An Easy Way up Through the Village

Here’s a random thought and walk to put on your list of things to do on Symi – for when you are able to get here. Many people say they’d like to explore the village but are a) afraid of getting lost or b) can’t hack the steps. I must admit that when we first came to live here, we did a certain amount of getting lost, and I sometimes find the steps a bit too much, especially first thing in the morning. I used to start my walks with a hike up the main road, and that’s fine as it’s step-free, but it’s still a fair old haul up the slope. Another way to go is straight up to the museum and up, up to Periotisa and the top road, but that too involves loads of steps…

So, recently, as I try and shift from days spent sitting at desk and on sofa to at least some kind of leg movement, I have tried a new way to get to the top road. It’s not that simple a route until you get used to it, but it’s an easier one. So… Start off at the lane that leads from the village square and heads towards Lemonitisa church, the ‘road’ if you like. This takes a gentle slope upwards to a viewpoint overlooking the back of Yialos, so it’s a good route for views.

Continue on until you pass a second lot of bins and cats to the church on your left, and keep going. The ‘road’ becomes a cobbled path. Keep going until you have to go left or right. (Right will take you to the kataraktis and down to the back of Yialos.) Turning right, you pass another church on your left. Follow the path around to the right and keep going until you find the old pandapoleon, the old ‘everything shop.’ There, turn left (not straight on), and follow that narrow, rough path around, and keep going until you pass the courtyard of Agios Athanassios, and keep going… Up a few steps to a rundown old house at a T junction and turn left. Follow that narrow path with high walls on either side, and you come to a small square…

There, you head up under the tunnel/arch via an S bend and up a few more steps where you turn left before the second, longer set of steps. You’ll see the side of a house and some wasteland. Pass that with both on your right and keep going up a few more steps, and then some more, and you come to the square at the top of the village by Ag Triada church, the square with the big tree. Nearly there.

At the square, ignore the long, elegant steps ahead, and cross to the upper left corner and follow that narrow path around and up… A few steps… A few more…Turn right here:

Nearly there (honest) and around the back of a house to where you should be able to see Pedi below and ahead, and George’s goats wandering around the houses and hillside. The path then becomes a track for a short while…

…until you suddenly appear on the top road with its new wall. It’s obvious where to go from there (left and downhill, yippee!), and within a minute, you’ll be on the main road zigzag, and it’s downhill to Agia Marina and the path to To Vrisi, or back to the village. It sounds like a long way, but it only takes about 10 minutes, and it’s less exhausting than the ‘straight up’ routes via the museum. That, btw, you will find if you take the left path from the small square with the arch/tunnel as it’s on that level. There, I hope that was of interest.

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Symi Calendar

It looks like Neil will have a bumper crop of photos for next year’s Symi calendar. This year’s (found only on Lulu.com) shows various images of Pedi, but next year’s looks like there will be shots from all over the island and some unusual views too. Not everyone gets the chance to head out to the hinterland and see the morning views across the hills and through the forest, so let’s hope there will be some of those places included. He’s not started work on it yet as it’s still a little early in the year, but I know he has been saving plenty of potential photographs. Here are some of the things you might see… A few of his recent photos taken mainly in the early morning.

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Local News

In local news… They still haven’t moved that skip. It’s dreadful.

That was from a Victoria Wood sketch I saw on TV once, and it made me laugh. In close to home news, the taverna, George and Maria, has been painted and was due to open last weekend, I believe. I’m not sure if it has because I’m not usually out in the evening, but I expect it has. There was a definite smell of garlic wafting in the vicinity recently. As you can see, Rainbow is not yet open, but it shouldn’t be long.

While on a walk the other morning, I stopped to watch a pair of chaffinches playing around a tree. If you zoom in to this photo and squint, you might just be able to see them. (Good luck!)

There was a spectacular sunrise the other morning, so colourful, it had me scooting up to the roof to take a shot for you. It was completely different about two minutes later, so I caught it just in time.

And, the poppies are out, the oregano is in bloom, but the Judas plants are fading, taking their nasty smell with them. Those are the lily type things that come out around Easter every year, and I can’t remember their real name. And that’s about all my news that’s fit to print today.

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Pics and Dates

Let’s have a few more of Neil’s wonderful photos to start the week. We had another of our ‘typical’ weekends, but with an added treat. ‘Typical’ being, working away on the final draft of the next book, a couple of walks (length varied depending on who was walking), plenty of sofa-surfing and the treat…? An evening at the kafeneion watching the limited world go by and enjoying being out of the house. That was our second visit since the cafés opened last week. I could get used to it.

I’m just looking at my diary to check what must be done this week and see I have two things to look forward to. Paying the rent and getting my second vaccination. I also have to get this draft finished soon, but that’s about it for ‘must do’ this month so far. I could get a call from Rhodes at any moment and have to go over for a fingerprint, but I reckon that’s not likely to happen until June. Apart from that, things are shaping up to be another quiet week.

Things are changing slightly on the island. The school are going back today, and back to school not via video, so piano lessons can start again. We’re waiting to hear exactly what’s what with restrictions after 15^th, and there are already some visitors on the island. I imagine they are people with properties who can now come back and check up on them; homeowners, I mean, and more business are preparing for whatever the summer season will hold. We’ll know more about that as time goes on, but usually, by this time of year, we would have seen regular visitors from northern Europe coming for their holiday, sometimes the first of two or more through the year.

So, it’s still something of a ‘wait and see’ case, and for me, a continuation of what’s been the norm of late, a combination of work, write, walk, watch but now, with added wine when we can afford to go to the café.

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I must go down to the sea again…

I thought I would post some of Neil’s recent photos that feature the sea to see us through the weekend. They were not hard to find because we are on an island, and I hope these show you the diversity of Symi’s coastline and beaches. For those who love being in the water, the swimming season has already started, and the sea is warming up. For those who like being under the water, there’s news coming soon of a new scuba diving company operating on the island. This will let amateurs and experienced divers alike access what lies beneath the Symi waves, and I hope to have more news about that soon. The last I heard, the country and its islands should be opening up to visitors in just over a week, all being well. It may depend on what country you are coming from and whether you’ve been tested. Still, in the meantime, you can imagine being here, and these photos should help. Have a good weekend.

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