06/07/2025
Η Επιστροφή - The Road Back…
MALEK’S JOURNEY:
10 years later… and somehow, the same sea brought us back.
In 2015, we arrived in Symi not knowing what tomorrow would bring — uncertain, full of quiet hope. Back then, it wasn’t about sunsets or tavernas .It was about crossing, surviving, dreaming.
Now, a decade later, we met again on the same island — as friends, as travelers, as people shaped by time but still deeply connected. This time, we swam. We walked the hills slowly, tasted everything, laughed.
It’s strange and beautiful how a place can hold so many versions of you. Symi gave us both memories and healing. And being together again!
Thanks to everyone who made Symi 2025 different — and possible — again.
———
LAITH’S JOURNEY:
Ten years ago, I arrived in Symi after a long and uncertain journey that started in Syria.
I passed through Lebanon and Turkey, and finally crossed the sea in a small boat that landed on this very island.
I spent a week here with nothing—no place to sleep but the floor, no bathroom, no shower, no idea what would come next. Just survival, and the hope that somehow, life would move forward.
Coming back to Symi now, after ten years, was emotional in a quiet way.
This time, I stayed in a beautiful place—the Old Markets Hotel—and experienced the island in a completely different light. Peaceful, warm, welcoming.
The contrast is almost hard to describe.
It reminded me how far life can take you, even when the path begins in the darkest places. For me Symi was once a place of struggle, and now it’s a place of reflection and gratitude.
———
HAMZA’S JOURNEY:
It’s been ten years since I was last on Symi – and this time, I had the chance to return with Andy, Ian, Laith and Malek, just like back then, after we made our way to Germany.
Coming back with the same people after such a long time was a special and emotional experience for me.
What made it even more meaningful was being invited again – and turning it into a kind of honeymoon!
Sharing this peaceful island, with all its light and silence, gave me space to reflect, but also to create new, happy memories in a place that once held some difficult ones.
Symi has now become the setting for what I can honestly call the best holiday of my life. Full of small, beautiful moments – laughter, conversations, calm mornings, and warm evenings. I’ll always carry that with me.
