Nisyros - a WHAOU island !
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Tue 10 May 2022 18:05
36:36.8N 27:08.3E When at anchor in Astypalaia (our first island in the Dodecanese) we were told by other sailors - and Roberto had read about this also - that we should absolutely go to Nisyros and, as, we had time (for once) we decided to stop there. After again (yes, since we left Athens 14 days ago we never had to put the engine on for any of our crossing- what a treat !!) a nice 35 nautical miles, yet quick (with the wind blowing between 15 and 23 knots) sail, and - as we knew that in front of the entrance of the main harbour “PALI” there is at the moment a sand bank and very little water to enter the harbour which would be too risky for us (they say that next week they will “drag” it to increase the depth of the entrance but will they do that next week ? - who knows !!) - decided, and were lucky there were still one spot (out of 2!) to moor in the Mandraki harbour where all the ferries come and go. Luckily since we are still out of season and while a few ferries (you should see them manoeuvre - it seems they have a toy to play with - yet the toy weights many tons!) came and went making our boat bounce a bit - it was totally acceptable! A very nice man helped us moor and we then understood that it was the guy who owns the rent a car office directly opposite to where our boat was moored and hence, guess what ? … we decided to rent a car - or should I say a type of off-road quad - to visit the Island. They recommended, even if it was 5 pm when we got there, to go and see the volcano now as all the tourists would have left the site by then. We did follow their advice and off we went. Given that those cars have no windshield it was like sailing without spray-hood, which I did not realise when we decided to go for this car. I realised that if I dressed with my winter fleece and wind jacket then it was all fine :) And indeed, we were basically (except for 3 crew members from another boat we had seen in Astipalya) alone visiting this incredible semi-dormant volcano that is the youngest volcano still in activity in Greece. Two huge explosions which took place 55.000 and 45.000 years B.C. destroyed the central part of the volcano, creating the current caldera of Nisyros that has a diameter of 4 km. As it was about 5.30 pm when we got there the light was amazing (yet 30 minutes later we would no longer have had sun which would have been a shame, so our timing, albeit by chance, was absolutely perfect !). The road to getting there was crowded with… cows and their calves, goats and ewes… sooo cute ! We then drove - froze :) back to Mandraki on dirt off-road (lot of fun for Roberto) and after a hot shower decided to visit its charming village and eat out at “Geusea” - a sea fish restaurant that does a type of high end (yet simple) fish dishes. It was very good. We then (almost) got lost wandering in the city by night - very romantic town :) In the middle of the night we heard an alarm - so of course both of us awake and Roberto realised it was the “gas (LPG)” alarm which we found strange as there was no smell whatsoever of gas and we had switched it off as always. We stopped the main switch and gas bottle thinking we would deal with it in the morning. Yet in the morning when we switched everything back on - all good, no sound of an alarm which was a relief. Roberto thought it MIGHT be that given that the sensor is so sensitive, that it may even have been the gaz entering the boat from the volcanic island we are on - who knows… ! The next day, back in our “car”, and relatively early we drove to Nikia village. An authentic village, with a lot of restored houses with different colours (we noted we no longer are in the Cyclades!) about 400 m above sea-level, full of narrow and curvy streets, with in particular, a very charming main square “Porta" (were we took a cappuccino all ALONE on this square) with a stunning small-white chapel, the Church of Agia Triada which dates back from the 15th century. On the parking upon arrival there is the “Museum of the Volcanos” which we visited and which I thought was well done and very interesting. We then drove to the other village that we were told was worth visiting - namely “Emporios” yet, expect for the exceptional view of the volcano from there, had more rumbles than anything else. Even if a couple of restored houses could be found. We had lunch on a terrace with an extraordinary view of the volcano before returning close to Mandraki to visit the walls (which date back from the 4th century B.C. of the ancient fortress of the old town. To build it they used the local black volcanic stone. It appears to have been one of the best fortification of the Egean archipelagos. Later today, we wandered again in Mandraki again, visiting the monastery in the ruins of the Venetian castle from which you do have an amazing view of the Mandraki village. Tonight we are all alone in the harbour (no ferries, no other boats) - something I believe is quite exceptional !!!         |