plough.

A promenading cockerel speculating as to whether either of these two boats will ever see the water again.  They have been parked on  our road ever since I can remember which is a good 20 years!

The weather on Symi remains mild and dry with temperatures around 25 degrees at midday and 18 degrees at midnight.  There is a cool northerly breeze blowing and it is quite chilly in the shade.

The beach tavernas have now packed up for the winter and the water taxis have stopped for the year.  Although the weather is still fine and the sea warm, most of Symi's beaches face east and are surrounded by steep cliffs so at this time of the year they are in shadow very quickly so not suitable as late season swimming venues even if there are still some tourists around.  Popular places for swimming at this time of the year are NOS, Nimborio and Pedi bay, all of which can be reached without taxi boats.

We are now working winter hours so I am only in the office two mornings a week, mainly to file my blog.  We are, however, able to answer emails from home so if you want to contact us about booking your holidays for next year, please email us on symi-vis@otenet.gr and either Wendy or myself will get back to you.

Friday this week is Ochi Day and a bank holiday in Greece.  If you are on Symi this week, don't miss the parade in Yialos on Friday morning.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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