Agiasos and Ambeliko suffered floods and landslides on 1st December.
You don’t need to speak any Greek to know that this has broken peoples hearts.
Floods and Landslides
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Ambeliko Folk Museum
We were passing near the village of Ambeliko one day and never having explored it before we decided to take a look. It looked inviting as there is a noticed board at the entrance to an empty car park extolling the virtues of this isolated village at the foot of Mount Olympos. From the car park, there was a footpath through to the lower village where we found the Folk Museum. This looked fascinating, but with our usual luck in these things, it was closed. There were several items outdoors and we peered through the windows, intrigued by the treasures that lay within. The adjacent church was also closed but there was a fire service vehicle parked nearby with a website address on its door. It is all in Greek, but there are pictures which help you get the gist of some of it. There is a section for the museum and lots of other details about the village and its history.
In search of a possible key holder for 
the museum (plus beer and food would not go amiss), we walked up a cobbled path into the village, which was very quiet. Along the main street, we said hello to a couple of ladies sitting outside a small taverna and inevitably got chatting. The younger of the two introduced herself as Maria and whilst this was her home village and she was visiting her mother (the older lady – also Maria) she lived now in Sydney. She, therefore, spoke good English and on our enquiries told us that the key holder for the museum was the priest and he was away from the village today.
As we chatted Mama Maria ambled off and came back a few minutes later and presented me with a small sprig of herbs from her garden. It appeared this was the family taverna, but unfortunately they had no food to offer today and there was no bakery in the village. Maria said we might get food at the taverna up on the main road which passes by the top of the village so we headed up there. Yes – we could get a beer, but no, there was no food here either. So we settled for a Mythos apiece and took a seat under the trees at the side of the road, above the village rooftops and neat terraced gardens. We shall definitely go back – it is a well-situated village, perched on a hillside with great views and have no doubt that exploration will prove rewarding. We ambled back down though the narrow streets, again passing the museum. If we manage to find it open in 2013 I will update this report. If someone else gets there before me please feel free to add your own piece.
How to find Ambeliko Folk Museum
I’ve got you under my skin!
I first visited Lesvos for a week in May 2011 with Nicky my partner and we stayed at the Blue Sky Studios in Petra.
Immediately upon alighting the transfer coach something got under our skin – don’t know what and still cannot really nail it completely. It had us under it’s spell – corny but true!
We had come prepared with lots of information regarding local walks gleaned from the internet with resources such as:
foxysislandwalks.com (no longer available) and the excellent “Walks in North Lesvos” by Lance Chilton.
Despite all our preparation nothing could have prepared us for the feeling of being hooked. Others may disagree but to me the sea is not as azure blue as some other Greek Islands, it’s not, on the surface, as picture postcard pretty as some other Greek Islands. That said what is has got is something, maybe the incredible warmth of the welcome, the feeling that you belong, or the immense and real sense of sadness when you leave to go home. You want to go back – as soon as is humanly possible.
On our first holiday we walked almost every morning – all started from Petra and included destinations such as:
- Ambelia Beach (Mikri Tsikharanda) via Anaxos – a beautiful return leg over the cliffs with an abundance of spring flowers.
- Lafionas via the Olive Groves via one or two slightly “overgrown” sections!
- Petri via the path network above Petra
- Molyvos via the reservoir – with a lovely stop for a coffee at the Sea Horse Hotel and a beer or two on a bar on the hillside in Molyvos.
We spent the rest of the time relaxing by the pool – the Sunday Chuch service piped around the village is something to experience – truly magical.
We loved it – the weather in the main (apart from one or two short sharp spectacular thunderstorms) was perfect.
We vowed to return – it had got us.
May 2012 and we returned to the same apartments, this time for a fortnight. At Manchester airport we recognised several faces from the previous year – these people, this year, were to become our friends.
This time the weather was more mixed – but we carried on walking!! With a supplemented pool of information resources (we had also now purchased “On Foot in North Lesvos” by Mike Maunders and Sigrid van der Zee again another excellent book) this time we widened our walking range! As well as some of the walks we had done previously (including Nicky’s favourite walk to Molyvos via the reservoir) we also did:
- The valley of the Mills through the Ligonas Valley. It was on this walk where with much excitement (for that read fear!) we came across a number of snakes – in fact we got very close to one and watched him slither off into undergrowth. On the same walk we also saw a pine marten. This walk was my personal favourite – the carpet of spring flowers on the lower part of the valley was incredible (hope the picture does it justice!)
- Eftalou to Skala Sikaminia. This was interesting. We booked a taxi and the return boat with Alex who owns the Calypso boat based in Petra. On the morning of the walk the taxi arrived perfectly on time – the sun was breaking through! We exited the taxi at Eftalou and started our walk along the dirt track road. Within minutes the heavens opened, the rain poured down and the cloud dropped to below the level of the surrounding hills. We took cover under the trees with the goats –
I decided to call Alex as I was convinced that the boat would be cancelled. He answered with his usual cheery smile and told me that the sun was shining in Petra and yes of course the boat would be running! With our moods lifted the clouds followed suit and the sun appeared – we walked the rest of the walk ion lovely warm sunshine – again a lovely walk that I can highly recommend. We made it to Skala Sikaminia only minutes behind the boat. A meal in the taverna with the mad parrot and a bottle of Limnos wine certainly made up for the damp clothes.
Walking aside we once again immersed ourselves into the place and grew to love it even more. We again spent time in Molyvos including a visit to the castle and a rather late night after spending the evening in Molly’s Bar with Andonis the apartment owner and other guests from the Blue Sky.
In 2013 we are going in July and my octogenarian mum will be making the trip for the first time – from the moment I first arrived I knew I wanted to bring her here.
Molyvos Christmas Fair 2012
The Christmas Fair takes place each year at the school in Molyvos with the proceeds going towards items needed by the school. Previous years proceeds have resulted in new classroom furniture and much needed computer equipment, very worthwhile causes. Due to bad weather on Sunday morning I thought the Fair was never going to take place. However the stalls had been laid out in the morning and nothing was going to stop it going ahead. A final downpour about an hour after the Fair had opened sent everyone rushing for pieces of plastic to cover over their stalls. Even though some things for sale got a little damp it didn’t stop the fun. It is nice to see that in these times of hardship people still turn out (even in the rain) to support the village.There were lots of nice things on offer including a beautifully laid out stall of handmade Christmas handicrafts, a selection of toys, dolls with handmade individual knitted outfits, tom-bola, children’s clothing, gift ideas, wheel of fortune and even horse rides. There were different tables of food, donated by people of different nationalities for everyone to sample, and of course you can’t have this type of event without the obligatory mulled wine, hot dogs and popcorn. The smells of which wafted around the playground which really made you want to try them out. I can personally recommend the mulled wine. The children of the school sang Christmas songs. Santa turned up and the donkey,which was part of the Nativity setting, gave rides to the children. All in all a very satisfying event. We shall look forward to this again next year. Lets just hope the weather is a little kinder.
UPDATE – The fair raised just under €5000 for the school. A big thank you to everyone.
Thank you to Torsten Åkerberg for the photograph.
Voyages of Discovery
Lesvos is a wonderful island for walking and exploring. There are now several guide books available with walks of all lengths, described in detail. Many of the tracks are also accessible by 4WD jeep. By getting off the beaten path you really do see other aspects of the island and island life. We have walked all day and seen no-one; other times we have had the most interesting encounters with local people and have to drag ourselves away with the reminder that we have several miles still to go. The Greek people, in general, have a friendly curiosity about “strangers” in their midst and if you walk into a small hill village language is no barrier to them wanting to know who you are, where you are from, where you have been and why you are here. And they will sit you down, bring you drinks, plates of fresh food (often from their own gardens) and display the generous hospitality that the Greek people are justly famous for.
By walking you will find places that will never be seen by the visitors who gather in the main resorts and you could be on another island entirely. Because Lesvos does not rely on tourism for more than perhaps 10% of its income it can afford to treat you as if you were family, not as a cash cow to be milked in a short season.
The scenery is so varied across the island it is 
difficult to round any corner and not go “Aaah!”. There is always a new vista, an interesting church, some dilapidated shepherd’s hut etc that stops you in your tracks and absolutely demands you take a photograph or three! We have seen rock tombs on a beach, the rare and beautiful wild Rhododendron Luteum with its gloriously scented yellow flowers, tiny churches built into rocks, sheep grazing seaweed on a beach, waterfalls, ruins of watermills, ponds alive with turtles and frogs.
Evidence of current military activity can be seen around the island, but you can also find rusting old tanks (usually facing towards the Turkish coast!) and mysterious holes in the ground. We have even accidentally driven onto a firing range during practice. Oops!
Lesvos really is an island with something for everyone. YOUR voyage of discovery is out there waiting for you.