A quick 10 mile sail south from Kos took Sangaris with Jens and Tino aboard to Nisyros island where we tied to the quay in Pali. Nisyros is THE volcanic island in the region and its central crater dominates.
Before heading there, though, we rented "moto-donkeys" and toured the island, stopping at the seaside town of Mandraki with it's drop dead views and historic monastery (two top left shots). Then it was on to the hilltop town of Emborios that has a natural sauna fed by volcanic steam - Craig is stepping out really overheated after only a few minutes inside. The bottom shots are of the old town - mostly ruins but a few renovated places - and of the view from there of the HUGE central crater - the active part is far in the background
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So here we are right inside the crater which is much cooler than that diagram from the volcano museum shows! Katherine is climbing down into the crater, passing sulfurous rocks down to the floor where thousands of blow holes called "fumerole" are hissing with sulphur laden steam which then forms the yellow-green sulphur crystals - and boy does it stink!
Here are some more pics of this amazing place. There was one sign at the top that rather casually said, "Caution: the ground may break." How's that for understatement (and can you imagine that in the US?).
In these next shots, as we started to leave the crater, you can see how enormous it really is. Luckily, our moto-donkey rental guy had advised us to go at the end of the day after the tourists had left, so we had it all to ourselves as the sun started to send its shadows.
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Finally, as the day was coming to a close, we took our scooters to the very top of the island where the little town of Nicos is situated with its classic Greek orthodox church. After a few sunset shots, then, we headed back to our little harbor where Sangaris was still snugly moored - a perfect ending to a perfect day.