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Modern Description: Continuing east and taking the right branch (at 3.7km from Zephyría (signed again ‘Θειωρυχεία/Theiorycheía'), you descend into a narrow gorge where the Palaiorema sulphur mines once operated. Before the descent becomes steep (5.2km), you pass a gallery in the hillside with a dump of sulphur-bearing material flecked with the characteristic yellow crystals; the track continues 600m down to a beach of emerald water between two multicoloured cliffs. The Romans surface-quarried sulphur here, and called the site Rema, hence its current name ‘Palaio- (‘old') Rema'. Industrial extraction began in 1862 and continued until 1958, during which time a community of 200 people lived on the site: the north slope is occupied by the galleries and the remains of the processing plant; the south slope, by the houses and offices. The soft ore was crushed on site; steam from coal-fired boilers was passed under pressure through it; the sulphur melted, was collected and cooled with sea-water; the finished product was then packed and shipped from the bay.

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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