Milos – Adamas, Plaka and environs – Triovasalos & the north coast harbours

Triovasalos & the north coast harbours

To the east of Plaka and Trypiti­, and virtually contiguous with them, are the villages of Triovasalos and Pera Triovasalos, separated from one another by a low ditch across which a symbolic war of gunpowder explosions takes place at Easter in recollection of the 1821 Independence Revolution. During the rest of the year they are business-like villages of a welcome normality. Far from normal—in terms of landscape—is the coastline to their north, however. The road northwest to Firopotamos descends through an unexceptional scrub for 2km, but the last 500m are a revelation as the road drops to a harbour consisting of half a dozen boat-houses and the church of Aghios Nikoloas, set amidst cliffs of perlite and white kaolinite which are shot through with pinks, pale mauves, magentas and a strong russet orange. There are the ruins of old mine-buildings, where the perlite stone—which constitutes almost the entire peninsula to the north—was loaded. Similar colour effects can be seen at Mandrakia, slightly to the east. But perhaps the most bizarre land scape of all is at * Saraki­niko Bay, 4km east of Triovasalos on the north coast. Here the earth is of purest white kaolin, almost identical in nature to that in the deposits at Aghios Giorgios on Kimolos. It allows virtually no vegetation to gain any purchase, leaving the smooth bleached slopes open to the wind and water to erode and sculpt them according to their whims. A small seasonal water course descends a shallow canyon, perforated with caves and small quarries, towards an inlet of emerald water.