Greek President Visits Symi

Things are starting to happen in Yialos by the sound of it. Today (yesterday), I am, as usual, stuck up here working, but Neil may be able to get down to take some photos. If not, we have a stringer who has offered to share some photos with you, but they won’t be ready for a day or so. The Greek president, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, is visiting the island as it’s the 70^th year anniversary of the Dodecanese being incorporated back into Greece following WWII. March 7th, 1948 was when King Pavlos and Queen Frederica arrived in Rhodes to celebrate the new independence, and it was here on Symi, at what is now Los, where the treaty was signed on May 8^th, 1945. “8 May 1945: The leader of the German occupying forces, General Wagener, signs in Simi the protocol of unconditional surrender of the Dodecanese to the British Allies Forces and the commander of the Ieros Lohos (a special Greek Army division), Colonel Christodoulos Tsigante.” Discover Rhodes.

May 8^th, 2018 is the day on which our new harbour will be opened.

It’s still early, yesterday, as I write but already we have heard the soldiers singing the national anthem at the war memorial, and we just had a blast of band music (possibly recorded) and more singing from below. I’ll watch out for the boats and see if I can nip out for some snaps from up here, and hopefully, give you some more info tomorrow. Meanwhile, there will be loads of pics and info on the Symi Facebook pages, and I’m sure other island bloggers and sites will be sharing images and news of his event. Apparently, there’s to be the usual May 8^th church service, parade and a function at the Opera House afterwards.

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Adriana’s Blog is Back

Great news on the ‘keeping in touch with Symi’ front. Adriana has started up her own blog and the first post, which explains what’s to come, can be found here: Adriana’s Symi. That’s going on my list of regular reading.

Yesterday saw a little rainfall but this being Symi, the sun was soon out again and then gone again as thunder rolled around distantly, and then more rain, followed by more sun, and the temperature all the time was in the mid-twenties. Grey sea, grey skies, but still warm and suitably Symi, and the plants were very grateful for the additional water-funds.

There were two dance shows, a name day and a football celebration over the weekend. My presence at the bar was missed for the final on Saturday night where ‘our’ team, AEK, won… Something. (You know sport is not my thing.) I later discovered, “AEK won the third European trophy of its history and its first Basketball Champions League, triumphing 100-94 over Monaco in the final staged on Sunday in its home court, the Olympic Sports Hall in Athens.” Whatever the celebration was the other night, it involved about 20 minutes of fireworks, a procession of motorbikes touring the harbour with lights and horns flashing and blaring, and there was loud music drifting up and a final cheer which suggested someone important had won something equally as important. It was fun to listen to from up here.

I know that was a bit vague re: what they won, but I wasn’t there. Just as well really as the ‘boys at the bar’ have been hounding me to buy an AEK football shirt for the upcoming season, and I haven’t. No point buying it now, Yiannis told me, because they will probably change the shirt before next season, but I may have a look and buy one when I get some spare pennies. I haven’t told the ‘boys’ (the AEK Rainbow Supporters Club who range in age from 12 to 70 + and meet regularly for matches on a winter night) that I’m there more for the atmosphere than the football, but at least I am trying.

Very trying you may say as I am not 100% sure what was won at the weekend (I am sure someone will let me know), but what can you do? For my part, I can get on with some work, but before that, I’m going to have another look at Adriana’s Symi and bookmark it.

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Stay In Touch With Symi

It’s the start of a new week on Symi, and finally, it is starting to feel like the beginning of the season. Having more visitors arrive helps, more boats in the harbour, the Nikolaos X has been coming in on its day trips, to join the Panagia Skiadeni and the Sea Dreams, plus anyone who comes across on the ‘Spanos’ boat in the morning. There are also longer-term stayers here, and Olympic, I believe, have started their season too.

The weather has been behaving, though with some cloud from time to time and a slight breeze; it’s still 20 degrees in the courtyard at six in the morning most days. We were down in Yialos on Friday, and the flags were out. This is in preparation for the May 8^th parade tomorrow, and the opening of the new jetty/harbour/landing stage… It’s not really a jetty as in a pier, or a new harbour, it’s a new place for large boats to dock, beneath the main road outside the main harbour on the south side, so call it what you will. I’m not sure when boats will actually be calling in, but if I hear anything…

And as for the title of today’s post, it’s just a reminder. We know that Adriana’s Symi blog is on hold for the moment, and I’m not sure what’s happening with the Symi Visitor website, but I do know that you still have at least two other ways to keep in touch with Symi apart from my quick posts and views here.

The Symi Chat Forum is still there and live and waiting for you to join in. Here you can discuss Symi related things with others who visit, live on or want to visit the island. Click the link and take a look. www.symiforum.com

And, if you are interested to know about travel to and from the island, then you need to follow Andy’s Symi Travel Blog. He’s something of a travel specialist and keeps us up to date with ferry news, timetables and airline behaviour, plus anything else travel/Symi related. His most recent post is about summer ferry sailings, so that will be useful to check out. I’ll put a permanent link in the sidebar to both of these resources just as soon as I can remember how.

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Symi Saturday Photos

Here are a few recent photos to keep you going over the weekend. Have a good one!

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Symi Dream on Facebook

I just wanted to remind anyone who uses Facebook that we have a Symi Dream page there. From time to time I share things on that page from other FB friends and groups that I don’t necessarily put on here; videos, photos and news etc. I have permission from various friendly folks to do that and to share some of their images here, but if you’re not already a follower on FB, you might like to follow so you can see these extras. The Symi Dream Facebook page is here. https://www.facebook.com/SymiDream/, Please give a like and a follow and spread the Symi word around.

I nipped out on Wednesday afternoon to grab a couple of local shots in the village, as I need to stock up on my photos-to-post files. Passing Georgio’s I noticed that the island’s new Metropolitan (diocesan bishop) was having lunch at Georgio’s with the Bishop of Kos, our mayor, opposition leader and priests from the island. Manolis was trying to persuade me to take a photo as I passed, but I thought it a little intrusive. The Metropolitan took up office recently and has been out and about a great deal meeting not only the clergy but also us locals, having a (soft) drink in the bars and chatting to his flock, which I think is the right way to go about things, but then it’s not really my subject. He seems to be very popular and has attended many events on the island already.

There are more to come. On 8^th May we have our VE day parade and services, and that’s to be followed, I am told, by the official opening of the new landing jetty on the south side of Yialos. That’s the kind of thing that gets covered (shared) on the Symi Dream Facebook page – I see someone’s photos or videos and post them there. Meanwhile, there’s been a slight breeze which has made things feel much more like they usually do at this time of year, after the recent hot spell, but it’s still 20 degrees in the courtyard at seven in the morning. I found some old photos from last year, dated early May, and they were off the water running off the roof, the sterna overflowing and the drainage pipes doing their best to rid the courtyard of a deluge. There’s still time for some top-up rain before the real summer hits!

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