rhodes-nisyros-rhodes-patmos.

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I'm at the third item in the title. We have an afternoon-long stopover here in Rhodes town, so it's a good opportunity to hit the post office, laundromat, internet cafe, etc.

So on Monday evening we arrived in Nisyros and I gotta say that I misrepresented it in my earlier posting; It's not an apocalyptic rock spire jutting out of the sea with a measly peasantry ekeing out an existence on seaweed and goat-milk/meat, which is kind of what I'd pictured in my head, the only pictures I'd seen being those of the volcano proper, which I will get to.

So we arrived and it was really nice. Hills, lots of vegetation, the biggest paddle-cacti I'd seen yet (I will post pictures of these), and a nice little town with whitewashed, blocky houses, and touristed enough to have nice little restaurants and postcard-shops, without having touts to say "YES PLEASE VERY NICE COME FOR A DRINK? DINNER?"

(The Greeks don't know what "yes please" means. they say it in an impatient tone when they wait your table, sell you anything, or want to hustle you along in any way. abe people: think of pizza guy. "Yes please!" imagine that. I can't wait to hear it said the way it should be again.)

So we checked in at our hotel, a stone's throw from the port, and went out for a nice dinner. We ordered fish, marinoulia (like bream), which arrives grilled whole and drizzled with a mixture of lemon juice and olive oil. Oh man was it good. Just this moist wonderful white meat. Kathleena even had some, though seeing an entire animal cooked on a plate gives her the heebiejeebies.

Then we went to bed early in our air conditioned (sweet!) room, because we had to get up at six to catch the (free!) bus to Nikea, from which we'd hike down into the valley the volcanic crater is in. So that's what we did, arriving in this wonderful tiny little village early in the morning before anyone was up. Finally around seven thirty a cafe opened and we went in for some breakfast, but the only thing they had was white bread with butter and jam and coffee. So that was our breakfast.

With that meagre fuel, we took the forty five minute hike down to the valley floor. Wonderful views from the top and on the way down. The valley looks normal enough except at one end the trees disappear and give way to this dry, white chalk strewn with rocks that look made of rust. In a nutshell it looks like Mars. And of course the crater, a titanic hole in the earth, you could fit about four football (soccer to you) fields in it foursquare. So we walked over to it and took the path to the bottom. The smell of sulfur that hits you (faintly) when you first land becomes overpowering, but not unbearable. There is no dirt, only chalk. In fact, the floor is this chalky white clay, all cracked up, and there is a brittle fluorescent yellow/green deposit along the cracks. Whether it is seeping up from below or merely crystallising on the rough surface I don't know.In the middle of the crater are what look like a scattering of holes, and as you get close, you realise that they are collapsed downwards, and that you can hear...hissing. Bubbling even. So you look down and see this thick mud bubbling and steaming and roiling. WHOAH.

So we walked over to one end where we'd seen steam coming out of the ground, and over there it is hot and the smell of sulfur is even stronger. The vents over here don't have any boiling mud, but there's gaseous sulfur just hissing out these holes; enough to leave a rime of yellow around most of the holes, and small ones have these little polyps where the crystal accumulation has built a little chimney up from where the gas escapes. It's unlike anywhere else I've ever been; so elemental and otherworldly. I kicked at the ground and it came away in a kind of pasty clay, and there was a tiny chunk of pure sulfur just buried there. I picked it up and it was HOT, to hot to touch right away. But I wrapped it up in paper and put it in my bag.

So then we went and checked out the other crater a ways off, which is smaller and devoid of the vents that the other one has. There was no path down, so I had to scramble down over rocks and scree. It was cool. Like being on Mars. Then I had to clamber back out.

From there we made our way back up out of the valley, to Nikea, and it takes forty five minutes up a constant, switchbacking slope. It's getting quite hot and we've still only had some white bread with jam and some coffee. So when we finally got back up we went to the first restaurant we saw, had some toasted bread, a salad with capers, feta cheese, little pickles and olives and these dark greens; some fried chickpea patties that Kathleena likes; and finally some pork. It was a mediocre meal except for the salad, but we ate every bite. Hunger is the best sauce as they say.

So then we took the bus back to Mandraki, the port town where our hotel was. Went out for dinner and went to bed even earlier than the night before; our boat left at FIVE AM. So we woke up at four, almost missed the boat, and arrived here in Rhodes at eleven thirty. Now we've been getting stuff done and leave at five for Patmos. We don't get in until midnight about, but the guy's going to come meet us at the port! So now wandering around a medieval town in search of a place to sleep! That's gonna be nice.

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