Monthly Archives: September 2012

Nisyros: the unusual and surrealistic

After two weeks of pretty intense walking every day in the mountains I decided that this Sunday was going to be a day of rest.  The decision was unanimous, if only because it was  unilateral.  For once I was absolutely … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: old settlements

There are few things more boring than listening to/reading someone blarting on about how great a time they are having when you don’t know the place and the reality is denied by distance and experience. I had a great time … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: old ways, new routes

I feel a right long ramble coming on  here.  So if you read the blog, be warned. Many years ago when I started work as a town planner with Monmouthshire County Council (the proper Monmouthshire, not the present vestigial pretension. … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: Lava landscapes and making a living from a volcano.

Wednesday I had decided to go off the page and into the past.  Thursday I had got a taste for it. Parts of the island are very little explored now despite the fact that once they were densely populated and … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: off the page and into the past.

Wednesday I decided to go off the page and into the past.  It kind of fitted the book which I’m reading, ‘The Eyre Affair’ by Jasper Fforde in which fiction and time are fluid and therefore changeable. First off I … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: looking down on the world.

Information on the history of mountaineering is easier to pin down than the motivations behind it.  The term ‘mountaineering’ implies a motivation of climbing mountains purely for the sake of getting to the top rather than for religious or practical … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: rock hopping along the coast

I can’t remember how many times I’ve seen the Disney film ‘The Jungle Book’.  I saw it 5 times in cinemas before I could use having children, and now grandchildren, as an excuse for watching it on video.  I can close my … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: seismic!

Sunday was the last day with the bus service at useable times for walking.  Schools start back on Monday and the buses revert to 07.00 and 14.15.  An 07.00 start may be good to avoid walking in the heat of … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Nisyros: buses, bubbles and toe holds.

The public bus service on Nisyros isn’t what it used to be.  When we first stayed on the island in 2001 and for a few years after that there were 5 buses a day to the crater-rim villages and it … Continue reading

Posted in Greece | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Nisyros: inside the volcano

Good day on Friday. Having spent a day wandering the rim of the caldera with spectacular lava extrusions I decided it was time to go down into the caldera and look at some of the craters.  But via a new-to-me … Continue reading

Posted in Greece, Monmouthshire | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments