Symi is not just a beautiful landscape… It is an architectural jewel, on the southern tip of the Greek islands.
A unique architectural community in the most charming corner of the Aegean, captivates the visitors with its natural beauty. With the picturesque traditional houses, the colors and the Aegean Sea surrounding the island, Symi captures the heart and mind of every visitor from the very first moment.
The unique architectural style combined with its rich maritime tradition, the crafts such as wood carving and painting that the residents served with “meraki”, the Greek notion of zeal and passion, made Symi famous throughout the world!

Symi was early declared as a preservable settlement and thus the basic character of the architecture managed to remain unaltered. In 1971, and in particular with the Minister’s decision no 24908/23.10.1971, Symi is deemed a “historical location, which requires special protection”. Earthy colors such as ochre, salmon-pink and red were not randomly picked as the key colors for this island palette: they help with the absorption of solar heat by the stone walls during the winter time. The color blue was later adopted, during the Italian occupation, as a reference to the Greek flag color. Today, the color palette is carefully preserved and is becoming even bolder in the large neoclassical houses of Yialos which have been restored.

The rest of the village is a mixture of Aegean architecture with Venetian elements and impresses the visitors with its view and its size. Neoclassical facades, symmetrical openings, windows and doors with balconies make the buildings of Yialos like human faces. Two or three level captain-houses, painted with the color palette of freedom. Upper rooms, paved courtyards with pebbles, decorative floors and elaborate hand painted ceilings, gables and roofs create beautiful images in indigo and ochre which directly refer to the 19th century and the aesthetic movement of neoclassicism.