Heading North Through the Dodecanese
14 February 2024 – Lipsi, Greece
For the past week, we have been heading north through the Dodecanese, the southeast islands of Greece. We rented another car on the island of Nisyros and drove to Nisyros volcano, which is the youngest in Greece and still active. We were able to walk into the crater, which had steam rising up out of it and smelled strongly of sulphur. There were also some incredibly gross-looking rocks, and neon yellow sulphur crystals around the vents.
Nisyros volcano – Nisyros, Greece
Nisyros volcano – Nisyros, Greece
We then drove to the nearby village of Nikia, which directly overlooks the volcano. It is located on a cliff jutting out over the crater, and we climbed an intense set of stairs up to a little church and got a great view of it.
Village overlooking Nisyros volcano – Nikia, Nisyros, Greece
On the way back, we stopped at a tiny geothermal sauna by the side of the road, which was basically a little cave with steam rising out of it.
Our final stop of the day was the cyclopean walls of Paleokastro, made of gigantic volcanic stone that once protected an Ancient Greek village. The defensive walls stretched for a surprisingly long time and were still quite intact. I knew they had been intended as fortifications but I hadn’t realized just how massive they were: a few storeys high, up to 3.5 metres thick, and made of huge black stone blocks.
Acropolis of Paleokastro – Nisyros, Greece
Acropolis of Paleokastro – Nisyros, Greece
After Nisyros, we sailed to the town of Kalimnos. We were considering staying there over the next few days to get protection from strong winds, but we weren’t allowed to dock in the inner harbour and the outer harbour was too exposed. The harbourmaster kept telling us that we had to Mediterranean moor in the outer harbour despite the fact that there was space inside, and when we eventually decided to dock along the side of the quay, we hit a rock. The water was deep enough to accommodate Festina Lente’s draft, but for some reason there were a bunch of rocks piled nearby. My dad managed to get the boat docked, and the next morning he tried to come out sideways with the bow thruster to avoid them but we still ended up bumping against something. We hit them while going very slowly, though, so no harm was done.
Aegean Sea
The anchorage of Plakoudi was a good place to wait out the strong winds; even though it was a bit open to the Mediterranean, the wind blew offshore so it wasn’t an issue. The wind was super strong and we ended up slowly dragging across the bay for two days, but it was pretty big and we were dragging so slowly that it didn’t end up being a problem. My dad turned all the systems off one night because of nearby lightning – the thunder and rain were super loud as well – but we didn’t get hit.
Plakoudi was a beautiful place to stay. It wasn’t deserted but it wasn’t really a village either; there were a few buildings dotted up the hill and a road running around the island but we saw more goats than people.
Plakoudi, Leros, Greece
Plakoudi, Leros, Greece
Plakoudi, Leros, Greece
We are now on the island of Lipsi, which is also stunning.
