Chorio (Ano Symi)

Chorio, also called Ano Symi, is the old upper town, piled on the ridge above Gialos and reached by the Kali Strata, a broad stairway of stone steps. Its lanes are quieter than the harbour, with old captains' houses, small kafeneia, a row of ruined windmills on the skyline and, at the very top, the walls of the castle built by the Knights of St John around the church of the Megali Panagia. The Archaeological and Folklore Museum is here too. The views over both bays are the best on the island.