Panormitis Bay, Simi Greece
24 July 2022 | Panormitis Bay, Nisos Simi
Dierk and Sabrina | Hot
After arriving at Panoramitis Bay on Nisos Simi from Rhodes, it was so beautiful, that we decided to stay two nights. This bay lies on the SE corner of the island. It has one of the largest monestaries in the Dodocenese Island group. The massive building is a mixture of baroque and raenaissance architecture (that bit was plagurised, not totally sure what that means...I know it is some kind of old school architecture, form 4 history) The monastary is dedicated to the islands patron saint, the Archangel Micheal. The large belfry houses a bell that chimes the time on the hour and a single chime at the bottom of the hour. Luckily the rining stops late at night, so even the bell ringers work office hours...although nowadays it is probably controlled by some sort of electronic system. I can't imagine a monk swinging every half hour on a rope that oscillates a two tone brass bell.
Whilst there, we went to the local beach nestled amongst olive trees. There were four change rooms, three for humans and one for goats. There were goats and their kids where everywhere. They had chosen the far left room to hang out and poop into!!! Goat damn it...they are weird looking dudes with their eyes planted so wide apart at the extremities of the skulls.
An old windmill sits atop the bluff that overlooks the entrance to the bay. It is not in working order but still looks fantastic. Its sails are well furled and the vanes securely chained so it cannot move. The windmill is adjacent to a canon bunker that houses a full canon that looks in reasonable condition and was probably used to protect the bay from intruders, who ever they were.
We did a lot of snorkelling around the entrance to the bay. In some places there were large drop-offs and shear underwater cliffs blending in to the azure blue waters. Check out the photo gallery. We posted a couple of GoPro photos. Also, we saw a few large turtles, either leather or green backs. We are not sure because they were quite flighty and did not surface for long.