The Cokes are coming!

When we first arrived in Turkey at the end of last year, we sailed into a secluded bay close to the Greek island of Symi. Within minutes, small wooden boats were puttering up to us – to help with our lines, sell us ice cream, almonds, honey or an array of beach towels and tablecloths. An enterprising young man, when we did not buy the offered goods, suggested instead a haircut for Henry in his barber shop. We looked around the bay - wild craggy hills sloping down to the sea, a couple of tumbling ruins and one rustic restaurant, not a barber shop in sight. “I will fetch you later and take you to my barber shop – under that tree there……..” And so we found ourselves in the late afternoon sitting under a tree, with Mehmet cutting Henry’s hair and telling us in his faltering English about his village – the unique sight of animals that come at sundown to drink sea water, local fresh figs and almonds, delicious fish, village bread, clear torquoise water.

Back on the boat that evening, enjoying a sundowner and gazing at that torquoise water, we suddenly saw Mehmet racing frantically towards us on his boat, engine at full throttle. “The Cokes are coming, the Cokes are coming!!” he shouted, waving frantically at the rocks. We were terrified – who are the Cokes and what do they want? We jumped up and looked towards where he was pointing. Scrambling down over the rocks was a herd of goats, falling over each other to drink sea water from the rock pools around the shore. We were witnessing the unique sight he had so proudly told us about…. “The goats are coming!!

We had no right to laugh, but we did a little. Our grasp of Greek and Turkish is pitiful but we do try. One of the first words we make a point of learning is “delicious” – “Poli Nostimo” in Greek, “Haarika” in Turkish. And we use both all the time. Haarika also means “good” or “beautiful” which is very useful when we sail into an exquisite cove fringed by olive, pine or tamarisk trees, tie up to a wooden jetty and get welcomed by the owner of the rustic oasis-like restaurant behind. “Poli oreo” is “very beautiful” in Greek and when we were deciding this morning which place wins the most “Haarika” or “Poli oreo” prize so far this year, we both agree that it is the Greek island of Nisyros.

Nisyros is a volcano, an almost perfectly round island that appeared out of the sea in a massive eruption only 150 000 years ago. We moored in pretty fishing village, Pali, with it’s backdrop of lava folds covered in lush green vegetation. Although there is hardly any water on the island, it is very fertile and is covered with oak and almond trees and beautiful wild flowers. We set off early the next morning and had the active but not currently erupting (just bubbling and gurgling) volcano to ourselves. Nothing prepared us for the majesty of it – the huge caldera with red and ochre cliffs encircling it, a crust of sulpher yellow earth glinting with crystals and pitted with steaming, boiling holes or fumaroles. We read somewhere that we should wear closed shoes and beware of the crust cracking and falling into the boiling lava. We were amazed that we were allowed to wander around alone without being cordoned off and looking at it from afar. “Poli orea” did not do this justice, we needed to find something that encompassed this majestic place and felt that “Tromero” meaning “Awesome” or “Awe-inspiring” was much better. 

Some more Poli orea pics from Nisyros....

And some "Poli Nostimo" or "Haarika" pics....