Day 4: Rhodes to Symi

We had a final breakfast in Rhodes Town this morning, before packing up to move on to the next destination in this holiday: Symi. We had booked tickets for a ferry at 10.30 and, strictly speaking, didn't need to be there until 30 minutes before departure. However, when I went on a day trip from Rhodes to Symi with Tim last year, I remembered the boat as being quite a busy one. We decided to err on the side of caution and get there for around 09.45 to make sure we got a good seat.

That turned out to have been a good idea, because the boat was exceptionally busy .We got seats out on the top deck, where it was very hot but theoretically we had a view. The view part did turn out to be quite theoretical because there ultimately seemed to be more people on the boat than seats, so a significant number of people spent the journey standing by the rails, which somewhat impeded our enjoyment of the scenery!

It was a really lovely journey though,  as we pulled out of Rhodes Town and then sailed very close to the Turkish coast on our way to Symi. We pulled into the harbour shortly after midday and almost everyone on the boat stood up at this point to take photos. We didn't bother to push and shove with them, because we were hoping to have better views later on from the apartment where we're staying.

The apartment had messaged Helen last night to ask what time we were arriving today. As far as we were aware, we weren't allowed to check in until 2pm, but when she messaged back to say our boat was getting in earlier than that they said that was fine and they'd meet us from the boat. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but when we disembarked on Symi one of the first things we saw was a man holding a sign with the name of our apartments. We jumped in his car and he proceeded to drive us down the busy main street of the town, to the far side of the harbour where we were staying. The drive was an experience in itself, as we dodged slow-moving tourists on the narrow streets. We progressed slowly enough for our driver to say hello to everyone of his acquaintance that he met on the way.

The apartment is above a restaurant. Once we arrived we were given a drink of cold water there, then told that our room was already ready and we could go up to it. That was a pleasant surprise   When we got inside we found it was bigger than we expected, with a kitchen and living area...

...as well as the bedroom.

The best feature, though, is undoubtedly the view.

Our door opens out onto a shared terrace area, where we can sit and admire the views of Symi.

Think these are in the running for best views I've ever had from a terrace  

Once we'd unpacked and cooled off a bit, we went out to explore the town.

Once we walked around the harbour a little bit we could look back towards where we're staying; it's the brownish building with the white canopy towards the centre of this photo.

We could also look across the harbour to one of the boats that we'd sailed in on.

The town centre was quite busy with day-trippers, but it was still really beautiful.

Symi was historically famous for sponges and there are still sponge shops everywhere. We even found a monument to the sponge-divers of the island...

...as well as the local war memorial.

Symi is such a colourful place that it was a joy to walk around.

We eventually found somewhere in the shade to sit and have lunch, followed by an ice-cream. Then we decided to walk along the coast for a bit and have a look at the local beaches.

The water was an incredible shade of blue here.

We found a beach we'd seen on the map, with easy steps down to it.

Once we got further down we could see that it was more a collection of rocks than a beach, though. We decided not to climb all the way down.

The coastline was gorgeous though and it had definitely been worth the walk to see it.

We decided to settle on a different beach, which was rather pebbly but not rocky at least.

Suitably equipped with water shoes, we went for a dip in the sea. It was cold at first! But felt warmer once you'd been in for a while.

Then there was just time for a trip to the local mini-market for a bottle of wine and some snacks, so we could enjoy the evening views from the terrace