Nisyros And Its Amazing Volcano
Tilos has been wonderful, our best stop so far, and it’s not without sadness that we board the cool looking Stavros ferry and leave whitewashed, bougainvillea dotted Livadia behind. But we always say…move on while you still love a place, so we’re being true to our travel principles on this one.
Unusually for islands in the Dodecanese, Tilos has a comparatively flat centre between its spectacular peaks, through which the main road of the island runs north to south. This fertile plateau was created by a gigantic fall of pumice and ash belching from a volcanic eruption of enormous proportions on the neighbouring island of Nisyros, our next destination.
Nisyros has suffered some major volcanic eruptions, the most recent around 15,000 and 25,000 years ago – the earlier one blowing away the 1400m high mountain in its centre and leaving a huge caldera in its place. The largest crater in the bottom of the caldera, nicknamed Stefanos, is now the main reason for the popularity of Nisyros amongst visitors, the vast majority of whom dash in and out on day trips from nearby Kos.
The little port at Mandraki is swamped each day around 10.30am and again just after 4pm as these organised trips come and go, and we can’t help but titter as we watch the crowds play follow-my-leader, especially when the “leader” is a young woman holding a yellow plastic duck on a stick for her group to follow.
As a direct result of its volcanic nature, Nisyros is extremely fertile. This is the greenest Greek island we’ve seen – not a commentary on its carbon footprint, simply the fact that it’s covered in trees. Gone is the barren landscape of the last three islands and in come fruit, nut and pine trees covering most areas. It’s very different!
Our new home base of Mandraki is different too, funny how just a short ferry ride can change everything. Seas blown by Meltemi batter the shores, rocks and sea walls protect the seafront restaurants, this west facing shoreline is a sunset haven. Each town on Nisyros, Mandraki included, is like being in a model village, everything squashed too closely together to be accessible by car, wooden balconies hanging over the alleyways with onions, garlic and even octopus drying on the ballustrades.
Drying onions and garlic 
Sundried octopus
Now these are proper sunset photos…….
Tight alleys snake around the town, then a square with mosaic patterns underfoot appears, then a cluster of tavernas, maybe a hidden shop, perhaps a group of ladies sitting on wooden chairs chatting till the cows come home. Watching it all from above is the monastery, and close by the remains of the castle and city walls, and a church built into a cave.
Mandraki has a tiny town beach made with sand presumably brought in from elsewhere. It also has a ridiculous number of cats, more cats per square metre than we’ve ever seen – alley cats literally everywhere. Someone should have realised that a heap of sand might just be viewed by those cats as a giant litter tray. As a result, frankly, the beach stinks!
Just as strong is the powerful odour of sulphur down in the caldera, but it’s fabulous to ignore the smell and wander around this remarkable place, steam billowing from cracks in the earth, spectacular yellow sulphur crystals splayed like flowers around the crevices. The mud puddles often bubble and boil here (though not today, unfortunately) as the ground surface temperature tops 100 degrees.
Looking around at the exploded landscape, the towering sides of both Stefanos and the greater caldera, knowing that we are looking at this terrain just how the gigantic eruption left it thousands of years ago, has a real tingle factor. No wonder the day trips from Kos are so popular.
Nikia Village…..
On the highest levels of the island are the villages of Emborios and Nikia, each just as tight, and quaint, as Mandraki, and each affording breathtaking views across the 4km wide caldera. Neither has vehicle access, and at Emborios we leave the hire car close to a cave nicknamed the “natural sauna”. Stepping inside is indeed just like taking a sauna, the hot volcanic rock creating sweltering humidity just a couple of yards from the road. It’s all a bit surreal.
Natural Sauna…..
Bubbling mud, sauna caves, hot springs, a Greek island covered in greenery…this place is certainly different. Even the cuisine is a diversion from standard Greek….including pytia (seasoned chickpea fritters a bit like falafel), soumada (a sickly sweet almond drink) and….wait for it…a dessert made from sweet tomato, almonds and yoghurt.
Mandraki street 
Mandraki street
Ferry schedules dictate that our stay here is short, but our road trip has taken in the whole of this small island, so we feel we have done it justice. As we tell Manos that we have a 3-hour ferry trip in the morning, he has some advice.
“Tomorrow will be very very windy”, he says. “I think you should not eat too much breakfast”.
Oh.
19 Comments
normareadtalktalknet
This is so interesting and what beautiful little island
Heyjude
I hadn’t heard of this island and yet I have been to Kos and Rhodes (many, many years ago). It all looks quite charming except for the stinky beach. I wonder where you are off to now. A three hour ferry trip sounds like it could be quite far away.
Phil & Michaela
It was a rough crossing too!
Heyjude
🤢🤮
Andrew Petcher
great post, I really enjoyed it!
Steven Berger
What a great trip. I’ve so enjoyed all your posts. Thank you for continuing to share your adventures.
WanderingCanadians
The Stefanos crater looks incredible. That’s pretty neat that you are able to walk around and explore. The sulphur crystals look beautiful.
Gilda Baxter
stunning photos and description. The Caldeira looks a little scary, not sure I would sleep well so near this volcano, but it is exhilarating. Loving your blog posts.
Phil & Michaela
Thank you Gilda – oh it hasn’t erupted for an awfully long time!
wetanddustyroads
Wow, the Stefanos crater is massive! What lovely views of the narrow alleyways … but you gotta love that sunset with the drinks (that’s always a winner 😉). And I feel just a tiny bit nauseous reading about a strong wind and three hour crossing in one sentence 🤢.
Phil & Michaela
Ha ha excellent, we actually posted those sunset & drinks photos with you guys in mind! Yep the crossing wasn’t great…more on that later!
wetanddustyroads
Love it … that’s now the drinks/sunset photo, not the crossing!
grandmisadventures
Wow-being able to stand in the middle of that crater looks like an incredible experience. I can’t get over how massive it is. And those sulpher crystals look amazing, almost more like sea anemone then minerals.
Phil & Michaela
It was brilliant to just walk around thinking exactly what we were walking through, and yes those crystal displays were fantastic.
Amanda
A different landscape but those blue and white street scene are enticing.
Toonsarah
Mandraki looks like my sort of village – quaint alleyways, sunsets, a lively sea and cats (although a shame about the smell!) And that crater looks amazing, especially the sulphur crystals.
I’m loving following your extended trip. And btw we made it safely to Paris and back, dealing with the extra paperwork and testing without too much hassle. Their ‘passe sanitaire’ system seems to be working well from what we saw.
Phil & Michaela
Excellent news! Hope you had a great time, look forward to reading about it. Still one of our favourite cities..
rkrontheroad
How unusual that you can wander around in the crater. The towns look like alluring places to poke around. Shame about the cats on the beach!
Phil & Michaela
Yes, wandering freely around it is a great experience