Paleohori beach in Milos

 

A twenty-minute bus ride from Adamas took us to Paleohori (translated old village), a small village that has a magnificent beach. We went there twice, the first time the sea was very rough and the beach was almost deserted, so we were able to sit and swim in splendid isolation. The wind direction had changed during our second visit, the sea was calm, easy to swim long distances, and the beach was fairly crowded - I did not take any photographs the second time.

The colourful cliffs around Peleohori are a result of the volcanic activity that occurred on the island over an extensive period of time and from a variety of volcanic centres. This occurred about 90,000 years ago. Apparently a number of submarine hydrothermal vents exist offshore, emitting hydrothermal fluids rich in arsenic and carbon dioxide gases. It is these that are largely responsible for the colourful deposits at the base of the cliffs. A large number of vents are also found in shallow water near the coast with many bubbling vigorously, but we did not come across any.

The beach is long and narrow. On our second visit when the sea was calm we managed to swim along most of the bay, reaching the cliffs at the end of the photograph above, and then back. This was not the case on our first day: we swam for a long time, but the currents kept pushing us back so that it felt that we did not move at all - our benchmark was a blue buoy and however hard we swam we kept ending up by the blasted buoy.

There are groups of umbrellas and shades along the beach, most of them unoccupied on the first day.

Interesting formations on the soft volcanic rock

and a lot of landslides all along the shore.

This was the most dramatic one - so near the loungers!

Watching and listening to the waves was a real treat

and the colours were gorgeous.

 

Our satisfying swims were followed by lunch in one of the tavernas that are perched on top of the cliffs

The food was exceptionally good: we had the best tzatziki and the best moussaka we probably have ever had so we ate exactly the same things on our second visit.

Being so high up meant that the views were good too.