The Symi harbor panorama is one of the most unique and colorful coastal landscapes in the Dodecanese Islands, Greece.
To get to Symi Island, we drove back from Lindos to Rhodes and took a ferry from there for a day trip. Symi is located northwest of Rhodes, close to the Turkish maritime border, and the ferry time can take somewhere between 50 minutes and one and a half hours, depending on the company and itinerary.
After spending a day there, I really wanted to share this photo of the Symi harbor panorama and some of the amazing facts I discovered about the island.
A very colorful tiny island
We found Symi to be a cute-looking island, with all those buildings in pastel colors and its marvelous-looking water. In this photo I wanted to capture the vibrant blue in both the sky and the sea, with the pastel architecture contrasting to the lush colors of the water.
We were quite lucky to get a bit of clouds in the sky as well, adding to the overall dreamy feeling of the place, exactly how I had imagined the photo of the Symi harbor panorama.
Symi is a very small island. I feel curious about what it would be like to actually stay here overnight, as I guess once the day tours have left, it’s a really quiet place. Unlike larger Greek islands dominated by resorts, Symi feels more intimate.
Four things that surprised me about Symi Island
- The Symi harbor panorama is defined by a very distinctive neoclassical architecture, with many symmetrical facades painted in pastel tones. It’s fundamentally different from the architecture in popular Greek destinations like Athens and Thessaloniki.
- One thing I didn’t know before visiting is how much the island is shaped by a peculiar activity: sponge diving. It seems the island became known for it, and locals even pioneered techniques for it. They still have one or two shops selling the sponges, and we even got one there for ourselves. It’s a really important aspect of the island’s life.
- Symi has a relatively small permanent population, but during the tourist season, the number of visitors increases dramatically, especially through day trips from Rhodes and travelers sailing the Aegean Sea.
- The strategic position in the Aegean also meant that the island passed through several periods of foreign rule and it even became an important military location during World War II. Something you would not guess by how peaceful the Symi harbor looks today!
