No Rain on the Horizon

The last time Symi had any significant rain was on 5 March. I am writing this on 14 April and there is still no rain on the horizon. The spring vegetation is already dying back and the ground cracking in many places. Temperatures have been abnormally warm. Great for the Turkish tourists who came over to celebrate Eid and the end of Ramadan but not so great for a region that has experienced the warmest driest winter since records began. There have already been significant wildfires in parts of Greece and farmers in Crete and Southern Rhodes have cut back on their planting of summer crops due to concerns about the lack of water for irrigation.

There are very few tourists actually staying on the island at the moment and the main seasonal hotels will only be opening around the Greek Easter long weekend, at the beginning of May. Rhodes, however, has been busy since the end of March so Yialos has already seen steady day-time trade in the form of tour groups and day-trippers, arriving on the King Saron and the Sebeco. This has given some of the restaurants and cafes in the harbour the impetus to open up, at least for midday trade. The tourist shops likewise. The recent Eid holiday combined with the new express visa system for Turkish tourists wishing to visit selected border islands for 7 days brought some trade but nothing like the prosperous Eid holidays before the pandemic, when the holiday fell during the tourist months of August and July and the Turkish lira was still relatively strong. In those days the megayachts filled the harbour and Pedi and there were big smiles on the faces of many businessmen in Yialos.