Tilos and Nisyros

We left Panormitis early Sunday morning before the church bells started ringing.  There was no wind and the sea was like glass.  So it was the iron spinnaker all the way to Tilos.  It was an easy straight 27nm motor.  We arrived at the pretty harbour of Livádia and moored alongside.  Stephanos, the harbour master, came to give us a very warm Greek greeting.  The mooring and electricity were gratis as this is still early in the season.  

Livádia, Tilos

Route from Symi

Once Songster was sorted we set off to explore the town.  It was a very sleepy place mid-afternoon.  We managed to find a bakery which was open and had a Spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie) while sitting under their grape arbour.  Afterwards we walked along the waterfront seeing only a few people.  The tourist season hasn’t started yet and there were only a few hardy souls trying to get an early start on their suntan.

The island of Tilos in pebble mosaic.  It looks like a dragon to me.

The waterfront

In the late afternoon 4 more boats came into the harbour or anchorage.  We knew three of them so had some nice catching up with them.  The town came to life in the evening and there were good crowds at the restaurants enjoying great Greek food.  We had hoped to spend a couple of days exploring this quaint island but the weather gods had different ideas.  It was either one day at Tilos or four.  Tilos is a small island of 64 square kilometres and has less than 800 people.  We opted for the shorter stay with some regret.  

The next day we were off to Nisyros in convoy with Onyx and Three Sheets.  Sadly it was another iron spinnaker run in the Motorterranean.  We moored in the tiny harbour of Pali, a charming village set up specifically to cater for the yachties.

 

Pali harbour. Songster is the blue boat on the end

Route from Tilos to Nisyros

We met up with Onyx and Three Sheets for a fun dinner at Captain’s House along with a whole flotilla of Russian sailors having a great time.

The gang having dinner

The next day we hired a scooter to explore the island.  Nisyros is a volcanic island, measuring 3 by 4 km with a population of about 1000 people.  Our first stop was Emporios, a quaint, picturesque but half deserted village perched on a steep hillside.  White washed houses with vibrant blue trip lined narrow streets.  The main attraction of this little village was a natural sauna cave.  It is a very unobtrusive, easily missed opening on the side of the road.  We went in but could stand the heat for only about 30 seconds as the walls pulsated with steam.  We stopped to have a cold drink at a little cafe overlooking the caldera of the volcano, our next stop.

Emporios

Derelict house but the TV still there!??

Sauna cave

View of the caldera

We had the volcano practically to ourselves.  We walked down into the caldera pass sulphur encrusted rocks to the bubbling mud pots in the centre.  There were two other smaller craters which we explored.  As were coming back to the car park two buses full of tourist arrived.  We had timed our visit just right.

Volcano main caldera

Mud pots

Cattle grazing in the caldera - not much feed

We hopped back onto our trusty 125cc scooter to head to our next stop, Nikia, another even prettier hillside village.  Located on the southern side of the caldera it offers fantastic views of the volcano and the sea.  Perched on the top of the hill is the Church of Agios Theologos, an iconic Greek church in those wonderful white and blue colours.

I love buzzing around on a scooter - Bob reminded me there is almost an identical photo from Hoi An.

Nikia

Nikia Town Square

View from the town square

Chapel on the hill

 On to the capital of the island, Mandraki.  The interisland ferry stops here and we had admired it when we took the ferry from Athens to Rhodes in 2014,vowing to come back.   This was before we had bought Songster.  Now we are back here on our own keel.  I do sometimes have to pinch myself.

Mandraki with the monastery of Panagia Spiliani on the cliff

Octopus drying

Mandraki waterfront

Beautiful pebble mosaic front steps

Our last stop for the day was to catch the sunset from Mandraki harbour.  We met up with Onyx and Three Sheets for sundowners and Mother nature gave us her best.

The end of a great day