Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Panormítis monastery
Museums daily 8.30am-2pm & 3-4pm • €1.50 combined admission
In summer, at least one daily inter-island ferry, as well as countless excursion boats
from Rhodes, calls in at the large Taxiárhis Mihaïl Panormítis monastery, located in a
gorgeous (albeit beachless), almost entirely closed little bay in the far south of Sými.
You can also get here by road, with daily buses heading down from Yialós. A shop,
bakery and simple taverna cater to the needs of day-trippers.
Built in honour of the Archangel Michael ( Taxiárhis in Greek), patron saint of the
island, the monastery was thoroughly pillaged during World War II, so - except for
its lofty belfry - don't expect much of the building or its contents. Away from its
spruce main courtyard, which has an attractive pebble-mosaic floor, most of the
complex is gently fading. Lit by an improbable number of oil lamps, the central
katholikón is also graced by a fine témblon and of course the cult icon, though
frescoes are unremarkable.
The monastery courtyard holds two small museums . One, devoted entirely to
artefacts related to the monastery's religious significance, contains a strange mix of
precious antiques, exotic junk, and votive offerings including bodybuilding and
motocross trophies. A small boat is piled with messages-in-bottles carried here by the
Aegean currents - the idea is that if the bottle or toy boat arrives, the sender's prayer is
answered. In the opposite corner, a folklore museum holds displays on costumes,
weaving, and domestic activities.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
THE REST OF THE ISLAND
8
Katsaras Pédhi T 22460 71417. With a shaded terrace
right at water's edge, this large taverna, in the middle of
Pédhi Bay, makes a great place for a full meal or a sunset
drink. Vegetable and seafood mezes cost around €8, grilled
meat more like €12. Daily noon-9pm.
Pédhi Beach Hotel Pédhi T 22460 71981,
W pedibeachhotel.gr. Large, simply furnished a/c
rooms in the middle of the bay, with a patio laid out with
sunbeds. Around ten of the 56 rooms have sea-view
balconies; rates include dinner at the on-site restaurant,
and drop significantly outside August. There's no beach
here, but f for lov ers of the quiet life it's not a bad
alternative. €120
Ì Taverna Marathoúnda Run by the Kalodoukas
family, who also offer rental studios here, and supplied
with fresh organic produce from their adjoining fields, this
excellent waterfront taverna makes a wonderful lunch
spot. Top-quality mezes for around €8, or beautifully
prepared fish from around €12.50. Daily lunch & dinner,
mid-May to mid-Sept only.
Tílos
Stranded midway between Kos and Rhodes, the small, usually quiet island of TÍLOS is
among the least frequented and most unpredictably connected of the Dodecanese.
For visitors, however, it's a great place simply to rest on the beach, or hike in the
craggy hinterland.
Tílos shares the characteristics of its closest neighbours: limestone mountains like
those of Hálki, plus volcanic lowlands, pumice beds and red-lava sand as on Níssyros.
With ample groundwater and rich volcanic soil, the islanders could afford to turn their
backs on the sea, and made Tílos the breadbasket of the Dodecanese. Until the 1970s,
travellers were greeted by the sight of shimmering fields of grain bowing in the wind.
Nowadays the hillside terraces languish abandoned, and the population of five hundred
dwindles to barely a hundred in winter.
While recent development has turned the port of Livádhia ever more towards
tourism, Tílos remains low-key. This is still a place where visitors come to get away
from it all, often for extended stays. If you're here to walk , little may seem striking at
first glance, but after a few days you may have stumbled on several small Knights'
castles studding the crags, or found some of the inconspicuous, often frescoed, often
locked medieval chapels that cling to the hillsides.
 
 
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