Symi Dodecanese Greece | Stay in Iapetos Village Hotel

LOCATION

Symi is the eighth largest Greek island of the Dodecanese.

Dodecanese

SYMI

The natural harbor is Gialos (from Aegialos), around which the city is built amphitheatrically. The upper part of the city, called Horio, is built on the slopes of Mount Vigla. There are also Nimbor resorts (e) virus (from Emborios), north, and Pedi, east. Gialos is connected by road with Horio, Pedi, Nimbor (e) virus and the monastery of Archangel Michael of Panormitis, located at the southernmost tip of the island.

Symi is a world-class tourist destination due to its architecture. Archaeological site was declared the entire island of Symi. The whole of Symi, as well as the islets around it, were declared archaeological sites by the Central Archaeological Council, since they include 159 places – places and monuments – that record the history of the region from the prehistoric to the recent times.

Symi is inhabited since prehistoric times. Some names mentioned are: Kariki, Metaponti, Aegli, and Symi by the name of Glafkos’s husband who is considered the first resident on this land. It is speculated that its original inhabitants were the Carians and the Phoenicians. After that the Dorians came.

Explore Symi through our photo gallery!

SYMI IS KNOWN FROM MYTHOLOGY

On the island, according to tradition, the three Charites were born. Today’s name, according to Diodorus Sikeliotis, owes it to the Nymph Symi, which according to the legend was mated with Poseidon, god of the sea.

FIND US ON THE MAP

A UNIQUE LOCATION

Discover the beauty of our land

TAXIARCH MICHAEL OF PANORMIΤΙ

HOLY MONASTERY

During the early years of Christianity, the heresy of fanatic love towards the angels-saints flourished in Asia Minor, which was gradually extended to Symi, due to the close relations of the island with the coasts. Although this heresy has now ceased, Symi remains a place – the nucleus of worship to the angels-saints , having a total of 9 monasteries devoted to the Archbishop Michael.

The most important of these monasteries is that of Panormitis, located to the south of the island and surrounds the homonymous bay. According to the tradition, the location for the monastery was due to the founding of an icon of Michael the Taxiarch at that point by an symaia “Marion of Proteniou”.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL - FOLKLORE

SYMIS MUSEUM

The Archeological – Folklore Museum of Symi is housed in a traditional mansion of the Yanneske family and is located in the Leni area, in Ano Symi. At the entrance of the museum there is an exceptional pebbly courtyard with amphorae and sculptures of various historical periods.

In its five halls, it hosts collections of Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine findings, as well as folklore exhibits. Among the exhibits of particular interest is the representation of the interior of the common house, which gives a clear picture of the daily life of the inhabitants in the past years.

Marine Museum

SYMI

One of the most important museums in its expert in our country, the Symi Maritime Museum was created in 1983, having as its primary purpose to resident anything related to the island’s huge naval tradition.

It is located on the square of 8 May 1945 in Gialos and since 1990 it is housed in one of the most representative neoclassical buildings of the area, where the main tarsan of Symi was. With the Symians sponges holding an important place in the area’s of the sponges,a huge part of the museum has devote its greatest unity to that part.

GIALOS MONUMENT

IN THE PORT OF THE ISLAND

One of the first thing that the visitor faces when arriving in Symi is the Gialos Monument, which stands in the port of the island. The memorial was created as a memory of the Protocols Traditional of the Dodekanison to the allies on 8 May 1945 and is a sculpture – a copy of Lindos’s trireme crafted on a rock.

The Gialos Monument stands to remind of the contribution of the island to the national races and every year on 8 May a parade of school students and soldiers takes place to honour there memory of this day during which wreaths are deposited in the monument.

ETHICS AND TRADITIONS

DISCOVER THE ETHICS AND TRADITIONS OF OUR ISLAND

TRADITIONS OF THE KOUKOUMA

From the previous night, the mistress of the house where there are going to celebrate Koukouma, gave a vase of Venice, named xysti, to seven youngsters(women) to take it back home , one of them which was called Irene, was also-called silent water(very quiet),while heading home they should be silent and not talk. On their return, they put their rings in their shards and they covered it with a red scarf and a big key.

The xusti was pulled up by the lady in the inferior, where it left until the morning, so that the sky and the stars could see it. So,that gave them a believing they would get married quickly. In the morning, after the ceremony at the temple of St. Athanasius, they went to the house where they made Koukouma taking a place around a baking pan, the gastre (sini).Then the housewife comes down from the inferior and put it in the center of the siniou-gastre. Immediately the new ones removed the key, the red scarf, they took off their rings and put on freshly cut flowers, and about a hundred spoons of soup in the shrimp.

With their palms rhythmically beat the sini and the spoons made a nice sound, while the lyrers began to play music and the young singing songs by praising their loved ones. After the meal offered by the lady, the young men with the rose rose to their ears and danced with the new songs singing. At the end of Cukumas, the lady gave each new piece of pie made of untouched water, salt and flour sifted from the original news of which the parents lived. Because of the salt in the pie they ate, the new ones were thirsty, and in their sleep they saw who the house would go to drink and to quench.