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The latest news & weather from Symi, reported by Adriana Shum from 'The Symi Visitor' office. Adriana's Greek Recipe of the Week>>
Symi Report;
Monday May 31st
It is the Pentecost long weekend and the bells have been pealing joyfully for three days.
It is quite blustery
and the hydrofoil was not allowed to run this morning.
We are hoping that it will be able to go this afternoon.
The big boat came through early this morning, as did the
Dodecanese Express en route to Kos. There is a fresh
crop of fruit and vegetable hawkers in the square selling
new potatoes and, rather surprisingly, beetroot.
Beetroot crops have not been good this year as there has
not been much rain and the earth rapidly becomes too hard
for root vegetables, even with sufficient water for
irrigation. They tend to grow along the top of the
earth, becoming sad and leathery with flower stalks.
Needless to say the unusually fine looking specimens for
sale in the square did not sit around for long! They
will doubtless be on some taverna's menu tonight with
fresh skordalia.
Symi Report; Friday May 28th It is clear and windy today. It is 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the last of the day boats has just pulled out. The bus is negotiating its way round to the clock tower - at this time of the day it goes right round in order to pick up the workers from the various tourist shops and businesses along the waterfront so that they can zip home for a shower and a bite to eat before they start the evening shift again at 6 when the 'siesta' is over. The big green and white striped concrete mixer is hard at work as the workmen are rushing to finish the paving at the head of the harbour before the island becomes any busier. In the sound effects department, techno pop from the gyros bar is making the floor vibrate (number one on the list of things we won't miss when we move, followed closely by the wash basin at the foot of the stairs...) and someone is cutting paving stones with a heavy duty angle grinder at the back of the square.
There is a lorry doing
the rounds selling baby chicks, ducklings and goslings.
As virtually everyone has a bit of land somewhere there
are various newspaper lined cardboard boxes in many a
kitchen providing temporary housing for bits of quacking
twittering fluff. The latest pot seller seems to
have done quite well. From a tottering pile of pots
with a park bench or two balanced on top earlier in the
week he is down to about 3 pots and the benches have gone.
It is likely to remain
windy with temperatures in the low twenties until Monday
when the wind will change to the south again and
temperatures will rise to around the thirty mark.
Symi Report; Tuesday May 25th Ignore those figures in the little box on the left of the home page - those are the temperatures in Rhodes where the wind blows - sheltered Symi is considerably warmer. Last night at 6 pm it was still 29 degrees outside. Catabatic winds come whizzing down the Vigla in the late afternoons, bringing welcome relief to the parched valleys below.
Despite what the webcam
might seem to indicate, the island is actually quite
busy - it is just that there aren't that many people
around in the harbour in the early morning
- apart from the street sweepers, the army service bus,
the fishermen etc, and in the late afternoons everyone
is back at the apartment, showering after a day on the
beach or climbing mountains. If we mounted the
camera at the bus stop, or at the Ringo/Kampos crossroads
at 8 am you would see lots of activity!
Symi Report; Friday May 21st A big high pressure system has flattened the sea, exposing the verdant weed and small crabs around the bridge. The flags are fluttering in a desultry fashion and some truly ancient Eurovision songs are floating up through the floor from the gyros bar below. There are plenty of people about as the excursion boats have just come in, mainly British, German and Scandanavian tour groups and families. There are lots of yachts in the harbour, including a Formosa ketch registered in Hong Kong, several charter flottillas and some large Turkish gulets with impressive schooner rigs, crows' nests etc.
In the terraces of Pedi
and Drakounda the harvest is well underway, young men on
motorbikes arriving every afternoon with scythes to cut
the hay. The green is fading fast and Tuesday
afternoon's brief downpour is but a memory. The furry
almonds are plumping on the trees and the figs are
ripening. Summer is upon us.
Symi Report; Monday May 17th The wind has been blowing from the north for a few days, clearing the haze and brightening the light. Temperatures are comfortable and there are serious walkers striding out in all directions. The new paving along the quay at the head of the harbour is coming on at a great pace and the workmen grow browner by the day. It is hot work out in the sun.
There is a vegetable
hawker parked by the bridge with a truckload of perfect
new potatoes and gleaming pale green courgettes.
Leafy vegetables are disappearing as the weather becomes
hotter and drier and courgettes are the first of the
summer crops to become available. Every taverna seems
to have courgette fritters and fried courgettes on the
menu at the moment.
Up on the mountain the
thyme and sage bushes are recovering from the winter
frosts and slowly putting on new leaves. There are
lots of heavily pregnant nanny goats clattering
around the rocky cliffs, enormous bellies swaying from
side to side as they move. Symi goats usually have
twins and the kids are very pretty, often with bicoloured
markings, as though they are wearing dungarees. Very
cute until they find a hole in the fence and eat the
geraniums!
Symi Report;
Friday May 14th
The island is busy with
lots of people around so the businesses are happy.
Yesterday morning the eleven o'clock bus up from the
harbour was full and some people had to stand - usual so
early in the season. The sea is definitely warm
enough for swimming and there are lots of pink noses and
shoulders as visitors are caught out by the unexpectedly
sunny weather.
We have had a few
problems with the telephones in the harbour this week
with connections breaking off unexpectedly in mid-call and
elusive dialling tones but this seems to be coming right
now, much to the relief of the internet cafes and anyone
else who has spent 15 minutes trying to get online only to
lose the connection before the first email has come
through.
Symi Report; Monday May 10th
It seems as though
the rainy season is now over until October.
There are few clouds apart from fragments of vapour trails
and washing dries in an hour. It is still cool in
the evenings though so there are fairly strong catabatic
winds from the mountain in the late afternoons. The
plants are wilting quite fast now and gardens need
frequent watering, particularly vegetables. Our
courgettes have started to flower - gorgeous golden blooms
great us every morning. The bees roll around in them
until they are completely smothered in pollen.
The parade went well on
Saturday and the folk dancing in the square afterwards was
very popular. The day trippers struck it lucky as there
were dance troupes from many of the other Dodecanese
islands taking part. The costumes from each island
are very different and Symi's are definitely the grandest
with their Turkish head-dresses and long over-dresses.
There is a lot more
coming and going at the Symi Visitor office these days.
Some of our visitors are a little puzzled by developments
at the bottom of the stairs. The gyros bar
downstairs evidently can't wait for our departure to the
new premises and has built a bathroom across the
entrance... I kid you not. There is now a wash
basin with tiled surround and a mirror obstructing the
doorway. Getting the desks out of here when the time
comes could be quite interesting. Oh well.
Anything that doesn't fit through half a door we'll just
have to lower over the balcony!
Symi Report; Friday May 7th
It is a glorious
spring day, albeit a little dusty. A light
breeze is plucking at the flags on the bridge and it is a
tad warm in the Symi Visitor office. We are looking
forward to moving over to the cooler side of the harbour.
We had a sandstorm this
week with winds strong enough to cancel ferries on
Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday morning so Wednesday's
arrivals finally reached Symi on Thursday afternoon.
The Symi II had to do a special run to bring everyone
across. The big boat which should have stopped in
Symi on Wednesday evening en route from Rhodes to Piraeus
could not dock in the strong cross wind and went straight
through to Kos so there are a few orphans out there,
waiting to catch the boat back... Who said modern
travel lacked adventure? While Clashing Rocks and Harpies
are no longer hazards along the way and boats are rather
more seaworthy than they were in Homeric times, there
is not much anyone can do about the weather...
Speaking of which, it
looks as though the weather will remain unsettled for the
next few days with possible thunder showers on Sunday
evening. I will be watching the weather forecast for
farmers on the local TV with some interest this evening.
Symi Report; Monday May 3rd May Day started with a heavy mud shower and some frustrated travellers as the hydrofoil was not allowed to run due to strong winds. After an uninspiring start the weekend improved steadily and Sunday was a lovely day - not too hot, little wind and plenty of sunshine. There is an area of low pressure over the central Mediterranean which is moving slowly eastwards and bringing unsettled weather with it so the week will continue a bit on the breezy side. The full moon is also approaching which often brings strong winds.
The yachting season has
started and two flotillas of charter boats have passed
through Yialos this weekend. There are still about 20
charter yachts on the quay. Unusually for this time of
the year many of the sailors have been Italians or Swiss -
all in very chic wet weather gear and sailing ensembles.
The fishing boats are busy too - catches have been
particularly good lately due to the stormy weather.
The island is looking
really pretty at the moment as the late rains have not only
perked up the existing vegetation but also encouraged some
wild flowers which we seldom see to bloom this year.
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