Voyages of Discovery

Mt Olympos © Christine AspinallLesvos 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.yiammas!

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 Rhododendron Luteum © Christine Aspinalldifficult 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.

Sappho

When you start looking for information about Sappho it is easy to become very confused. Every writer has a different opinion about her. There are a few things that remain undisputed.

  • She was born in Eressos
  • She was born about 620 BCE
  • She wrote poetry

We hope to bring you a more up to date page soon.

In the meantime, you can read one view of Sappho Wikipedia.

There is also a new book:

Sappho A New Translation of the Complete Works

Sappho
A New Translation of the Complete Works

Edited and translated by:
Diane Rayor

Published by:
Cambridge University Press

I wish I was in Molyvos

I can’t think of anything I would rather be doing right now other than sitting outside The Seahorse Hotel on Molyvos harbour with a cold Mythos, or better still a nice chilled glass of white wine, watching the world go by. What is it about this place that tugs at the heartstrings so? There are numerous pretty Greek Islands, and there are are plenty of attractive harbours all around the world, and I have been lucky enough to see quite a lot of both, but this place has a magical quality that truly cannot be matched anywhere else.

Of course, we are not alone, in fact, we are veritable newcomers, visiting for just the last 10 years or so. Many, many more have been coming for decades and countless other Brits, Dutch, Germans and many more nationalities now call Molyvos home.

100 years ago

Greek cruiser Georgios AverofOn the 8th of November 1912, Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis arrived with a squadron of the Royal Hellenic Navy led by the battleship Georgios Averof. It marked the beginning of the liberation of Lesvos.

The battleship went on to serve in two world wars and is now a floating museum in Athens.