General ramble
Here are a few shots taken up at the bridge yesterday morning. If you walk out of the village on the main road and keep going, you will eventually come to this bridge which spans a dry water channel running off, in rainy times, from the Vigla towards the back of Horio. A little further on there is a bench where you can sit and look out across the village, Agia Marina point and Pedi towards the stacked mountains of Turkey. I occasionally walk from home, out on the old donkey path to Xissos and then come back down the main road, stopping at the bench for a brief rest before tramping on down the hill.
I left for my walk at 6.15 yesterday, by which time the sun was already up. Make sure you take water and sensible shoes if you’re doing this walk in the hotter parts of the day. A hat is also a good idea. Apart from that, my yesterday morning was taken up with rereading and checking some things and generally pottering around at home. In the late afternoons, the village square has been quieter than of late, but it starts to pick up again after six, and then… Well, I’m usually at home not long after, so I’m not sure what happens after that.
Looking from the balcony, we can see part of the harbour, and it doesn’t appear as busy as it has been in the past. There are lots more boats moored further in, and this outer end is never as busy, but I did hear someone say the other day that tourism was down on the island so far this year. I also read a report in the Greek news saying that the country was expecting 33 million visitors this year. That figure, by the way, is 200% more than the population, around 11m, the report says. I wonder where they all are. Probably at the all-inclusive resorts rather than the smaller more in-need places. I also read that tourists are now feeing that Turkey and the North African countries are more stable than they were and so have returned to those destinations, but who can say? There’s still a buzz and vibe on Symi, plenty of day trippers, and lots of evening activities and visitors to keep us going, for now at least.
