A Hint of a Rainbow

The view from my office window earlier this week.  The harbour has been really busy with lots of Turkish yachts visiting because of the Eid holiday.  A welcome last minute boost for the shops and cafes around the harbour before the long winter sleep begins.  The last Olympic Holidays guests have already left.



Whichever way one looks, there are always electricity wires in the way on Symi.  In other historic towns and villages around Greece all the cables are underground but for some reason, probably to do with the complexities of Symi's hundreds of steps, all our cables are festooned overhead.



As I was saying...  Agios Elefterios church in Chorio with a cross hatching of cables.



We had a big thunderstorm in the early hours of Thursday morning, the remnants of a storm that caused flooding and tornadoes on nearby Rhodes.  Symi received about 15 mm of rain and occasional showers for the next 24 hours.  The sky is starting to clear now but there were some interesting cloudscapes as I was walking to work this morning.



Just a hint of a rainbow over the Kastro this morning.



My elderly neighbour, Yanni, has pruned his mulberry tree to let in more light and air now that the darker days are upon us.  Look at all the lemons on his trees to the right.



The ducks in the harbour, as seen from the bridge.



The duck enclosure and the National Bank of Greece where one of the three ATMs on Symi is located.  The wheel barrow full of wood on the left belongs to a bakery just out of the picture. They still use a wood fired oven for their baking.



The Blue Star, only half an hour late this morning.



The date palms are flowering.

This is my last blog for a few weeks as I am off to England on Monday to visit my mother.  Not surprisingly I have to leave Symi on Sunday as there is no Monday morning ferry at this time of the year.  By the time I return the Panormitis Festival will be over and the island will have hunkered down for the winter. The filming of the Judas Curse will be in the can as they say and the view from my office winter will be predominantly of local fishing boats.

If you are suffering from Symi deprivation in my absence, don't forget you can visit Symi at 30 second intervals with our webcam, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter and there is always my fellow Symi blogger, James Collins, at Symi Dream.

Regards
Adriana

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The Weather is Changing

Pedi Bay in the early morning calm.  As the air clears, there are far more rows of hills and mountains visible on the Turkish shore and in the evenings we can see the lights of the small villages and towns along the coast.

Symi's post office is now tucked away in the ground floor of this pretty yellow and pink building in a lane in Yialos instead of sharing a building with the police station at the clock tower.  Much more convenient for all concerned and the post man no longer has to lug heavy mail bags up and down some very steep stairs.



The fresh produce for sale on Symi in the summer comes from all over the world.  The local oranges will only be ripe during the winter.

A typical view from my window at Symi Visitor Accommodation office during the week.

The Friday morning Blue Star, only about an hour late, while the fuel bunkering ship lies off in the distance.

The Greek schools opened this week.  The early morning school run for those children lucky enough to get a lift rather than toil up all those steps usually involves a large motorbike, Daddy balancing the satchels in the foot-well and a miscellany of small children clinging on for dear life behind.  Unfortunately the school teachers have announced rolling strikes from 16 September onwards, in protest at various changes to the educational system that will result in larger classes and teachers being shunted around the country.

 

The weather is changing and although it is still quite hot at the moment with temperatures in the low thirties, strong north-westerly winds are forecast for this weekend and there is the possibility of rain and thundershowers on Tuesday.  It is time to start remembering to bring things in from outside so that if we have a sudden downpour it is not too much of a panic, rushing about with plastic sheeting.  The tavernas and cafes will start rigging their plastic tents soon.  Fortunately showers at this time of the year are short-lived, although they can be very heavy and turn all the steps into fast flowing waterfalls for a few minutes.  Autumn then turns into a second spring overnight.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Regards,

Adriana

 



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A Quiet Moment

Misty early morning in Yialos and the gulets and motor boats start to pull out.  Although it is still very hot, the days are growing shorter and when I come down to work the sun is barely over the hill.



The sphinx on the roof of the cake shop next to our office is so weather-beaten she has lost more than her nose.



Lemonitissa church, the big church on the Kastro/Acropolis on the side overlooking the harbour.  Our office is immediately beneath it.



A billboard in Chorio announcing the concert at Petalo tonight. There is also a big party over on the island of Nimos tonight, 23 August, when the little church on the island celebrates its name day.  This is traditionally an all night event and the water taxis ferry everyone across for music, dancing, food and wine.



Gulets and yachts crowded around the clock tower in Yialos.



Doves sharing a quiet moment on a power line on the Kali Strata.



Up in Chorio there are traditional tavernas where meals can be enjoyed in the peace and quiet, far from the hubbub of the harbour crowds.



As the French and Italian summer house owners are heading home the water toys are being hauled out and packed away for another year.



There is a pleasantly cool breeze today and the flags on the bridge are flying proudly.



One of the horses used for the popular carriage rides in the harbour, heading back up Mavrovouni to his stable.

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Oaks and Pomegranates

Temperatures on Symi continue to rise with the thermometer over 40 degrees centigrade at midday and around 30 at midnight.  Those who venture into our office for whatever reason show a marked reluctance to tear themselves away from the air conditioning and visitors have been noticed lingering at the chiller cabinets at the supermarket.   This is a very difficult time of the year for anyone who is working on Symi, particularly doing manual work, as heatstroke is a very real possibility but there is no alternative if one lives and works in a hot climate.  Symi does not start to cool down until late September and the community cannot just shut down until temperatures slip back to the mid-twenties that are universally regarded as ‘comfortable room temperature’.

One of the reasons why Symi is so much hotter than Rhodes is that it is sheltered from the meltemi by the Datca peninsular so there is little breeze to carry the heat away.  The other is that Symi is very arid with large areas of exposed rock that soak up the heat during the day and release it slowly at night.  The rock only starts to cool down when the nights become significantly longer than the days.  Since the island’s feral goat population was culled a few years ago more trees are surviving, nourished by the winter rains, and areas like the Pedi Valley are much shadier than they used to be.  The few really substantial oak trees on the island are centuries old, growing slowly during the brief periods in spring and autumn when rain and mild temperatures combine.

In the gardens the drought susceptible flowers such as petunias and pelargoniums are showing strain and the orange trees are dropping their fruit.  The ripening pomegranates and fragrant jasmines are the focus of attention now, as are the brilliant bougainvilleas.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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A Feeling of Optimism and Endeavour

Happy Easter to all those who celebrated this weekend.  We have another month to go but I noticed on the way to work this morning that the first chocolate Easter Eggs have arrived at Sotiris’ supermarket in Chorio.  The weather remains murky but with the new month there is a feeling of optimism and endeavour in the air and everyone is working hard, preparing for the season ahead.  There is plenty to be done to clean up after a very stormy winter and we still have a few weeks of unsettled weather and mud showers ahead.  Washing windows is always a last minute thing on Symi as 5 minutes of red rain can destroy hours of hard work. 

Every washing line and balcony in Chorio seems to be draped with drying washing, airing blankets and quilts and carpets waiting to be beaten as the island’s housewives get stuck into their spring cleaning.

Down in the harbour the Symi Flower shop has a wonderful display of flowers and vegetable seedlings for sale and we will soon be seeing the hawkers coming off the bigboats, laden with garden supplies, outdoor furniture and baby chicks.  Speaking of boats, the Panagia Skiadeni is now only starting her Symi Rhodes service later this week.  Please check www.12ne.gr/en for updates on the schedules.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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When The Rain Passes

The little church on the corner  of my road has sprouted a name board in my absence.

And sheep may safely graze - in the shelter of the chapel walls.

 Every morning we seem to wake up to downpours and grumbling thunder and the sunny intervals are often too brief to dash dry shod down the Kali Strata or pop out to the supermarket.  The island’s taxis are doing brisk business.  In the absence of storm water drains Symi’s steep lanes and myriad flights of steps rapidly become fast flowing streams and the stones are well scrubbed.  The dust and cigarette butts of summer are long gone.  Grass and moss grow in every crevice and the stone walls are sprouting gardens of ferns and cyclamens.  Many sheep are roaming free range at the moment, grabbing any grazing they can.

When the rain passes the shiny new snowfalls on the distant peaks of Anatolia sparkle in the sun. So far we  have not had snow any closer to Symi this winter but last year we had the coldest weather of the year at the end of February so we cannot assume the worst is over yet.  The island is very quiet.  It is too wet and cold for outdoor work, even for those who are employed, and everyone battens down early by the fireside.  Whiffs of woodsmoke curl from chimneys around Chorio from mid afternoon.

Greek Easter is very late this year – Greek Easter Sunday falls on 5 May 2013 – so Carnival which normal enlivens the gloom of February falls mainly in March this year.  Nothing daunted many of the expats and their friends on Symi settled into an evening of pancake tossing  to celebrate Shrove Tuesday – living in such isolation the community is adept at finding its own amusements and celebrations.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

Free range chickens wandering through the Pedi valley.

That is a little glimmer of snow just to the right of the largest peak on the horizon.

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Symi's Shades of Grey

The Symi Gallery's current premises on the Kali Strata

 The days may be growing longer but February is often the greyest and most dismal month on Symi and this year is no exception.  Very little sunshine is filtering through as one cold front after another piles up across the Eastern Mediterranean, bringing rain and strong winds.  The Blue Star Diagoras arrived 24 hours late after a departure delayed by strikes in Piraeus and storms in the Aegean and  passed back through on her return journey from Rhodes at 1 this morning.  The Dodecanese Pride spent last night in Kalymnos as the sea was too rough for the return journey down to Rhodes.   The long range forecast shows more rain and stormy weather ahead, alternating with partly cloudy or overcast conditions.  February is a month for hunkering down by the fireside with a pile of books, sorting cupboards and catching up on overdue correspondence rather than basking in spring sunshine and pottering in the garden.  Many households up in Chorio are still waiting to have internet and telephone access restored after recent lightning strikes took out the network but down in the harbour the infrastructure is holding up quite well.

The almond trees are flowering in the gardens and on the terraced hillsides, delicate shades of white and palest pink, luminous against the wet grey rocks.  The lower temperatures are turning the oranges from green to gold and the lemon trees are heavy with fruit.  Greek Easter falls late this year, in early May, by which time the Pascal lambs will be plump indeed. 

Today’s photographs were taken on my walk to work this morning and from the Symi Visitor Accommodation office window yesterday and give an idea of what Symi is like in the winter.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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A Clear Breezy Autumn Day on Symi

It is a clear breezy autumn day on Symi and the long range forecast remains warm and dry with only the occasional passing cloud. The vapour trails are back. Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid to high twenties for the next week or so.  Usually by this time the Pedi valley is humming with rotavators but this year there has been no rain and the ground is far too hard to work until this happens.

Symi is very quiet now and many summer houses are well and truly shut up for the winter with storm shutters and plastic sheeting to protect doors and windows from the lashing rain and hail that will inevitably arrive at some point in the next 6 months.  I walk to work a little later now and apart from children heading for school I see very few people.  The high price of fuel means fewer cars on the road, and more children being taken to school on motorbikes and scooters or toiling up the Kali Strata on foot.

No cruise ships passed through Symi this week and Yialos is emptying rapidly.  The few yachts visible in the photos have pulled out in the course of this morning. The Proteus and the DodecaneseExpress have come in with day trippers, mainly Russian, which suggests that Rhodes still has some tourists.

Dodecanese Seaways’ schedule for the rest of October is very limited and there are days in the week where they skip out Symi altogether. Fortunately the Proteus continues until the end of the month and there is the Blue Star Diagoras on Wednesday.

A General Strike has been called for 18 October but at this stage it is too soon to tell what may or may not be affected.  I will try to put up more information about this on Monday if it is relevant.  You can also check out www.livingingreece.gr for regular updates.  

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Adriana

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