Symi is an island of 67 square kilometers, belongs to the prefecture of the Dodecanese and is 26 nautical miles away from Rhodes. It has many bays and small ports, most of which you can walk to, and many monasteries and country churches in the most unexpected places. The first inhabitant of the island according to the mythology was Glafkos, who set off from a town in Voiotia and wandered for quite
some time before settling on the island. Symi also had other names in the antiquity, such as Kariki, Metapontis, Aegli and Elkousa. During the Trojan War, Symi participated with its king, Nireus with three ships, as mentioned by Homer. He was the most handsome king, as he says, after Achilles. The shipbuilding and sponge industries were substantial on the island and, while at their peak near the end of the nineteenth century, the population reached 22,500. Symi's main industry is now tourism and the population has declined to 2,500.
