Arriving at Symi Town is the loveliest way to begin any visit to a Greek Island. The bay has low hills on all sides and on those hills, are stacked differently coloured ochre Italianate mansions, each one a slightly different shade to its neighbour. The slope of the hills means these mansions appear in neat rows above one another, leaving the visitor spellbound by the man-made beauty. Added to this are lines of sail boats, small ferries, and large yachts bobbing rhythmically on the swell by the quay.
As well as sponge diving, Symi’s wealth was also based on shipbuilding. Indeed, just over a hundred years ago, these two industries meant more people lived in Symi Town than lived in nearby Rhodes Town. Symi has always been famed for its shipbuilding and legend has it the island provided 3 ships for the Greeks in the Trojan War. Nowadays tourism is the main earner, with enough expats staying on the island to allow some businesses to remain open all year round. Some of the houses built in the last two centuries have fallen into disrepair and the more you explore, the more ruins you will find.
Symi Town comprises two areas, the lower town of Yialos and the upper town of Horio. There’s no real boundary between the two other than an individual’s physical fitness, as the best way to get between them is the 350-step Kali Strata path, starting from behind a pizza restaurant in Yialos and finishing by the Olive Tree Café in Horio.
Yialos stretches around the main bay into the smaller Harani Bay, the main area for shipbuilding in times past. Some boats are still repaired here, though most of the vessels tied to the quay are small, multi-coloured fishing boats, piled high with nets, straight out of a photographer’s dreams. On the hill above is a Greek Orthodox Church. Heading around the headland is one of the ways to get to the community of Emborio with its quiet beach and taverna.
Emborio’s clear waters offer great swimming and snorkelling opportunities - the boats almost appear to be floating above the sea. It’s a lovely walk to Emborio along the road overlooking the sea, but Symi Town’s land train does come in this direction too and taxi-boats also call in.
The Olive Tree Café is at the top of the Kali Strata in Horio. Along with the views over the harbour, the cafe’s coffee, juices, sandwiches, and pastries will revive the weariest traveller. In September 1944, the retreating Germans set off an ammunition blast in Horio, levelling hundreds of houses and destroying the Knight’s Castle, the last remnant of which is a very sad-looking wall near the Church of the Assumption.
This is the church where visitors can ring one of the ‘bells’, which turns out to be the nose cone of a massive bomb. This church is at the very top of Horio and your navigational skills will be tested once again as you head back to Kali Strata via orthodox churches, bars, and views over the bay.
The times of the buses to Taxiarhis Mihail Panormitis monastery at the southern end of the island can be found at many travel agencies in the town and on the dashboard of the bus, which is normally parked on the north-eastern side of the bay. There are three return journeys per day on the bus although excursion boats, both from Symi Town and Rhodes, visit the monastery, set on a quiet bay. The monastery is dedicated to St Michael and there are frescoes depicting scenes from his life including some of the good deeds the saint performed.
The museums are worth seeing at Panormitis, simply because of the strange array of votive offerings that people have left as encouragement to the saint to allow certain things to happen. There’s also a small boat full of messages-in-bottles. My message to travellers is this: make sure you go to Symi and admire the views across the bays at all times of the day.
