What’s on the menu?

Saturday morning and I was pottering around the kitchen. I can’t remember exactly what I was doing (although I can remember things from 40 years ago), I think I was making yet another cup of tea. I became aware of voices in the street. The road is only a couple of feet away through a stone wall, admittedly, but you can hear everything people are saying via the kitchen window, or even the bathroom walls, depending on what you are doing and where you are – and being aware that the people outside can probably hear me too. I because more interested when I realised the voices weren’t Greek, so I hung around the fridge door from where I can see out of the window to the lane. It’s only a small window and needs cleaning, so I didn’t take a photo. After a couple of seconds, I recognised a man leading a party of chatty, active… tourists. Maybe I should invite them in for a cup of tea? I thought. Then thought, No, I won’t, there are about 40 of them. The guide was a chap I recognise from the season, he brings tour groups over from Rhodes, walks them up to the village, shows them around a bit and then leaves them to find their way back, giving them the choice of where they stop to eat, drink or whatever. So, I can safely say that I saw the first organised day trip to Symi, 2019, passing the house and in the village on March 16^th.

Saturday afternoon was a lazy one. Tearing myself away from writing, I spent a couple of hours sofa surfing and watching dodgy TV. Well, it’s Netflix so not that dodgy, but it was what I call lunchtime viewing; something to chew over while chewing over whatever was for lunch. A reality-style cooking competition between families (we like cooking competitions), and a series about college-aged werewolves and magicians or something. A bit of a “Harry Potter meets Charmed, meet Bewitched, meets every other teen-shape-shifter series with cute boys and slim girls and where the chubby person is only the comedy sidekick and gets killed off before anyone can be turned off by a normal looking person because, after all, every high school student, college student and their parents are all chisel-cheeked models, and one in ten characters is gay, one in five of a non-WASP character and everyone has an agent trying to get them into films” – that kind of TV show.

That done and time off had (and instantly forgotten), we met a friend for drinks and dinner, first at the Rainbow Bar where we were joined by a certain old chum (see photo below) before going to the taverna to eat. If you were wondering what’s available at Giorgio’s in the winter, on Saturday, there was an extensive menu for this time of year. Between three, we ordered a Greek salad (big enough of six), some taramasalata, bread, wine, water, two plates of pork pieces in sauce with potatoes and a plate of cod also with potatoes, and there was far too much to finish it all. €17.50 each. It was enough for us to invite some of the tour group from the morning, but they’d gone by then. We left there at 9.30 by which time Rainbow was closed, and headed home. Sunday dawned around six o’clock, sunny, no wind which had been persistent and cold the day before, and with the godson coming to lunch, lots to prepare. That was my weekend, up to Sunday morning at least. I hope you had a good one.

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Saturday Symi Photos

Here’s a collection of ten photos from the last week or so to get your weekend off to a Symi start. Mine’s off to a cold and blustery one, the kitchen shutters are rattling but all the others in the house are closed. The sun’s just coming up, so I’ll soon see if it’s to be a cloudy day or a clear one. Whatever it is where you are, I hope you have a good one.

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Changeable Weather

One of the questions we are often asked by visitors concerns what Symi is like in the winter, and it’s often asked because people are interested in spending time here out of season, and quite right too. There’s all sorts of advice one can give, and experiences to share, but one thing we always say, is to be aware of changeable weather. You can see from today’s photos that things can change dramatically overnight. Wednesday was wet and grey, Thursday bright and sunny.

You need to watch out for changeable weather because of the boats. The Blue Star ran yesterday despite the swell (not sure about the Dodekanisos as I didn’t see/hear it, but I wasn’t looking for it), but boats can sometimes be ‘grounded’ in ports and not allowed to travel. This can happen even if it’s gorgeous and calm down here but rough further north – sometimes there’s a ban on all shipping. So, when people ask, ‘What’s the weather like in the winter?’ or even in spring, you have to answer that it’s changeable and hard to predict. If you are thinking of Symi for a visit out of the summer season when the weather is more predictable, then consider the possibility of having to stay in Rhodes a few days while you wait for the weather to change. It’s happened to us – got stuck there for an extra four nights after a holiday once. Had we known, we would have stayed in Romania, where we’d been, as it was cheaper. Not trying to put anyone off, just saying it happens.

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Katarraktis

I woke up to rain and thunder on Wednesday morning. The rain persisted until about half-seven when it eased off to leave us with cloud. The hillside opposite us on the far side of the harbour is green again, as are the hills behind the village, and the Pedi valley. The grasses and herbs are coming back, the spring flowers are coming out and, apart from yesterday’s glitch, the weather has been settling down.

I’m hoping it doesn’t rain again as we have to pop down to the dentist for a check-and-clean. It’s not so much not wanting to get wet on the walk down or up, it’s the run-off from the hills and upper village that’s the problem. You may have seen videos from Symi where the water is pouring down the Kali Strata like a waterfall and when it does, you have to be careful. The backstairs to the village (as opposed to the Kali Strata), the old path that leads up from the north-west corner of Yialos, is called the Katarraktis (καταρράκτες being waterfalls), and you can imagine how it got its name.

If you want to walk up the Katarraktis, it’s not that hard to find where it starts. I usually start on the street that runs behind the cafes parallel to the harbourfront. This is the street where you find Meraklis and St John’s church. You can also walk past the Opera House Hotel and find the start of the steps and slope that way, or start at the north-east corner of the back street. After that, it’s uphill all the way on ancient stones and slopes, steps and corners that offer a good view of the back of Yialos if you stop and turn. Just keep going up the main steps, and you’ll eventually come to a house and a church. You continue up between the two where you can turn left to pass the church and find the Lemonmitisa path to the village square, or carry straight on to enter the village. There’s no shade on the route up, and you will need sensible shoes, no heels. It’s slippery on the way down and not a climb to be taken lightly if you ask me. I prefer the Kali Strata, but the Katarraktis makes a change from time to time. But not when it’s raining.

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A quick catch up

A quick catch up today. I thought we were having a planned power cut yesterday, but it didn’t happen. Maybe I had the day wrong. The sun has gone, the clouds have come over and we’re expecting a night of bad weather (Tuesday). Today, Wednesday, I have an appointment at the dentist for a check-and-clean, and that’s about the highlight of my week ahead. The photos are random and from about this time last year. Back tomorrow.

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