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| Map of Tilos |
Tilos (61km2 extension and 780 population) shares the
characteristics of its closest neighbours: limestone mountains like those of
Halki, plus volcanic lowlands, pumice beds and red-lava sand as on Nissyros.
With ample groundwater and rich volcanic soil, the islanders could afford to
turn their backs on the sea, and made Tilos the breadbasket of the Dodecanese. Until the 1970s, travellers were greeted by
the sight of shimmering fields of grain
bowing in the wind. Nowadays the hillside terraces languish abandoned, and the
population of five hundred dwindles to barely a hundred in winter.
While
recent development has turned the port
of Livadhia
ever more towards tourism, Tilos remains
low-key. This is still a place where visitors come to get away from it all,
often for extended stays.
