Nature And Outdoors in Kos

Kos suits anyone who dislikes gradients: the island stretches forty kilometres, most of it flat, and only in the east does the Dikeos ridge rise — eight hundred and forty-six metres, with a monastery near the summit and a view of both coasts at once. Jeep safaris play on exactly that contrast: the asphalt ends quickly, and then come dirt tracks to abandoned villages on the slopes, viewpoints above the sea, and lunch where the food is what the household grows.

The western tip is a day of its own. Kefalos stands above Cavo Paradiso bay, surrounded by beaches that draw people for the wind and the swell, and along the road you come across early Christian basilicas with their mosaics open to the sky. On the south coast at Therma a hot spring runs straight into the sea: a basin of piled stones where boiling water mixes with the surf, and you can bathe there all year round.

The real geology, though, lies two hours away by boat. Nisyros is an active volcano, and its caldera is open to walk down into: the floor is crusted pale, steam comes out of the cracks, and the ground is noticeably warm under your soles. Another sea route runs to Kalymnos and Pserimos — swimming in bays no road reaches, and a stop on an island that lived for centuries off sponge diving.