Symi excursion

We, and hundreds of others, took a ferry excursion to Symi which is one of the smaller islands in the Dodecanese group.  It is an amazingly popular destination for day trippers.  Big ferries capable of holding 1000 people keep arriving during the day, spawning out eager day trippers.  Symi is just 9 kms off the Turkish coast and north of Rhodes.  We would like to have taken a day trip to Turkey as well but the long wait at immigration desks which we have faced often during this trip put us off.

Symi is known as the prettiest port in Greece.

Colourful neoclassical houses in every shade of apricot and peach line the port.  The colours here and in Rhodes as well are not the traditional blue and white seen in the Cyclades.  Rhodes colours are a brownish red and Symi houses are pinkish.  The town was built by 19 century sponge and spice merchants and it has remained a prosperous island.

A fisherman tending his nets.

You see cats everywhere in Greece.  They all seem to be in good shape and hang around restaurant tables in an orderly and dignified manner.  They do not beg or bother people but pounce gratefully on tid bits that inevitably fall their way.

Sponge shop.  There are an infinite variety of sponges used for all sorts of purposes.  Some are exfoliants, others are for asthma and various skin conditions.  As I said the town was founded on the lucrative sponge trade last century.

At first I thought these were strings of garlic.  They are strings of small sponges.

The fun loving sponge shopkeeper put the larger sponges next to Andrew and called him elephant ears.

On the southwest coast of Symi is the 18th century Monastery of the Archangel Michael Panormitis, a major Greek Orthodox pilgrimage site with a Byzantine museum.

This gracefully gliding sail boat reminded us both of our lovely 10 day sailing holiday last year around the Cyclades.  Ah Greece, my heart is always full when I am there or thinking of Greece.  In spite of all the travel I have done, the Greek islands remain one of my favourite spots.   All the islands are a little different from each other but they are all welcoming and beautiful.