Happy New Year from Chilly Symi

Pedi Bay during the December supermoon. This photograph was taken from high up in Chorio,  That bright light is actually over in Turkey, several miles away.  In the winter when the weather is clear one can see the opposite shore quite clearly.

As I was saying!  This was the view from Lieni this morning.

Looking the other way, those are the wind turbines between Datca and Marmaris!

The view from the  Symi Visitor Accommodation office this morning.  The Blue Star Patmos has been seriously delayed due to Force 9 gales in the Aegean which precipitated a shipping ban.  It was supposed to have left Piraeus at 10 this morning but at time of writing is still tied up so unlikely to get here before midday tomorrow (Saturday).  The truck you can see in the photograph comes over from Rhodes with fruit and vegetables for the Symi supermarkets and is waiting to go back with a load of empty crates.

Yanni proudly showing off the octopus he caught in Harani recently.  Octopus stifado is a popular winter dish here. The octopus is braised with red wine, vinegar, spices and lots of small onions.  

Free range Fred looking for breakfast in Lieni.

Now that we have had a sustained cold spell the remaining leaves on the valonia oak trees are starting to turn colour like proper autumn leaves.

It has been a cold wet and windy week with heavy rain on Wednesday and Thursday. This morning dawned bright and clear and it looks as though we will have a cold start to the new year with daytime highs on Symi and Rhodes of around 9 degrees, dropping to 5 or 6 at night.  Much of Greece has had snow and icy weather.  Even nearby Rhodes experienced snow flurries on the highest points at Ataviro and Profiti Ilias.  More rain is forecast for next week with a slight rise in temperatures to around 12 degrees at midday.

Rick Stein's cookery show, 'From Venice to Istanbul' is evidently being shown on TV in  Australia at the moment and we have received many emails from people wanting to book 'Rick Stein's house'. To set the record straight, the house is actually Sofia's house in Harani.  It was sold some years ago to a Symiot family who now live in it year round so it is no longer available as a rental property.  It never belonged to Rick Stein and he himself only used it as a film set as it had a big open plan kitchen dining room with plenty of space for the cameras.  He himself stayed in Iapetos Village Hotel at the back of the harbour. There are lots of lovely houses to rent on Symi and we are happy to help you book one but it won't be 'Rick Stein's house'!

Still on the subject of food, Symi has a great selection of good restaurants and tavernas in the summer so there is no need to slave over a hot stove in the heat of a Symi summer.  If, however, you do want to dabble in the culinary arts and try your hand at Greek recipes, most of our rental houses are fully equipped for self-catering and you will find the ingredients for seasonal Greek cuisine in the local shops and markets in Chorio and Yialos.

The town public address system is pumping out Christmas jingles and it is time for me to head for the bus stop.  My next blog will be on Tuesday as the office is closed on Monday. All of us at Symi Visitor Accommodation wish you a very happy new year and we'll be telling you soon about our planned birthday celebrations as we turn 20 in 2017!

Regards,
Adriana

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Kalo Pasca!

The Pedi valley yesterday.  There is a chilly north-westerly wind blowing which is only expected to drop some time tomorrow so it is unusually cold on Symi for the time of the year.  It is only about 14 degrees at the moment.  There is a shipping ban in effect so the Blue Star ferries are tied up in Piraeus and many parts of Greece have experienced late snow.

Looking across towards central Chorio from Lieni.

Some optimistically placed no-parking cones along the waterfront in Yialos.

A windy sky and a chilly sea. The two Dodecanese Seaways catamarans are sheltering from the storm as Rhodes harbour is untenable.

More places are opening up for the Easter weekend.

A ruined shopfront on the Kali Strata steps. This must have been quite a fancy business in its heyday as there are fragments of quite elaborate plaster and wrought iron still visible.

Wild lupins and poppies in the Pedi valley.

Irises and a prickly pear.

One of my cockerels enjoying the feel of freshly sieved soil between his claws.  These stones were dumped on our terraces when the Agia Marina river burst its banks during the winter and we are having to sieve all the stones out of the soil again before we can plant anything.

It is Good Friday in Greece.  Many people have been fasting scrupulously this week and even the gyros bar is only serving taramasalata (cod roe dip) and salads.  Meat isn't back on the menu until Sunday when the Resurrection is celebrated with traditional spit roast lamb and goat. No wine today.  No oil in cooking.  Good Friday is observed very seriously and there should be no manual labour.  Most shops are closed apart from those selling essential foods and people spend a lot of time in church.

Tonight there will be processions of the Epitaphi which represent Christ's body through the streets of Symi, a very dramatic event with much chanting and many explosions to keep evil spirits at bay. The different parishes have their own processions and there is an element of competition as to who produces the most beautifully decorated Epitaph.

Have a good weekend and Kalo Pasca!

Regards,
Adriana

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Deja Vu!

No, this is not a leftover from my previous post. This is Yialos today. The water level is even higher and the water is several centimetres deep on the forecourts of the two cafes at the corner.

Motorists choose their moment to drive through the swirling seawater.  

Paddling in the cafes. The drop cloths may keep the rain out but they don't help against water from below.

The sea breaks over the quay, washes across the pavement and then sluices down the storm water drains in the road, only to meet more water bubbling up through the same drains.

Williwaws marching into Harani and waves sloshing against the clock tower.  This is why the Nireus and Aliki hotels pack up totally for the winter and swaddle all their external fittings in plastic to keep the salt spray off.  The Blue Star Diagoras is sheltering on the leeward side of Kos at the moment and is unlikely to put in an appearance before late tonight or early tomorrow morning. The present gale warning is in effect until 10 p.m. tonight.

In the summer this lane is bustling with open air bars and shops.  In February it is just the greengrocer and the pizzeria.

I came down a different route today, past our old office near the high school.  This concrete repair to the ramp was done many years ago, and a lad called Stavros took the delight in writing his name in the wet cement on his way to school.  His name, plus the paw prints of a passing cat, are picked out in bright green moss at the moment, with interesting effect.  By the way, the Greeks have a word for paw prints in wet cement.  They call them louloudia - flowers -  as they look like blossoms.  Anywhere else there would be much cursing and the cement would be redone.  Here the markings become part of the landscape and nature turns them into curiosities.

Wild cyclamens and other indigenous plants turn the rocky crags and cliffs into hanging gardens in the winter.

Full moon over Pedi on Wednesday night.

Lots of windy clouds scudding across the moon this week.

Another Friday, another gale.  The almond trees started to flower a few days ago but already most of the blossoms have blow away.  The windy conditions are expected to continue well into next week with a significant drop in temperature as the next blast will be from the north.  February is often the worst month of the winter weatherwise and no time to be on any of the smaller, more isolated islands like Kastellorizon.  At least here on Symi there are enough people for there to be some sort of camaraderie, akin to the 'spirit of the Blitz' so beloved of the British media.  Here it is Symiots and expats looking out for each other, helping with flooded boats and other excitements.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Surf's Up, Symi Style!

A combination of low barometric pressure, storm surge and a full moon has resulted in high tides in the harbour. This is the slipway at the customs house in Yialos, as it looked at 8 this morning.

Whoosh!

Looking towards the island of Nimos from the top of the Kali Strata this morning, you can see a fringe of white - in a strong southerly gale, such as is blowing at the moment,  Nimos becomes a wild lee shore with rocks and seething foam to rival Cornwall's northern coast.

The Symi cats have some competition in the cuteness stakes.

A crumbling and rain-streaked mansion on the Kali Strata.

This ruin near the Old Markets boutique hotel near the bottom of the Kali Strata has always intrigued me.  It seems to be a row of shops with accommodation above, now long fallen into disrepair.  The crumbling fragments of plasterwork and tangled remnants of wrought iron work suggest that it was quite a grand establishment in its heyday.  Symi's ruins encourage daydreams, which may be why so many writers gravitate to the place.

A lush corner on the steps.

Well, we have moved from one shipping ban to another and Friday night's Blue Star Diagoras actually only passed through Symi late on Sunday afternoon, heading for Piraeus.  As there was some uncertainty as to whether she would be able to stop in Symi, many truckers did not take the risk of loading goods on the boat so supplies in the shops still look a bit bleak.   Looking at her track on the excellent Marine Traffic website, the Blue Star has not actually reached Piraeus yet and she left Rhodes nearly 20 hours ago.  She is currently steaming past Naxos and is still a very long way from home.  Needless to say the Dodecanese Seaways catamarans were not able to follow their scheduled routes to Symi, Kos and beyond this weekend and there are several people on Symi who have had to reschedule flights in the hopes that they will be able to get off the island on Wednesday, assuming that the Blue Star will have caught up with herself by then.  There should be a brief lull in the wind midweek and then all hell breaks loose again on Thursday and Friday.  All in all, a typical February in the Greek islands!

Symi was featured in the Travel section of the British newspaper, the Sunday Times yesterday. For those of you who have seen the article, the ferry information given by Caroline Phillips at the end of the article is incorrect.  The ferry websites you need are the ones for Dodecanese Seaways and Blue Star.  ANES has not served Symi for several years now.  If you bookmark our Travel Blog you will receive up to date news on ferries and flights, indeed everything you need to know to get to Symi.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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