Chimaera

The Chimaera ıs a fıre breathing legend, part lion, part goat, and part dragon. He was so frightening that Zeus set him on fire and buried him under Mt Etna where he continued to send out tongues of fire. The legend makes it quite clear as to why area of Mt Olympos which has naturally igniting flames (gases which re-ignite upon contact with air if you manage to get one blown out) is called Chimaera. It was really a pretty neat sight - to climb/scramble up the path of the mountain for about 30 minutes and then see these flames licking out from under the rocks...and knowing that no one had set them alight. The 20 or 30 flames were all that was cutting the deep night dark (except for my headlamp and other torches - was I glad I had it for the walk back down!). One of the things I really like about travelling is that in many of the places I go to I get reminded of just how dark the world gets when the sun goes down. Its also about going to see the random oddities that a place holds - and the best part of that is that they are often in remote locations that get you into the heart of a country. So while Chimaera may not have been quite as dramatic as I expected it definitely falls into that "cool site you should see if you have the chance category."