Touring Nisyros!

We left Kos on the 25th August and had a mixed but still great sail, the winds going from a W4, to dead calm and back up to a NW4, to the island of Nisyros, southwest of Kos, arriving early enough in the afternoon to grab a spot in their little harbour, which we wanted to do as we planned to hire a car and go exploring into the crater.

Nisyros is an island, almost square, that is a partially extinct volcano (the last explosion occurring 24,000 years ago!), still with live hot sulphurous springs. The Caldera itself  has a diameter of 3km, and inside there are 5 individual craters, the largest and the one you can walk down into, if you can stomach the smell of sulphur, not for the faint hearted as we soon found  out, has a diameter of 350m, and  is about 30m deep. The other 4 vary, and whilst you can walk up to their edge, it is advised not to walk into them because of the gases still emitting from them, and the potential for the sulphur to work through the soles of your flip-flops.

On arriving in the tiny harbour of Palon, we had a quick wander, quick being the operative word, it took 5 minutes to walk from one end of the village to the other. We sorted out a car for the afternoon and following morning. We nearly opted for a original & very new Beach Buggy for fun, until the company wanted €100 a day for it, asking for a discount to try and persuade him to drop the price, he responded by saying that last week it was €150 per day !

That afternoon, being one of the best times to avoid the hoards of tourists that come by ferry between 11am – 4pm to see the Caldera, we set about exploring, first stop being the oldest town on the the Island, Emporios, which comprised of the tiniest square, church and a handful of cobbled streets leading off it, and a spectacular view of the Caldera.

We then headed into the Caldera, and I will let the dramatic photos do the talking….

From there, we drove south, around the caldera to the old charming town of Nikia and wandered its cobbled streets to the tiny square for a drink, and another view of the Caldera and then headed to the “capital” of the island, Mandraki to watch the sunset.

Nikia

Mandraki

The following morning, I, as always, trying to get the best light for my photos, and David not wanting to follow me around to the same places, I got to drive for the first time since May and made my merry way back to Nikia to get the shot I wanted with the sun behind me. I think it was worth it.

And a few more of Nikia!

I also, having been offered to be carried up a 45 minute hike up the steep hill to the church at the top by a chap old enough to be my grandfather, and who would no doubt have dropped me, managed to find a road that I could drive up to get  there. The detail inside this tiny church was amazing.

I then drove back to Mandraki as I wanted to see the Monastery of Panagía of Spiliani, and I think David is getting a little bit bored of Monasteries now. However my non existent guide book didnt mention there were in fact 2 monasteries, so having taken the first signpost to “Monastery” that I saw, which took me on a 6km almost dirt track road, which was a little unnerving at times, to arrive at a tiny, what I could only call, chapel, I soon realised I had the wrong one!

Retracing my steps back to Mandraki, I parked up near the top of town and finally found the right one!.

Afterwards, I wandered around the headland, which was being battered by the north westerly winds, to see what all the other people walking in the same direction were going there for, to find a stunning beach, made up of shiny black volcanic pebbles and stormy seas.

I finally made my way back to Palon a couple of hours later than I had intended, not that David minded, chilling out with his book, and flopped for the afternoon, before chilling out over a bottle of wine and bite to eat.

The following day, we left early for the island of Tilos, which will be our next chapter!.