Greece - Korina Miller [509]
Around Mithymna (Molyvos)
Beyond Molyvos, northern Lesvos is largely unvisited; for some scenic routes, consult Tom at Nassos Guest House (left), who sells a useful hiking guide (€8).
The best-known local destination, Petra, is a very overrated beach village 5km south, and inexplicably a package tourism favourite. The beach itself comprises coarse sand and pebbles, while spearlike wooden poles stand ominously submerged in the water. Petra’s one cultural site, situated above the giant overhanging rock for which the village was named, is the 18th-century Panagia Glykofilousa (Church of the Sweet-kissing Virgin), accessible on foot up 114 rock-hewn steps.
While Petra has accommodation, the village itself is barely a strip of souvenir shops and some restaurants. It’s far nicer to stay in Molyvos; better yet for solitude-seekers, head a couple of kilometres northeast to Eftalou Beach (also called Agii Anargyri Beach). You can either park where the path heads down to the beach, or drive further to reach the Hrysi Akti Hotel and Restaurant, and further beaches beyond that.
Backed by a cliff, the narrow, pebbled Eftalou Beach has pristine waters and offers total serenity. It also boasts the Mineral Baths of Eftalou (old bathhouse/new bathhouse €3.50/5; old bathhouse 6-8am & 6-10pm, new bathhouse 9am-6pm), with their clear, cathartic 46.5°C water. The old bathhouse has a pebbled floor; the new one offers private bathtubs. These springs treat rheumatism, arthritis, neuralgia, hypertension, gall stones, and gynaecological and skin problems. Or you can also just try to find the one spot on the beach in front of the bathhouse where the hot mineral water filters into the cool sea, and enjoy from there.
Beyond the baths, the beachfront Hrysi Akti ( 22530 71879; Eftalou Beach; s/d €35/45) offers simple rooms with bathrooms in an idyllic setting, right on a practically private pebbled cove. The friendly owners also own a similarly named restaurant ( 22530 71947; mains €4.50-6) just above the beach; enjoying a contemplative drink overlooking the sea here is a perfect way to wind up a Lesvos summer day.
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WESTERN LESVOS
Spectacular, lonesome western Lesvos is the afterthought of massive, primeval volcanic eruptions that fossilised trees and all other living things, making it one of the world’s most intriguing sites for prehistoric treasure hunters. The striking, bare landscape, broken only by craggy boulders and the occasional olive tree, is dramatically different from the rest of Lesvos.
Byzantine spiritualists in their high monastic refuges were inspired by the barren, burnt moonscapes of the west and, well before them, a certain Sappho, the 7th-century-BC poet who was dubbed ‘the 10th muse’ by Plato. Such was the power of her literary seduction that even the usually level-headed ancient ruler Solon despaired that he too must be taught Sappho’s song, because he wanted ‘to learn it and die’.
However, it is the sensuous, erotic nature of Sappho’s surviving poems, and the fact that she taught them to an inner circle of female companions, that made her into a latter-day lesbian icon. Skala Eresou, her birthplace and a lesbian-frequented southwestern coastal resort, has fine beaches, seafood and sunset cocktail bars.
Kalloni to Sigri Καλλο προς Σγρι
After driving 34km west from Kalloni, stop for a coffee or lunch break in Andissa, a jovial, rustic village of narrow streets kept cool by the two enormous plane trees that stand over its plateia. Listen to the crickets and the banter of old-timers over a Greek coffee or frappe, while farmers hawk watermelons from the back of their trucks.
Escapists will enjoy the little-visited north-coast Gavathas Beach, signposted a couple of kilometres before Andissa.