My 1st Taste of Symi - and lots of other 1sts

[valr]

Our 1st visit to Symi was our 1st experience of independent island hopping and we fell in love with the island at 1st sight! We stayed at a wonderful guesthouse called "Kokona" at the side of St Johns Church in Yialos. I'll never forget our 1st view of Symi from the early morning boat from Rhodes - it was like sailing into Heaven! After unpacking etc we had late breakfast at a small bar on the harbour, which had a parrot in a cage at the entrance, then after pottering about all day, we ended up on Nos beach where (for the next 4 days!) my other-half - Alex - ended up helping a local man (who was wearing one wellington boot and one flip-flop!) shift loads of boulders to create more beach! On the times I managed to drag Alex away from building beaches we managed to do a bit of exploring but we knew that we'd only seen the tip of the ice-burg (so to speak) and it would take more visits, as it has done, to see the true picture of the island. We had to spend an extra, unexpected night on Symi, due to a ferry strike - other prospective ferry passengers were moaning about the delay - but we were filled with excitement - YESSS another day on Symi! That was our 1st experience of Greek shipping and we now know to expect the unexpected. We've been to other Greek islands - and loved them - but nothing fills us with so much excitement as the approach to Symi - or so much sadness as the departure from Symi!

[Richard]

That first view of the Harbour never fails, does it? Everyone goes silent as the ship rounds the headland and Yialos and Chorio come into view. I still cannot watch when we are leaving but look at the Turkish coast and think about our next visit.
It is unfair that this place has such an effect; the M5 to Weston super Mare does not quite match it.

[Kojak]

The first time I saw Symi was at night. the ferry used to leave Rhodes later in those days. By the time we rounded the point it was dark and our first sighting was one small light, followed by a few more until the harbour gradually opened up with tier upon tier of small twinkling lights - magical! Sadly, that 30 odd minutes earlier means you don't quite get the same effect nowadays.

[Ange]

The second time we went to Symi we was on the slower boat and sat upstairs on the upper deck. It took two hours and was windy and chilly, there was only 4 off us left up there, we had the front seats this time and wasn't giving those up!
It was dark when we turned into the harbour and it took our breath away, all the lights twinkling looking like they were being turned on one by one as they came into view. It was the most magical thing we've ever seen.
Symi was the first place we ever went back to.