Symi - I have finally run out of pictures!

Yes this is the last of my pictures from Symi ... until I go back of course!

And, for anyone who is interested, some facts about the place too.

Symi is mentioned in Homer's Iliad as being a place where people bought ships. And that is how the inhabitants lived for centuries - that and sponges. It's also why there are no trees on Symi - well no forests - it was deforested long before the word became fashionable! But it is a lesson for all to see - the barren mountain tops - so unlike nearby Rhodes for example.

Throughout the centuries, Symi was inhabited by Carians, Dorians, Romans, the Knights of St. John, the Turks, and lastly by the Italians.

These centuries of prosperity are evident especially in the main town with magnificent neoclassical mansions built on the hills around the harbour.

But by the twentieth century when the Italians arrived not only had wooden ship building stopped but the sponges were in short supply - overfishing! another word in common usage!

During World War II, the island was occupied by the Germans, who, sadly destroyed a great deal of the houses when they retreated. There are still several reminders of this around the place - maybe I will return to this subject some day.

Meantime Symi survives on tourists who arrive daily aboard a vast array of ferryboats from Rhodes and other nearby Islands. If you stay there you can miss the hordes of daytime visitors by taking a small boat to one of the lovely beaches. See previous blogs. And Easyjet now fly direct London - Rhodes - I hope the numbers don't increase too much as a result!