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Hike To Prophet Elias
Hiking to the tallest peak of Nisyros is a spectacular event. The name of the point is Diavatis. I set out on July 7th 2005 at 7:00 am. First, I drove to Evangelistra with is about 300 meters above sea level. I parked the car near the marker of the trail labeled Diavatis. Since I returned to the house at 10:30am, the hike must have taken about 1.25 hours. There were many goats scampering over the rocks along the way. Much of the area was farm land. The rocks were surprisingly light in weight making for easier building of terraces and walls. The trail was quite dry and loose in many places. There were no parts of the walk that I would say were dangerous. At the top is a 360 degree view that is only hindered by the small church at the top. There is a survey marker on top with a date of 1961.
I loved this hike so much that I had to go again on July 13th. Harry Emmanouilidis and I set out at 8am. We each took a 1.5 liter bottle of water with us. We could have taken more as I ran out of water. We had a nice hike up. At the top we took some time to worship at the monastery named "prophet Elias." After a time of cleaning up the monastery and burning a few candles we set out to find the trail to the lookout point over the volcano. This was a bit difficult as there were many wild bees pollinating the wild oregano plants. These were in blossom with a beautiful purple flower. Some of these bushes are very old as can be determined by the large wooden trunks supporting the short bushes.
After a time at the top we moved down to the farm just below the peak. This has a well and we drew some cold water to supply the goats and birds that must have lapped it up after we left. The water in the well was cold and clear and looked good enough to drink.
Please enjoy the rest of the photos
They are arranged on three pages and one can click on each photo to see an enlargement.
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