More History....

....than you can shake an extremely large stick at.

Today we got taken on a hike up into the hills by our host to see one of the hundreds of churches on Symi and, on the way, her mother. After a geniune Greek coffee and some of her mother's home made almond biscuits we continued up and up and then up some more. To Say the views were spectacular would be an understatement to say the very least.

Go large, memorise and then read on.

This shows the village on the hill known as Chorio where I used to work 10 years ago. In the middle is a row of round buildings that were once windmills but more interesting still is the red roofed church on the left. Built on the site of what was first an ancient acropoliss and later a castle built by the Knights Of St John. The church was single handedly built by a local over a period of some 25 years, which in itself is worthy of note, to replace the one blown up by - you guessed it - the Nazis in WWII. Unlike the last mention of these evil doers three Blips ago there was a good Nazi in this story who saved many lives. When preparing to vacate the island before the imminent take over by the allies the German comander ordered all the munitions to be dumped in the church and blown up as they were leaving. Realising the devistation this would cause one soldier quietly spread the word to the locals so they could discretely evacuate the area. All but one stubborn old lady managed to get to safety before the big explosion. The rain of stone and masonery that flew in the blast killed the old lady and destroyed around 25 of the houses but the locals were saved. There was a set back though, the allies believed the explossion to be an attack and started firing at the island and destroyed large parts of it in "friendly fire".

If you ever come here be sure to take a guided walk of this little village with Ian from Symi Visitor (an accomodation company who rent out many properties including my folks place) it will be well worth your time.