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| Hellenic blues by the bridge in Yialos |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| The waterfront in Yialos is lined with colourful cafes, gyros bars, tavernas and tourist shops. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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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