Milos island

We spent ten days in Milos at the beginning of September. It was our third visit to the island, the last one in 2016.  I want to make some general observations about the island in this post, related to the things we saw and visited.

Milos is a volcanic island in the Aegean and it's situated betwen mainland Greece and Crete. This, and its possession of obsidian, made it an important centre of early Aegean civilisation. Obsidian (a glasss-like volcanic rock) was a commodity as early as 15,000 years ago. It was transported over long distances and used for razor-sharp stone tools well before farming began.

Maybe what Milos is most famous for is the Venus of Milos, found on the island and now residing in the Louvre. Also found on the island are the Poseidon of Milos, now in the NAMA, and the Asclepius of Milos, now in the British Museum, as well as an archaic Apollo which is now in Athens.

Copies of Venus of Milos, in various disguises, are found all around the tourist shops on the island.

made even from sand, as seen in the Sand Museum.

The island flourished throughout antiquity, including during the Roman period. The ancient Roman amphitheatre is situated near the village of Klima. The theatre was originally constructed by the inhabitants of the ancient city of Klima, possibly during the Hellenistic Age (3rd century BC). After the destruction of the city by the Athenians in Roman times, above the preserved foundations of the classic threatre, a bigger one was built made of snow-white Parian marble which it is estimated had a seating capacity of 7000.

We did not visit the amphitheatre this time, but you can read about it here from our 2016 visit to the island.

Milos has thermal waters that have been used for medicinal purposes for milleania. There is a spa in Adamas, the main port town which is where we stayed, in a cave called Hippocrates' Cave (Hippocrates in his 'Peri Epidimion' quoted the waters for dermatitis and obesity). The water has a temperature from 35 to 41oC and the well has a basis of sodium chloride. It is recommended for arthritis, osteoporosis, muscle pain and rheumatism. 

Unfortunately, the spa was closed during our visit. I asked at our hotel and I was told that they could not find people to staff it.

As I said earlier, Milos is situated between the mainland and Crete, and there is a special relationship between the two islands. By the port of Adamas, this plaque is to be found. It's a quote from a poem by Saridakis and it reads: 'Milos sighed and cried 'Mother' and Crete answered 'I am here, Daughter'.

This close relatioship is best exemplified by more recent history, namely WWII. The German occupiers arrived in Milos in May 1941 and the island became their base for the planning of the occupation of Crete which was the first occasion where German paratroops were used en masse, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history and the first time German troops encountered mass resistance from a civilian population. The resistance to the German onslaught lasted 10 days and on the 30th of May 1931, the Cretans and Allied troops had to surrender.

In preparation for the occupation of Crete, the Germans ordered the digging and building of tunnels and passages in various locations on the island which they used for the protection of the soldiers as well as food and ammunition storage. The largest such passage was that of Adamas, pictured above, and was predominantly used to shelter the Germans from British bombing. It's a ramified tunnel with 12 chambers.

We were so looking forward to being in the shelter again, but unfortunately, it was closed and looked very neglected. Lack of staff was the reason given. I can see the problem. Milos has a population of almost 5,000. In the summer thousands and thousands of tourists descend on the island and the only way to provide hospitality for all these people is by attracting people willing to work from other parts of Greece. All the waiters who served us while we were there for instance, came from other parts of the country, stayed there for 3-5 months, earned some money and then went away. 

You can see inside the shelter from our previous visit by going here .

Across from the shelter, on the other side of the small bay, are these caves. We saw them when we were swimming, and went to explore

Fortunately for us, a local was nearby and I asked him what they are. He said they were built by the Germans as pill boxes, serving for observation and shooting the locals.

                                                                              *   *   *

  

The island is rugged and hilly, of volcanic origin, with tuff, trachyte and obsidian among its ordinary rocks. Volcanic activity began 2 to 3 million years ago during the Pliocene, and last erupted 90,000 ago during the Pleistocene, and is considered to still be a dormant volcano that could erupt again.

Milos has considerable mineral wealth which has been exploited over the years:

obsidian (suitable for making tools and weapons) mined in the Neolithic age as I mentioned earlier; 

sulfur, kaolin, pumice, alunite, trachyte mined in the pre-Christian centuries; sulfur, kaolin, baryte, bentonite, perlite, pozzolan, siliceous stones, manganese and lead mined in the last three centuries. Today, mining is mainly about the extraction of two minerals: bentonite and perlite, and Milos is the largest production and processing centre of these two minerals in the European Union.

We saw evidence of mining in so many areas as  we travelled around the island on the bus.

a loading bay near where we swam 

Or just the wealth and variety of rocks that are to be found here: this, I think, is Kleftiko, and the colour of the rocks is simply amazing

or this, again, we passed it on the bus.

This, is opposite our hotel in Adamas

What amazing formations in the rock! We passed this several times a day.

We came across this when swimming in Achivadolimni. Such a beautiful island.

And, then, of course, there is Sarakiniko, like no place I have ever been to

the lunar landscape par excellence. The bone-white beach derives its unusual characteristics from the erosion of the volcanic rock by the wind and waves. 

There will be a separate post on Sarakiniko.

I don't know if this is the best post for me to mention the Sand Museum but given that my post in Plaka is quite long, I will do so here.

Fascinated by the various types of sand found on the island, due to its volcanic nature, the creator and curator of the museum used to collect the sand found in various beaches of the island. He reached the stage where he gave up his job as a geologist and opened this museum. 

There are many telescopes dotted about the place and we were invited to look through them and marvel at the differences in each sample. It was fascinating. It was like 'wow, does sand really look like this close up?'

He then picked up this bowl full of sand from one of the beaches which is black, like the black beach in Santorini.

He inserted a magnet into the bowl, and on lifting it, all the black sand came up, leaving just traces of blond sand in the bowl. He explained that due to the volcanic nature of the island, black sand is made up of iron, which, of course, will stick to the magnet.

There were charts of sand displayed all over the walls, showing how varied sand can be from place to place.

He avidly collects

but now, other specialists have started sending him samples from all over the world.

He also makes objects and pictures out of sand

which are for sale.

The 1916 miners' strike in Serifos

Seven people died during the strike of 1916 in Megalo Livadi in Serifos. Everyone on the island that we talked to told us about the miners' strike and we were very keen to go and see the area that marked a memorable event in the struggle of the Greek working class.

A French company mining iron-ore on a Greek island, a German director, and Greek workers - these are the elements that make up this story. The conditions in the mines were awful: long hours, low pay, non-existent safety which resulted in numerous industrial accidents and quite a lot of deaths. The company furthermore refused to rehire workers who had been drafted into the Greek army after they had been demobilised. This proved to be the last straw. The 460 miners formed a union and organised a strike. Their leader was Costantinos Speras, a seasoned trade unionist and experienced in industrial protest.

Unable to force the workers back to work, the company asked for the help of the Greek authorities who sent a 30-man gendarmerie detachment from nearby Kea. After detaining Speras and the strike committee, the gendarmerie fired on the workers who had gathered at the ore landing dock and refused to permit a cargo ship to be loaded. Four workers were shot dead and a dozen wounded.

The workers, supported by their wives, attacked the gendarmes with stones, killing three of them. The freed leadership of the workers took control of the island and sent a message placing Serifos under protection of the French fleet in Milos. The French army refused to intervene and a Greek warship arrived. Speras was arrested and charged with high treason but was released a few months later when the royalist government was ousted. The mines opened again after improvements were made to the working conditions of the mine and an 8-hour day was established. This strike was decisive in the establishment of the 8-hour working day throughout Greece.

We went to Megalo Livadi by taxi. The whole of the mountain sides between the villages of Koutalas and Megalo Livadi are full of the shafts that were used to mine the iron. Not shafts as we know them today, but just holes in the mountain, sometimes on the side where the workers would have crawled in, or vertical holes going down the earth where the workers would have to use ladders, I presume. These are not mine shafts - just holes, very small holes. I wanted to ask the taxi driver to stop but the road is narrow and full of hairpin bends, something that I am not comfortable with and I also thought that it would not have been safe for the taxi to stop, so I have no record of any of this.This is one of the holes (I just cannot call them shafts) that we saw in Megalo Livadi - it's tiny.

And here's another one.






The other thing that the mountain side was full of, is very small, ruined stone huts (the locals call them camares) which is where the miners were housed. I said to the taxi driver how small I thought they were. Her reply was telling: 'these did not house one family. Each one was for many families, all piled on top of each other'. Again, I have no record of this, but I took a photograph of one that we saw in Megalo Livadi. It's inhuman conditions to pile families into such a small structure. No wonder the miners could not take it anymore. Most of the huts were scattered around the mining holes, in the middle of nowhere, so that the miners would not have to go far to crawl into the earth.






Contrast the huts to the neoclassical mansion, albeit ruined now,  where the headquarters of the mining company (and where the director of the mines resided, I presume) were located. The contrast is too much.

The bay in Megalo Livadi is dominated by the mining ladder (is this what it's called? I'm not sure) where the iron would be loaded on the ships.

 

 

 

 

 

and a closer look

 

 

 

 

There is a monument dedicated to the fallen miners and to all other working class men and women who have fought against exploitation

They were murdered here, in Megalo Livadi, asking for an 8-hour day and higher wages from the feudal boss Grohmann: Themistokles Kouzoupis, Michalis Zoilis, Michalis Mitrofanis. Yannis Protopapas'.

The plaque on the bottom reads:  'On the 21st of August 1916, iron-ore miners gave their lives asking for an 8-hour day and for human dignity'.

 





 

There is a small museum dedicated to the struggle of the miners, but unfortunately, it was closed for the winter.

We took the coastal path that leads to where the mining ladder is

 

 

 



 

I think there is something very emotive about rusting, abandoned machinery in the middle of rugged countryside like this

and as we approached the ruins of mining buildings came to view

 

 

rusted, discarded parts

 

abandoned railway lines

 

 

 

 



the wagons that

the iron ore would be loaded on

a loading ramp up the hill

another one across the bay next to the villa

 

 

we reached the mining ladder

 

 

 

 

a rock where the mineral is clearly visible

 

 

 

We could not walk any further as the path got quite treacherous, and it was not negotiable in my Birkenstock sandals.

 

 

 

We retraced our steps back to the village and found another loading ramp behind the neoclassical mansion. The debris from the villages industrial past was everywhere as were the signs of the suffering of the miners.

The mine closed in 1963.

  

 

 

Finally, a photograph of the miners in 1895 (picture taken from here )