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Nísyros

A volcano you can walk on

Nisyros from the air

In the Gigantomachy, the great war between gods and giants, one of the casualties was the fiery Titan Polybotes who fought Poseidon, but when he tried to escape the sea god ripped off a chunk of Kos and hurled it on top of him.

This became the island of Nísyros, and the miserable Polybotes, pinned underneath, sighs and fumes, unable to escape. The myth is geologically sound. Nísyros and its surrounding islets Pachia, Pergoussa and Strongyli are part of the same Aegean volcanic arc that includes Mílos and Santoríni. The largest of the smouldering craters of the volcano is named Polyvotis after the smouldering giant.

Originally a great Bali Hai mountain in the sea, Polyvotis made his most famous attempt to break out in a massive eruption at some distant prehistoric date, imploding in the middle to form the central Lákki plain, a wasted moonscape of slag heaps, bubbling mud pits, fumeroles, and yellow sulphurous rocks.

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Dodecanese

Text © Dana Facaros

Images by Alexandros Diamantidis at en.wikipedia, Dana Facaros, Holger, Marielle Plomp, samchills, Tomisti