According to Greek mythology Nisyros was created during a duel between the titan Polyvotis and the sea god Poseidon. During the quarrel Poseidon broke off a piece of Kos and threw it on Polyvotis. The cutting block that Polyvotis got in his skull created the island Nisyros. There he stands today with Nisyros on the head and is very angry, sometimes so angry that the volcano erupt. Fortunately, it is long since Polyvotis was so angry; the last major eruption was in the 1500 century when parts of the inner island collapsed. For quite a long time ago, more than 30,000 years, half of the island collapsed in a giant volcanic eruption. It was then that the large amphitheatre-like caldera was formed.

Over the years, the volcano has had several minor eruptions, the latest eruption was in 1888, these smaller outbreaks have mainly consisted of gas and smoke, it has not been any real outbreak of running lava for many years. I'm not sure if the volcano is active from a geological point of view today. It does not matter; the volcano is one of the Greek islands most interesting sights anyway. The caldera has five craters that you can visit, the largest crater, Stefanos, is 350 m in diameter and 25 m deep. It bubbles out of the ground and the sulphur smell is biting. Bring appropriate shoes because it can be very hot down there. You get here by tour bus from the port or with your own vehicle. The latter is preferable if you want to have the volcano for yourself, come as early as you can in the morning, before the tour buses arrive.