It’s the end of the week and here are some Saturday Symi photos for you; again, these are from last weekend and our long walk and the Panormitis Festival. After this we shall move on to other things for next week, though there are still many images to share. There are a few posts about Panormitis coming in the future in the guest post slots while we are away, so watch out for them. We’re away to a baptism today and then I may go on a walk on Sunday so there could be a deluge of photos over the next week.

Other news? Well, there’s a meeting with Solidarity Symi on Monday at 2pm in the cultural centre in Yialos and everyone is welcome. There are lots of things up for discussion and not just the refugee situation on Symi, but also what the charity can do to help locals affected by the economic crisis. We are doing out little stint at the aid centre this morning, there have been refugees coming through Symi but not in the numbers we saw in August and not as many as on other islands. But keep your donations coming as any over-spill of donations will be sent on to where they are needed if not needed here.

More domestically; we have started readying the house for winter and on Symi this means: waterproofing where necessary – rain through windows, under doors etc., so shutters shut when it rains and some plastic sheeting up on the porch, also covering garden/courtyard furniture in plastic. We’ve filled in some gaps under doors and around windows where the cold north wind blasts in, so that should help. I am waiting for some thermal curtains to put up at the moussandra balcony so any heat we can generate in the sitting room is not lost to there and the oxeye at the back of the house. Neil’s been chopping the vine back and seeing to his and Louise’s plants that are sheltering in the courtyard. And we have dug out the electric blankets and spare blankets ready for when it gets really cold. It’s been fine of late though, hot in the sun and cool in the shade, average around 23 degrees. But we all know that cold and dark are on their way.

Anyway, enough rambling, I am going to leave you now with some more photos (in no particular order) and wish you a happy weekend.

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A walk to Panormitis (2) Continuing yesterday’s theme, here are some more photos taken on the walk to Panormitis last Sunday. We’d set off early and taken plenty of water and a sandwich or two. The first part of the walk was on the shaded side of the countryside, as the sun is quite low at this time of year and not yet (at that time of day) over the hills. I was still sweating like a glass blower’s a… mind you, but not because of the sun.

That (above) is Stavros Polemou over on the right, the highest church on the island. This is Neil, still walking and not yet limping, though I did have to stop around here and adjust the plasters on my heel (new walking boots).

There was some traffic on the road (we’d lost sight of the walking couple by now), we were offered a lift but we were there for the walk, we got lots of toots and waves and hellos from loads of locals (we only saw three other ‘ex-pats’ the whole day, apart from Jenine and the boys who we met at Panormitis). I think we saw every taxi at least four times during the walk too, and the buses hurtled past us pretty often too, but mainly everyone was heading in the same direction as us.

Past the olive grove…

And past the olive grove…

To where there is land for sale and a bit of a building already started. Fancy a taverna in the middle of nowhere? This is where some folk were going to have a rave in the summer (last year or this, can’t remember) but they were not able to get permission becasue of fire safety -we’re in the middle of a very dry wood in the height of summer after all and nowhere near a fire hydrant or water…

And on past Nanou, which is down there somewhere… More photos tomorrow! Do try and keep up.

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A walk to Panormitis. As I thought, no great big blog post today, it’s 7.40, I’ve only just got up and I have to be at the dentist in two hours or so, so here are the first of several photos I took yesterday when we walked to Panormitis – and had a great day. More info and photos tomorrow.

It was a misty morning when we set off at 7.50, the walk took us three hours 50 minutes in total.

Leaving the village by the old calderimi path, the ‘donkey path’ which leads to Xissos, though you turn left at the sign and head vertically to the road.

I hope no one was badly injured (or injured at all, actually) in this mishap. This is taken on the ‘short cut; via Ag Katerina which is no short cut at all. There were a couple and a solo lady walking ahead of us who carried on up the zigzag as we sniggered off into the ‘short cut’ only to find them still ahead of us when we came out on the road again. Not bothering with that next time and the rough terrain plays havoc with Neil’s bad foot.

More photos and notes tomorrow when I have recovered from the dentist…

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This weekend is the festival of Panormitis, or rather, of the Archangel Michaelis, at Panormitis, and we will be walking over there on Sunday, all being well. The last time we walked all the way to the other end of the island was on my 40^th birthday last year… only joking. But we did walk all the way and I’ve also done it once before and the story is told in Carry on up the Kali Strata – click the title for the Kindle version if you’ve not got it.

There may well be another version of the story to tell next week. I doubt I shall get to it for Monday as I usually do Monday’s post on a Sunday so I am free to start work straight away, but I can see me not doing that this week as we’re intending to set off at 7.00 on Sunday, aiming to arrive around 12.00 and then we’re aiming to get a bus back in the afternoon, but we may be later and… well, anyway, Monday’s post may be a bit of a quick one, if there is one at all, but I shall, no doubt, be sharing photos and any anecdotes during next week.

For today though, here are some more of our Symi Saturday photos; some taken from the house (sky and sea, sorry about the blue dots the old camera’s sensor needs cleaning) and some taken in Yialos on Friday – enjoy and have a good weekend.

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I’ve started uploading the guest posts for the blogs for while I am away, so here’s a reminder that if anyone wanted to write a guest post for Symi Dream I still have space to fill for the days when we are away on holiday. I have some posts already in, thank you for those, with photos, but more would be fun. They can be about Symi, Greece, your own business or website (as long as vaguely related to Symi, Greece, writing or holidays) and you can even use it for advertising and linking. Send docs and pics to mail@symidream.com before 22^nd November.

I’ve not got much other news today. I went for a walk yesterday morning, nice and chilly and got the old circulation going, then came back and did some work, went to the dentist again and came back. That’s not very exciting for a blog post is it? But I did grab a few early morning photos for you, also not very thrilling as there was no cloud, but we don’t want cloud at the moment!

I was a bit shocked to see that my stock of ‘photos to post one day’ is now reduced to mainly images from Rhodes. Nothing wrong with Rhodes of course but not always very relevant to Symi and Symi Dream. I think I need to get out there and get more snaps. I’ll do that next time I am down town with the camera. At the moment I am spending a lot of time at the desk working and setting up the next draft of ‘Straight Swap’ for my ‘beta readers’ as apparently proof readers are now called; or draft readers really. After several hours at the desk I might pop out for one at the Rainbow as Neil is still working there –the sun is out there are a few visitors around, some white yachts come in to Yialos, though not many, so it’s still worth it. And after that, retreat home for something warm to eat and a good film.

The winter routine has started then!

Don’t forget the blog posts if you are interested to share your Symi thoughts with over 1,000 unique visitors per day. You might like to boost your favourite holiday company or accommodation as I will allow links to appropriate businesses. You might want to talk about your own book about Greece, or your favourite and that will be fine too. Anything about Symi, Greece, writing, holidays… anything suitable will be welcome.

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