Symi is an island in the Dodecanese island chain, out by Turkey. As such, it's a longggg way from Macedonia! It's also somewhere I have wanted to go for many years. Our first stop along the way was to stay the night in Volos, a coastal city from which we could catch a ferry from. We put pedal to metal and drove all the way there in one day, but were well rewarded with a gorgeous airbnb for the night once we finally arrived! We decided to get dinner out, so wandered down to the boulevard by the water and strolled along. The restaurants we had pre-picked out were closed already, as we were now heading into late summer. We ended up at a hipster bar place running out of a VW van, called La Petite Canteen Project. The lady running it was super lovely and we decided on mini burgers to start, which were delicious but not so mini!
24-30 August
We woke early the next morning to drive all the way down to Paraeus, to catch a 3pm ferry. Taking long ferries in Greece is always a unique sort of hell when one can't afford cabins, involving curling up in sleeping bags on seats, the floor or sometimes the deck! This one was boring but not too horrible, as we had brought cheese pie and red wine with us - what an excellent idea!
We arrived the next morning at 7AM in Ano Symi, very tired after basically no sleep. This is Symi's main town, and is absolutely beautiful. We stopped in a cafe for breakfast, and to kill some time until we could check into our Airbnb at 11AM. Orange juice revitalized us, along with a delicious toasted sandwich for me, and yogurt and honey for my more civilized companions (the joys of being an adult; if I want a toasted sandwich for breakfast, I'm having a toasty for breakfast and I'll enjoy it!!)
One positive of arriving early mornings onto Greek islands, is there's sort of a magic to it, hardly anyone else about, the town silent and still, with the water lapping at the harbour. Symi was no different, and by the time we had breakfasted, shops were opening and the bustle was beginning. I immediately noticed all the tourist shops appeared to be selling sea sponges; this is because Symi flourished due to two things - ship building and sponges. The idea of sponge diving is obviously romantic to many tourists, and therefore understandably they now use this for a new economic purpose - tourism! This and shrimps. Symi shrimps are a well known delicacy from the island (and are delicious!)
We were staying in a cute little house up in the mountains, in a little village with a local supermarket for all our day-to-day needs. Unfortunately I'm useless with heat, and the place only had air-conditioning in the master bedroom, which, being only one person, I was not sleeping in! Due to this I spent my nights tossing, turning, overheated and generally miserable whereas everyone else seemed to manage just fine. Aside from this, the area was awesome,
My favourite place on the island was Marathounta - the goat beach as we dubbed it, for obvious reasons. It had goats! They wandered freely around, hanging out with everyone and looking dolefully at you in the hopes of food. We came here all the time (and we stayed on the island a week!) one time even eating at the taverna on the waterfront - luckily it was gated to keep the nibbling goats out.
The beach itself was gorgeous too of course, and some of my fondest memories of the whole trip are floating in the clear water, the water the most perfect temperature, and never wanting it to end. One of my favourite things to do when I realise something is pretty awesome, is to close my eyes for a second and try and soak in the moment by sight, scent and feeling, encapsulate the entire thing and then take a 'snapshot' in my mind, so I can keep the memory clearer, and revisit it on colder, drearier days. This was one of these.
Having a car is a must on Greek islands, allowing us to explore all over, driving windy roads, passing tiny tavernas, and stopping for epic views!
And of course, eating well. I can recommend the Secret garden and Tholos restaurant in particular, though the food was so delicious I forgot to take pictures - I am a bad blogger. We also visited the Kastro (castle) high on the hill overlooking the town, built to fend of pirates (I mean, how cool is that sentence!?) and was originally built by the Knights of Saint John.
Our second-most favourite beach was called Agios Georgios (like every other beach in Greece!) and could only be reached by water-taxi, due to the cliffs surrounding it. Due to the high cliffs the shade encroached early, but the rocks stayed warm and we enjoyed watching a couple of crazy goats navigate their way down the sheer cliff side (oh and the swimming and sunbathing, that was pretty nice too!)
We had a mild panic when the ferry arrived and it was tiny! And had no cars on board! Nervously we inquired, but no, they waved us right on. And that is how we became the only car on a tiny Greek ferry, bound for Leros.
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