Walking the Islands... email@walkingtheislands.com
...Dodecanese island walks
About Symi
The guidebooks for independent travellers describe Symi as a “day tripper island”, and you will surely get that impression if you arrive on one of the late morning sailings from Rhodes.But if you stay, make the most of the town and waterfront in the early morning and later evening, and head for the hills, you will find its hidden delights.
Symi was the island that really sparked off the Walking the Islands… project in the 1980s and the walks need refreshing and adding to. So watch this space for updates!
For now, in summary, here’s what Symi offers:
- A photogenic harbour, with neo-classical mansions in a huge sheltered fjord like inlet
- The remnants of one of the largest boat-building and sponge-fishing industries in the Mediterranean
- An almost eerie proximity to Turkey; when walking the hills, it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish whether you’re looking at the hills of Symi, the islets or the Dorian Hills on the Turkish coast
- A comprehensive day boat service linking the port with islets and remote, cliff-backed bays and beaches (with possibilities for linear walks)
- A remote monastery at the far end of the island, with a massive Panegyri (festival)
- Juniper woods , a network of trails and spring and autumn flowers in abundance
The over-arching theme on Symi is its former glories. Once an important centre for boat building and sponge fishing, up to the early 20th century, Symi sustained a wealthy community. Overfishing, competition from synthetic sponges, loss of the timber forests, and a drying up of the water supply have led to population fall from 30,000 in 1930 to less than 3,000 today.
Nearly everyone lives in the port/Chorio, apart from a settlement over the hill at the second harbour of Pedhi (Πεδι), a scattering of isolated farmsteads (kahlivia) and a huge monastery, with a sole resident monk at Panormitis (Πανορμιτις) in the south.
Also in the south the islet of Sesklia (Σεσκλια), reachable by day-boat, is uninhabited, though there is a chapel and some remains of its former community, including an abundance of potsherds. Sesklia is a breeding ground for Mediterranean monk-seals and Shearwaters, a popular grazing ground for goats, and, for the record, we have seen Golden Eagles there.
Getting to Symi
- Symi’s principal connection is with Rhodes, a daily hydrofoil (50 minutes) small ferry (1¼ hours) and day boat link in the summer.
- It connects on most days with other Dodecanese, Tilos, Kalymnos, Kos, Nissiros, and Patmos, and with the Cyclades (4 hours to Astipalaia, 8 to Amorgos, 10 to Naxos).
- The customary approach for international travellers is from Rhodes airport, though it can easily be done from Kos too.
- Athens via Piraeus, then Naxos, would be a feasible, if rather long means of approach and would give you a sense of really having travelled, and plenty of opportunities to glimpse a cross-section of life in and on the Aegean.
- www.gtpnet.com is a useful website for information on getting to Symi.
Getting around Symi
- Symi is still an island of boats rather than road transport, apart from the bus to Pedhi, and I bet by now, truck trips over the hills to western and southern beaches.
- The hinterland is, I believe, still riddled with monopatia/kalderimia and goat tracks, and the usual Dodecanese warnings about shortage of water and scratchy bushes apply here.
Staying on Symi
Rooms are concentrated around the port, and range from basic to high standard hotels.
It is hard to find a room on the spot in high season, so it’s best to book ahead.
I’ve not heard of any campsites, though with an abundance of secluded coves, it should be possible to freelance camp, but take your own water.
Maps and other information
The Anavasi Topos maps have not yet reached Symi, but keep checking www.mountains.gr !
Tourist maps include:
'2cm to 1 Km Map of Symi', by Michael Th. Skevofilax, including depths in fathoms and a basic Lat/Long grid (included in his book 'Panormitis' and on sale separately)
'Tourist Map of Symi', I Koza, no scale given but it’s about 3cm to 1Km and numbers all the chapels (there are 62)
The satellite image from Google maps or Earth Tools is probably a better bet!
Some possible reading, if you can track down a copy:
- William Travis, Bus Stop Symi, Readers Union, 1973
- Ernle Bradford The Companion Guide to the Greek Islands, Collins 1988 0-00-217862-1
- Kostas Farmakidis & Agapi Karakatsani, Symi- A guide, K Michalas, Athens, 1975.
A plethora of websites describe the island, and give you links to accommodation. For example..