Geological tour

General Description

An island with volcanic background and soil rich in minerals from the prehistoric times until today, Milos is actually an open geological museum. This geological tour is a great chance to get to know a secret part of this island, whose geological history influences until today its landscape and economy. The volcano of Milos is one of the four largest and still active volcanoes in Greece, effecting the ground of Milos with many caves and underwater caves and creating many mines that support the local economy until today.

This geological tour actually combines part of Route No 2 (Volcano), Route No3 (Sulphur Mines), and Route No 4 (Aggeria) of the Miloterranean Geo Walks, the new project with six geological hiking routes designed by Milos Mining Museum.

Mining Museum
The tour starts at 10:00 am from Pollonia and the first stop is the marvelous Obsidian Collection in Milos Mining Museum. This short guided tour presents the mining history of the island through objects, photographs and minerals. The mines of Milos started working in the ancient times and continue to work until today. In fact, the locals are great miners as historically shown by the construction of the Christian Catacombs in the 1st century AD and the boat garages seen in the fishing villages of Milos.

Salt Fields and Firiplaka Crater
We continue to the Salt Fields, where we learn about their history and the port of Kanava. This was a very important port from the Medieval times until the early 20th century. We continue to the Crater of Firiplaka with the century-old cedar trees. Our tour will pass through the steep entrance of the Firiplaka Crater and then we continue down a slipper road that leads to the center of the crater, where are the century old cedar trees. Then we head to the ending point of the volcano, a spot called Kalamos, where we can observe the Aegean Sea and particularly the beach of Agia Kyriaki.

Sulphur Mines
Contiuing we will see the Sulfur Mines at Paliorema the last operating mines in Milos also known as the phantom of Milos. The actual mines operated until the 1950s and were abandoned almost overnight. On site we will see the actual houses and the ruins of the miners community, as well as the entrance to the mines.

Aggeria Mine and Mineral Factory
Afterwards we visit the Aggeria Mine, the largest active bentonite mine in Europe and the new mineral processing factory. These points are actually inaccessible to individual visitors as they included an industrial restricted area. The tour ends at 15:30 pm.

Transfers:
The tour starts from Pollonia. However, we offer free transfer from Adamas or Plaka (just mention it in the comments field during the booking procedure). We can also offer transfer from Paleochori or Provatas with extra cost (select this choice during the booking procedure). If you need transfer from another place, tell us to see if we can provide it.