Melos & Folegandros, Greece
Once again the southwest Sirocco wind forced a slight change of plans for when we emerged on deck before breakfast we found ourselves in the caldera of the island of Melos rather than being surrounded by the dramatic cliffs of Santorini. By 9:00 AM two local buses had pressed into action and we quickly set off from the main port of Adamas to explore yet another enchanting Cycladic island. Renowned as the only source of obsidian in the eastern Mediterranean during Antiquity, visitors have been coming to the volcanic island of Melos since the 8th millennium BC. En route to the fishing village of Pollonia on the northeast tip of the island, we passed by the cyclopean walls of the Bronze Age Mycenaean citadel of Phylakopi. At Pollonia we visited the frescoed Greek Orthodox church of St. Paraskevi, the patron saint of eyesight, before exploring the charming waterfront of the village.
Retracing our steps for a short distance, we stopped at Sarakiniko and hiked down to the sea through a bleached white lunar landscape that is the result of 1000’s of years of erosion of the island’s pumaceous tuff deposits. The entrances of long deserted kaolin mines punctuated the smoothed face of the white cliff along the gulley leading down to the shore. No visit to Melos would be complete without a stop at the ancient site of Trypiti where, during the early years of the 20th century, a farmer discovered the famous Venus de Milo, which now resides in Paris at the Louvre. Coffee and Greek confections were the order of the day at our last stop in Plaka, the capital of the island.
After lunch, many opted to return to Sarakiniko for a swim before our navigation to Folegandros in the late afternoon.
Once again the southwest Sirocco wind forced a slight change of plans for when we emerged on deck before breakfast we found ourselves in the caldera of the island of Melos rather than being surrounded by the dramatic cliffs of Santorini. By 9:00 AM two local buses had pressed into action and we quickly set off from the main port of Adamas to explore yet another enchanting Cycladic island. Renowned as the only source of obsidian in the eastern Mediterranean during Antiquity, visitors have been coming to the volcanic island of Melos since the 8th millennium BC. En route to the fishing village of Pollonia on the northeast tip of the island, we passed by the cyclopean walls of the Bronze Age Mycenaean citadel of Phylakopi. At Pollonia we visited the frescoed Greek Orthodox church of St. Paraskevi, the patron saint of eyesight, before exploring the charming waterfront of the village.
Retracing our steps for a short distance, we stopped at Sarakiniko and hiked down to the sea through a bleached white lunar landscape that is the result of 1000’s of years of erosion of the island’s pumaceous tuff deposits. The entrances of long deserted kaolin mines punctuated the smoothed face of the white cliff along the gulley leading down to the shore. No visit to Melos would be complete without a stop at the ancient site of Trypiti where, during the early years of the 20th century, a farmer discovered the famous Venus de Milo, which now resides in Paris at the Louvre. Coffee and Greek confections were the order of the day at our last stop in Plaka, the capital of the island.
After lunch, many opted to return to Sarakiniko for a swim before our navigation to Folegandros in the late afternoon.
