Relax in Symi Off the Coast of Turkey

If it is relaxation you are looking for then I suggest a long stay in Symi, Dodecanese, a Greek Island off the coast of Turkey.

The place is a mecca for the travel weary or for the ingenue to travel. There you will find the solitude or night life or yachting or just sleeping that you are hungry for. By way of introduction, Symi or Simi had no roads passed the Kaly Strata or The Good Steps before 1979.

Before then people walked or rode side saddle on donkeys. But, since most of the travelers to the island stayed in the harbor, there was not much call for taxis disguised as trucks and now an actual car or two to take the visitor passed the Kaly Strata into the villages and on into the mountains and the secluded monasteries that date to the 1800s as far as we know.

When the roads were first begun, dynamite had to be used to blow up the mountain boulders that blocked the bulldozers from carving out the roads. Much of that dust has long since settled and one can now take a taxi from the harbor clear across the island to a fabulous resort originally built for an archangel.
The monastery is still there but the main attractions are the tourist boats that faithfully come to the resort every day beginning at 2:30.

Some of the tourists stay but most come to view the monastery, and take pictures of the most picturesque lighthouse seen anywhere since no one can say if it ever was used as a beacon.

Those tourists that stay and if you have taken a taxi from the harbor to the resort and want to stay, rooms are available as are apartments complete with baths and kitchens. For the tired and overtaxed a week long stay at the monastery with its revitalizing spring waters will bring you back to shape and you will not even stop to think why you are no longer too tired in the morning to plan a hike, catch a boat, swim and sunbathe till you are brown as toast or just saunter around the resort meeting people from around the world.

Speaking of meeting people, that is one secret way of relaxation. To unstress one needs to be mildly stimulated by people and things that are not part of ones normal environment.

Believe me, Symi is that place. There are many nicely kept hotels on the island, and I recommend the first one you find. Most of them are complete with dining rooms and very carefully trained attendants to welcome the traveler with the proper credit card, of course. After signing in and sleeping for a day or two, a nice walk around the harbor will give you a flavor of the outdoor theaters, restaurants, and shopping that can serve to entertain and de stress even the most bundled up about to have a break down executive.