I’m now ensconced on Nisyros.  Raring to go and with pent up energy I decided to go straight for the more strenuous stuff  rather than easing myself back into the walking gradually.  I covered about 18 kms on Sunday afternoon after I got here and about 20 on Monday.  It was maybe a bit ambitious because on the final leg of the walk back to Mandraki from the far side of the island yesterday I was tiring, feeling the effects of the exercise and the heat.  But no problems.

The essential thing to understand about Nisyros is not that it has a volcano, but that the whole island is a volcano.  Every scrap of the land here is volcanic in origin, whether it be cooled lava or deposits of ash and with hot springs around the edges.

I find myself drawn to that fact and therefore the first two days’ walking took me to views of the caldera at the centre of the island.  I’m quite sure I’ll go back over the same ground again but here are just a few images to whet the appetite.

The essence of Nisyros, the 4km-long caldera seen from the rim at the western end

Looking down into the crater from high above

The lone hot spring on the southern coast at Avlaki attracted development but now long abandoned

Vividly coloured ash deposits at Avlaki

…. and great lumps of grey-black lava at Avlaki