The Island of Venus - Milos

Arrival on Milos (pick-up from airport or port) and transfer to the hotel.
Meeting of the group in the evening for a dinner in one of the restaurants of the port town Adamas. Short introduction to the excursion program and geology of Milos.

Half-day walk along the spectacular north coast (ancient obsidian trading center of Phylakopi, Papafrankos and Sarakiniko). Lunch and swim break at Sarakiniko.
In the afternoon, transfer to the capital, Plaka, visit of the charming medieval village, its fortress, the Ancient Acropolis with the Greek theater, the place the famous Venus statue was found, early-Christian catacombes.
Optional scenic hike back to the hotel (or transfer by taxi).

In the morning, visit of an abandoned sulfur mine on the western coast (spectacular scenery).
Transfer to the paradise-like beach of Paleochori, with its hot springs, fumaroles, colorful rocks.
Lunch in a wonderful beach restaurant. Afternoon: swim break, optional 2 hour walk in the area.
Late afternoon: return to Adamas. Visit of the interesting Mining Museum before dinner.

Today is a free day for optional activities, e.g. spend some time to explore some of the fantastic beaches of Milos. Another great option to fully enjoy Milos'legendary beauty is to take a boat tour and sail around Milos'bizarre and fantastic coastlines,- likely to become an unforgettable excursion! Be sure to have plenty of film/storage media with you, since you might be using it ALL! A swimming break in particularly beautiful spots is included (weather and sea conditions allowing).
The cost of the boat trip is typically around 50 EUR per person, strongly depending on whether our group size allows to charter a boat or if we join a mixed group trip on one of the vessels offering this excursions.
Highlights include Cape Vani with its impressive lava intrusions, old pillow lavas, sea caves, the white famous "Kleftiko" cliffs, made of imposing white pumice layers where in former times, fishermen and pirates used to hide within the bizarre coastal area.
We pass the cross-section of a large volcanic pumice cone (Tsigrado) and multi-colored cliffs of hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks on Milos'southern and eastern coasts. Another highlight are the Glaronissi islands, where we can marvel at their spectacular columnar-jointed lavas, and the white pumice cliffs of Sarakiniko.
The evening is free (dinner not included).

With small 4x4 vehicles, we visit some of the more remote and difficult-to-access areas of Milos:
after visiting the youngest explosion crater of Tsingrado, we climb to the top of the Kalamos lava dome which still has fumarolic activity and is locally known as "the volcano".
We drive to Emborio, a charming place at the Bay, to have lunch and go swimming.
A 2-hours walk and a short drive bring us to the abandoned manganese mine of Vani, where we'll spend the rest of the afternoon (opportunity to collect manganese and baryte minerals).

Transfer to airport / port, or own extension.