Changing Seasons on Symi

Mimosa at Agios Elefterios church in Chorio.

Halloween decorations at one of the English language schools in Chorio.  Halloween isn't really a big commercial holiday in Greece the way it is in the USA and the UK.  

The once-crowded lanes of Chorio where houses stood tightly packed before the explosions of World War 2, feature narrow winding lanes and occasional arches where houses once straddled the lanes to save space.  In a region where level land for building was non-existent and houses were built of stone, this was a way of creating more room for the dowry houses of marriageable daughters.  Chorio must have been a real warren before it all came tumbling down.

Look carefully and in every crevice there are specks of green as seeds start to germinate.  We have had over 20 mm of rain since the drought broke last Tuesday and the rainy season is off to a good start.

How did the chicken cross the road?  On a broomstick, of course.

I have known this oak since it was a sprouting acorn with a handful of leaves. Note how the wayside moss is starting to turn green.

The wild clematis is also busy transforming from dead twiggy stuff to glossy greenery.

Down in the harbour, the boat trips are over for another year.

The gypsies and hawkers are starting to arrive for the Panormitis Festival on 8 November.

False alarm!  The Noddy train is still with us - it fitted in a few more rides on Friday as there were a lot of people over from Rhodes in anticipation of the Ochi Day celebrations on Saturday. Dodecanese Seaways is offering big discounts on the last day trips from Rhodes and as many Greeks in seasonal employment are now off for the winter, Symi is a popular day out.

Bunting for the Ochi Day parade on 28 October.  The rain actually held off for the duration of the parade and resumed around half past one.

Looking across the harbour from the top of Mavrovouni.

The Pedi valley lies between the rows ofhouses in the foreground and the ridge of hills in the background.  That is  the monastery Zoigos Pigi, the life-giving spring, among the trees on the ridge.  It is one of the few natural sources of water on the island and flows for a few months each winter when the water table is fairly high.

Symi is becoming cooler, damper and greener.  Temperatures are now around 22 degrees at midday, falling to around 14 at night.  Some areas are colder than this if they are north facing and receiving little direct sunlight. 

The hawkers are starting to arrive for the Panormitis Festival next week.  The Feast of St Michael has turned into something of a fair over the years with many stalls set up in the monastery grounds.  In some ways it is very medieval with gypsies, hawkers and pilgrims all converging on the Panormitis monastery.  Before the road was surfaced everyone came in small boats and caiques. Now they are more likely to arrive by ferry and Panormitis bay is not the jostling throng of brightly painted wooden fishing boats with pilgrims sleeping on the decks that it was when I first came in 1993.  It is, no doubt, a lot safer and more comfortable these days but the fairground atmosphere lingers on.

Have a good week!

Regards,
Adriana

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October Postcards from Symi

The Friday morning Blue Star Paros gliding past the entrance to Pedi, en route to Rhodes.

A very empty Yialos on Friday morning.  Although the Turkish government has lifted the ban on gulets and other Turkish flagged commercial vessels visiting Greece, it has come too late in the season.

The planting season has begun. The Symi Flower shop has started to sell seedlings for Kos lettuces and various brassicas as well as leafy herbs such as pot celery, parsley and mint.  

There was a lot of mad tooting outside the office window the other day as this Maltese gin palace tried playing dare with the Panagia Skiadeni.  Discretion proved the greater part of valour and the Panagia won.

This kitten was chased up this dead shrub by a chicken...  I couldn't get a shot of the chicken but the kitten gave me a baleful look as I went past. There is another kitten from the same litter in the dry grass just behind him.

Olives and local stone - Greek icons indeed.

All quiet in Harani this morning.

Getting a new roof on, double quick before the rains start.

The view from Symi Visitor Accommodation this morning.

The shuttering has gone up for the back retaining wall of the new commercial harbour.

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Snails, Plastic and Rick Stein

The snails are back!

Wind patterns on the water in Pedi.

The acorns are plumping on old valonia oak at Lieni in Chorio.

Dusting off the outdoor heaters.

All wrapped up against the rain.

Symi's various cafes, bars, tavernas and restaurants don't have much in the way of inside seating, if any at all.  Instead they use a combination of awnings and clear plastic 'tents' to provide shelter for their customers during the autumn and spring months when there is the possibility of rain and chilly evenings.  It may seem like camping but they are surprisingly effective, particularly when combined with the heaters above.

The much anticipated rain did not come to much on Symi - about a millimetre late on Friday night, just enough to make patterns in the dust, and then another 2 millimetres early on Sunday morning which brought the snails out in their droves.  I was out with the salt cellar, saving my seedlings from the ravenous slithering hordes.  Saturday, the day which was supposed to be really stormy with heavy thundershowers, turned out overcast and very windy but with no rain. There is no more rain for the foreseeable future but temperatures are a bit lower than usual for this time of the year - mostly in the low twenties now with night time temperatures around 17 degrees centigrade and quite breezy.

Many of the seasonal businesses have now packed up for the year, particularly the ones owned by Athenians such as the new beach at Petalo.  They are usually only active in the peak months of July, August and September anyway.  The cruise ship Salamis Filoxenia was in yesterday and the Blue Star this morning brought a lot of visitors to Panormitis, judging by the convoy of mini buses heading up the hill.  One advantage of the slightly chilly weather is that there are lots more day-trippers from Rhodes visiting the island so the cafes are busy.  Rhodes is much more exposed to the wind so those who are not interested in wind-surfing off Ialyssos are on Symi, sipping lattes and people-watching in Yialos.

One late season surprise visitor was celebrity chef, Rick Stein. Wendy ran into him at Giorgio and Maria's taverna in Chorio yesterday.  He fell in love with Symi while shooting the kitchen shots of his BBC series, 'From Venice to Istanbul' in one of our houses back in 2014.  Sofia's House, the villa that he used is unfortunately no longer a rental property but we have plenty of other houses if you want to enjoy Symi like a celebrity.

Rick and Sarah Stein with Wendy Wilcox, the proprietor of Symi Visitor Accommodation.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Warm and Mild

This summer social media has been full of stories about British schoolchildren complaining about their school uniforms and dress codes. Well, here on Symi  formal school uniforms are worn for parades. The rest of the time both boys and girls wear shorts, jeans, jeggings or tracksuits depending on the temperature.  No complaints or protests there! 

One of my favourite photogenic washing lines off the Kali Strata.

The harbour is a lot quieter, particularly now that the Turkish government has prohibited Turkish flagged commercial vessels from visiting Greece.

After so many fibre glass production yachts and gin palaces it is nice to see some elegant classic lines and varnished topsides.  Sorry, I am a dedicated traditionalist when it comes to boats.

Agios Eleftherios Church in Chorio. This church is unusual in that it has twin bell towers and they are part of the church building.  Many of the older churches on Symi were built at a time when the Ottoman overlords forbade church bells so the towers were added much later and are separate structures.

Spot the dog.

The Panagia of the Kastro as seen from the Chorio car park.

An eye for detail.

Light and shade on the Kali Strata.

Waiting patiently for breakfast.  The Hatzipetros supermarket cat is very well-fed on a diet of cheese ends and ham scraps from the deli counter.

It may be October but there are still people around and the water taxis to the beaches are still operating.

It is the second of October, 26 degrees centigrade, bright and sunny with blinding sunshine and the occasional passing thunder cloud heading over to rain on Turkey.  It is cool in the shade, delicious in the sun and the sort of weather where those of us who live here say to each other, ''if only it was like this all year." We are all paying a bit more attention to the weather forecast now that rain is a possibility.  So far it has all passed to the north of us but our time will come.  From past experience, this is often a random cloud that appears from nowhere, defying all forecasts, dumps on a bit of Symi and then disappears, leaving us all wondering what happened as we watch the waterfall that is the Kali Strata.

The sea is warm and the evenings are mild. We sometimes go up to the kantina on the road above our house in the evening.  Beautiful evening views of Pedi, reasonable prices and the murmur of happy  conversation as it is a popular haunt with the locals of all ages.  If it is open when you are next on Symi, it is definitely worth a visit. Their menu is very simple. Just souvlaki, sausages and delicious hamburgers from the butcher, cooked on an open charcoal BBQ, served with freshly made Greek salad.  Make a note for next year!

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Planning Your 2018 Holidays

Yialos earlier this week.

Looking across to the Kastro and Lemonitissa church 

Symi gold.

Symi has all sorts of interesting shops, including an organic Greek food store and a tinsmith who personally crafts many of the items that he sells.

Fork in the road.  The left hand steps lead to the old kataraktis foot path up to Chorio that runs up the back of the kastro hill that you can see in the previous photograph.  This comes out in the oldest part of Chorio.

A conifer sprouting out of top of a wall at the back of Yialos.

What's that on the wall of St John's church?

A fragment of an old marble sculpture, possibly a stele  incorporated into the structure of St John's church at the back of Yialos.

Another ancient fragment on St John's bell tower.

Free range Fred struts his stuff in Chorio.

It almost rained this morning.

September is one of the loveliest months on Symi.  Not too hot.  Not too crowded.  The children are back in school and the beaches are peaceful.  The season feels as though it is drawing to a close and the ambience is relaxed and laid back.  It is not quite over though.  Next weekend marks the beginning of October and the walkers start to arrive.  Walkers, painters, photographers - they come to enjoy Symi's golden autumn light and the beginning of the island's second 'spring'. April and May, the proper spring, are glorious in their own way, with abundant wild flowers, mild temperatures and the joys of Greek Easter but October has a huge advantage - the sea is warm!  

If you are thinking about a visit to Symi next year but are afraid of Mediterranean heatwaves, consider the end of September and the first 2 weeks of October.  While the excursion boats and water taxis start to wind down in the middle of October, many other amenities such as tavernas, cafes, tourist shops and bars stay open until the Panormitis Festival on 8 November.  Now is also the time to take a look at the ferry schedules as this year's schedules for September and October are still visible on line and provide a useful guide for synchronising flights with ferries.  You can also follow our travel blog.  Andy is already putting up useful flight information for next year as it becomes available.

We are starting to take bookings now for 2018 so why not drop us a line on symi-vis@otenet.gr?  Just let us know how many people you are, the ages of any children and any special requirements you might have and we will profile your booking to suit you.  You can always be sure of old-fashioned personal attention when you book through Symi Visitor Accommodation.

Have a great weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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