Panormitis

We spent three nights at the quiet anchorage of Panormitis.  The only noise was the occasional chiming of the church bells (though they never chimed on the hour but 10 minutes to), monks chanting for evening prayer and brief visits from the day tripper ferry boats.

 

The first morning we had a cuppa with Janet and Paul on Onyx and got the low down on the area as they have been here many times.  Since we were stuck in the immigration cage for three hours yesterday we didn’t have time to do errands in Symi Town.  We needed to take the local bus back into town to get some euros from a cash machine and Greek sim cards for internet.  Buses make the 30 minute journey over winding narrow mountain roads three times a day, in theory, but being school holidays (Greek Orthodox Easter break) the schedule was a bit loose.  We went ashore to check out the village and await the bus.

Songster and Onyx at anchor

The village is made up of the Monastery of Archangel Michael Panormitis, a small cafe, a shop selling basic groceries, a taverna which isn’t open yet for the season and some very basic holiday rooms.  There is a lovely walkway all around the harbour with gates to keep out the goats, an olive grove, a small cemetery and not much else. While we were waiting for the bus, two ferries came within a half hour of each other disgorging a couple hundred tourists who milled around the monastery, bought a few icons, took a few happy snaps then shuffled back onto the ferry and were gone.  That is the peak of activity here in Panormitis, and then the village goes back to its peaceful lassitude.

The quiet waterfront

Archangel Michael icon

Day tripper ferry arriving

Quiet sheltered anchorage

The bus came around midday and we began the journey up the winding roads.  The scenery was spectacular – steep cliffs tumbling into the blue Mediterranean and the islands of Rhodes, Tilos and Nisyros clearly visible in the distance.  Symi is a small island of about 58 square kilometres about 10 km long and 5 km wide.  Historically it was a centre for sponge diving and had about 22,000 inhabitants at the turn of the 20^th Century.  Now it survives on tourism and the population is only one tenth of what it was.

The bay from the bus

View from the bus

Looking towards Rhodes

Sadly the last return bus to Panormitis gave us only 90 minutes in Symi Town so we quickly had to do our errands and did not have a chance to check out the leather and sponge shops or eat at one of the many delicious smelling restaurants.  We did meet a Greek Australian, born in Melbourne, who had came to Greece 17 years ago and now is working in a restaurant and made us the best Freddos (iced coffees).  It was quite bizarre to hear an incredibly thick Australian accent in the middle of this tiny Greek island.

Symi harbour

 Back in Panormitis we took a walk to the windmill at the harbour entrance.  The windmill is derelict and now seems to house only bats.  Nearby was an old WWII pill box boarded up and covered in rocks.  We had a look through the cracks and to our astonishment a 40mm Bofors gun was inside, presumably left from the Raid on Symi during the Dodecanese Campaign.

WWII pill box

Bofors gun

Windmill and pillbox from across the harbour entrance

We walked to the other side of the harbour and were greeted by a herd of goats who took quite a bit of interest in us until they realised we did not have food for them.

Disappointed goats

We returned to the cafe and had some Ouzo while watching the sponge boats return and the sun set over the harbour entrance. 

Boats returning

The end of a great day