Cyclades
Islands
: Amorgos, Andros,
Folegandros, Ios,
Kea, Kythnos,
Milos, Mykonos,
Naxos, Paros
and Antiparos, Santorini,
Sifnos, Serifos,
Sikinos, Syros,
Tinos
Northern
Aegean Islands:
Chios, Ikaria,
Limnos, Lesvos,
Samos, Samothraki,
Thassos
Ionian
Islands:
Corfu (Kerkyra), Ithaki,
Kefalonia, Kythera,
Lefkada, Paxos,
Zakynthos
Saronic
Islands:
Aegina, Angistri,
Poros, Hydra,
Salamina, Spetsis
Sporades
Islands:
Alonissos, Skiathos,
Skopelos, Skyros
Dodecanese
Islands:
Astypalia, Halki,
Kalymnos, Karpathos,
Kassos, Kastellorizo,
Kos, Leros,
Nisyros, Patmos,
Rhodes, Symi,
Tilos
Other
Islands:
Crete, Evia,
Cyprus
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Dodecanese Islands - Nisyros (Nisiros)
Nisyros is a volcanic island, like many
in the Greek isles, and its most outstanding feature
if you see it by air is the extent to which the landscape
has been terraced for farming and building; it looks almost
like tiles of earth laid on top of one another to form
hills and valleys. This terracing helps the arid soil
of the island retain every drop of moisture possible;
summers here are very dry, though winters are quite rainy.
At the highest peak, an active volcano smokes, hot springs
bubbling and steaming around the crater.
The Dodecanese share
the traditional careers of sponge diving and fishing;
Nisiros is no exeption. Most of its economy is based around
sponge diving and fishing, but a good part of it is also
based around the receipt of money from relatives in the
US.
Nisyros has close ties with America; a high percentage
of its inhabitants have lived in the US for a period of
time, and most people have relatives there. And Nisyros
is still proud of a local hero, Bishop Alexandros. The
bishop of Nisyros during the Greek Civil War, he led government
troops against the Communist guerrillas that fought in
the local mountains, his bishop’s cross on his breast
as he carried a pistol on each hip and a tommygun under
his arm. He is seen as an icon of what a Greek man should
be – holy and good, yet ready to fight for the freedom
that all Greeks hold dear.
As in most of the Dodecanese islands, you should sail
only with caution; gales build up in the high peaks of
the mountains and come roaring down onto the sea with
enough force to tip over a sailboat not prepared for sudden
gusts. Remember the stories in the Odyssey, when Odysseus
and his men keep getting redirected by storms? Those stories
came from the gale-force winds near the Greek isles.
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