As you can see from the photos today, there are lots of boats around Symi at the moment. These pictures were taken on Wednesday evening from the house just in front of ours. Thank you for a lovely evening Alun and Andy!
The boats tend to thin out during the day as people go sailing, or motoring, though some do stay in for the day. There’s been a large motor yacht in Harani bay for several days now. It makes you wonder why, if someone had a huge expensive thing like that, they don’t use it more. But then you think they are probably too drawn to the island beauty to want to sail away. Either that or they are waiting for a spare part or something.
I see Kos has been on the news recently over the refugee crisis. In this case there was some frustration boiling over at the police station, and understandably too – from both sides I mean. Here on Symi we continue to receive refugees almost daily. Local people bring them water and donate food, the hard working police officers do what they can to process their paperwork and have them ready for the Wednesday afternoon and Friday evening onward boats to Athens.
Only a couple of days ago we received over 40 from one boat, men, women, children and pregnant mothers. Lifejackets can be seen on the rocks on the approach to the harbour, from the lucky ones who made it ashore. These people tend to arrive at night in calm weather (at the moment) and somehow find their way across the rocks to the village or Yialos where they politely ask for directions to the police station. Once there, they stay there, or nearby, while they wait to get their papers done and then, if they have money, they find a room for a night or two. Others have to sleep on the station veranda, or wait for up to five days for the next boat, outside at the police station. You might see wet clothes hanging from the railings at the clock tower as people try and get clean, but with only one WC at the police station and sometimes over 100 refugees waiting, it can’t be a very pleasant wait.
I have heard of some ignorant tourists complaining about this humanitarian crisis and wanting to be moved from their nearby hotels as they don’t want to look on dishevelled people fleeing for their lives, but, as I said, most of the people of Symi are compassionate and do what they can to help. The refugees, from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, usually don’t want to stay in Greece, a country not best placed, financially, to help out. They want to head further north to more economically viable countries where they already have friends and family. What happens to them in Athens and beyond is another matter of course.
Anyway, that’s what I was thinking about as I looked down to super yachts and sailing boats, pleasure craft and one or two impounded illegal people-smuggling boats that are dotted around in the harbour below.
