Finally – more of Lesvos to love!
After weeks of being “busy doing other things,” we woke up one morning and realized we would be leaving this island we call home in only another couple of weeks. That day I sorted a car and two nights’ lodging and a few days later we were on our way.
We left Mytilini about 9 am in our ancient rental car* and made our way north along the east coast of the island, enjoying the clear views across to Turkey. Next stop was Mantamados, home of the Monastery of the Taxiarchis [archangel]. While we’ve generally eschewed many of the religious sites we’ve encountered along our way, we had heard this was a stunner. Very pretty indeed, and very popular. It was full of the Lenten faithful making their pilgrimage to the site, which is famous for the Archangel Michael’s defense of the only monk who survived the massacre of all the other monks by Saracen pirates in the 10th century. One wonders why the archangel didn’t prevent all the deaths rather than just the one, but who am I to question angels? (Apparently, Michael continued to wreak havoc on any threats to the island, and is, as one might expect, the guardian angel of Lesvos.)
The one monk who survived the massacre was inspired to sculpt a likeness of the avenging archangel using the earth under his feet, soaked in the blood of his fellow monks. (He overestimated the amount of clay needed though, which is why the head of the sculpture is so much larger than the rest of the body.) This icon is inside the present cathedral (see below, top left), and kissing it is the goal of pilgrims from all over the island.
The Mantamados area is known for its red pottery – unclear if that’s related to the myth of the surviving monk and the archangel – and we found small, family-owned potteries all over the interior of the island selling not just the red pots with their minimalistic designs but also a wide selection of fully glazed functional items like plates and mugs, platters, pitchers and wine carafes, and decorative pieces like tiles, pomegranates (a common symbol of good fortune and abundance in Greece), boats and swallows. Each pottery had similar wares, but the styles were distinctive – we enjoyed browsing the tiny shops wherever we found them.
After a bite at the café on the monastery grounds we drove just down the road to the local dairy, renowned for its excellent sheep and goat milk cheeses. Of course we tasted them. Of course we bought some. I mean, cheese.
From there we found a very picturesque and ultimately very rough track following the northern coast of the island – our ancient car proved its worth by surviving it with only a few new rattles and clunks.
Rumor had it there is a small hot spring on a beach along the way, and we decided to track it down. Unfortunately it was underwhelming. There’s very little infrastructure for enjoying the waters – a mud igloo with a small pool inside, and we found the water was too hot to enjoy. We did find that the sea right in front of the pool was warmed somewhat by the steaming water seeping out, but the coast is rocky and there wasn’t anywhere to settle in the warmth.
I was also keenly distracted by the two resident cats, both scrawny and starving, one of which had a terrible wound on his back leg. I fed them all the cat food I’d brought with me, but we had no fresh water to give them. Despite the hand drawn signs begging people to feed and water them, their future is dire. They were just pitiful little things. Heartbreaking.
Molyvos Castle in the town of Mithymna was our goal for the day, and we got to our guesthouse without clipping the car on the sides of any of the tiny donkeypaths er, streets, in the old city. We walked up to the castle for the view, pausing to wonder at the giant wisteria vines sheltering the main walkway through the old town.
From there we went all the way back down to the town quay for dinner on the water. More cats – these in much better shape since diners at least feed them regularly – and I was relieved to see their successful begging for bits of people’s dinners. (Feeding bread to the fish is a common pastime at these places too, and we were awed by the size of some of them – very, very fat fish. We’ve got the same species in our marina, but they’re not nearly as well fed.)
First thing in the morning we hiked back up to the castle for a tour, and because it was a grey, windy morning we were utterly alone throughout. It’s the second largest on the island and was used just for defense – there was no living space like there was in Mytilini castle (which is the largest). It was easy to imagine the cauldrons of boiling oil teetering above the three successive gates into the keep, and the view from the top made it very clear why the site was chosen – you could see anything at all that might arrive by sea.
By the time we finished poking around the castle, the sun was out – it was turning into a beautiful day. We enjoyed an excellent breakfast at the castle café then packed up the car and headed south.
We wanted back roads, and we got back roads, up through the mountains that rise just south of Mithymna. Our goal for the day was to visit the old town of Agiasos on our way to the southern coastal city of Plomari, where we would spend the night.
The drive was gorgeous. We stopped at a little village up in the mountains overlooking Petra on the west coast and walked through the winding cobbled streets wondering idly whether we would want to live there, and if so where. The allure of Lafionas other than the spectacular views and charming village scenes is that it has several reputedly excellent hiking trails leading out from it, and tourists to Petra often travel one way to Lafionas and hike down to their hotels on the coast.
Once over the mountains we skirted the northern coast of the gulf of Kalloni, the larger of Lesvos’ two bays, and then immediately climbed into mountainous terrain again. There was a long stretch where the road wound through a nature reserve, thick with pine forest, this time with views to the southern coast. Agiasos is tucked into the slope of Mt. Olympus (but not THE Mt. Olympus, which is just southwest of Thessaloniki) in the thick of the mountains that dominate the topography between the Kalloni and Geras bays. It’s best known for its lovely old town, and its rank as the artistic and religious heartbeat of the island. We enjoyed every inch of it, browsed the potteries and other shops, and had lunch outside a restaurant across from the large church in the middle of the town.
Our drive down the mountains and into Plomari was marked by a transition from pines to olive groves. (We had of course seen thousands of olive trees everywhere we’d been on the drive, after all, there are 11 MILLION olive trees on Lesvos – more than anywhere else in Greece.) A steep, frankly harrowing series of switchbacks led us right into the middle of old town Plomari, and if there had not been a truck in front of us that just barreled on into the tiny streets, I’d never have thought we would get through them unscathed. Our hotel, a welcome improvement on our guesthouse in Mithymna, boasted a pool and terraces and a fantastic view of the sunset. So yes, we opened some prosecco and toasted our luck and the beautiful day we’d had.
Later we walked to a very local restaurant back in Plomari’s old town, and for the first time since we’d come to the Aegean, we ate moussaka. It was like coming home. A friend of mine from the gym told me after we got back to Mytilini that the reason you can’t get moussaka at restaurants in the Aegean is that few Greeks order it at restaurants – it’s made for family at home, “not for others.” When pressed she also admitted that moussaka is a classic badge of tourists. We wear it proudly!
Since the ouzo museum was closed both days we were there, we missed what is widely described as a must-do experience in Plomari. It’s not a stretch to say that Greece’s best ouzo is produced in Plomari, and since we do not mind at all when restaurants bring us a little tot of the stuff after meals, we were very disappointed.
So, the next morning we stopped at the Protoulis Olive Mill and asked for a tour. Ypapandti, an employee and old friend of the owner, walked us from one machine to the next describing the purpose of each and how the machinery has evolved over time. She also elaborated on the saying that “ouzo needs olive oil,” describing the correct steps to preparing the best glass of ouzo** and the need to have fresh bread you can dip liberally in good olive oil to eat with it. “So you don’t end up, you know, drunk.” We ended up back in the tasting room where Vlassis led us through using smell, sight, and finally taste to judge the quality of the oil. (We got bread, but alas, no ouzo.)
Lesvos is the only place in Greece where only one type of olive, the kolovi, is grown as monoculture. (There are a few kolovi olive trees on Chios, but according to Vlassis, “no one on Chios takes olive oil seriously.”) Kolovi olive oil is known for its subtle, balanced flavor and pungency, and the extra virgin oil pressed from the early olive crop is recommended as a health tonic – the cod liver oil of the 21st century? – because it’s so high in antioxidants. We were interested to learn that not every year’s pressing qualifies as a true tonic – some years the antioxidants just don’t cut it. It goes without saying we now start every day with a teaspoon of the stuff and have an extra bottle in the bilge.
We also brought home a bottle of organic oil to eat with bread and in salad dressings, and another of a lesser quality oil for cooking. Vlassis says that since heat of any kind destroys the flavor there’s no reason to spend a lot of money on cooking olive oils. He does of course insist that EVOO is the only oil worth using for anything. If we didn’t know it already and Vlassis said it, we would believe it.
On our way back to Mytlini, the wooded hills around Plomari’s coastal environs gave way to the wide valley at the north end of the bay of Geras, and with a call to the rental car company to say we were going to be late, we planned to stop off at the Thermo hot springs for an hour’s soak. But first, Jumbo.
For the uninitiated, Jumbo is like a Kmart, but with WAY more crap. We had a Jumbo in Tivat, and they’re dotted throughout the Balkan region, including Greece, and who knows, maybe even further. But on our first trip to the Lesvos Jumbo a few weeks before this trip (new crates for the tools, spare parts, and other tool shed inhabitants!), our cab driver made the claim that the Lesvos Jumbo is the “largest anywhere.” We smirked a wee bit – I mean, the Tivat Jumbo was huge – how could this one be any bigger? We were sooooo naïve. The Lesvos Jumbo could hold three Tivat Jumbos. Peter says four. It’s immense. And like Ikea, you can only go through it in one direction. Unlike Ikea, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. You walk forever in the Lesvos Jumbo, and every inch of the way are walls and walls and aisle after multiple aisles of crap. Toys. More toys in one place that FAO Schwartz on Fifth Ave. School supplies. Homewares. Sports equipment. Stationery. Tools. Linens. Outdoor furniture. Décor, lots of décor. Clothing. Shoes. Gardening. And crates. Lots and lots of crates.
It almost goes without saying that the hour in the hot springs on the shores of Geras was a most welcome antidote to the hour in the Lesvos Jumbo.
It was also a good opportunity to reflect on what we’d seen in our mini tour of the island – a small glimpse of a very large island, but still representative. Mytilini had already won us completely, and the rest of the island really is as gorgeous as people say it is. “Most beautiful island in Greece.” It certainly is from our perspective – nothing we’ve seen in the Ionian or elsewhere in the Aegean compares.***
* Who ever heard of a rental car with 135,000 kilometers on it?? Fortunately, we had no issues with it at all, and it bravely took us everywhere we wanted to go.
** That would be 1) pour ouzo into a glass, 2) add a little bit of water to the glass, and 3) add one cube of ice “if you have to have it cold.” Per Ypapandti, if you just pour the ouzo into a glass of ice the flavor molecules rebel and flee.
*** It should be noted that we have not seen Santorini (and have no intention of seeing Mykonos), which is undoubtedly spectacular. But Lesvos is real.
One response to “Exploring Lesvos”
What a wonderful few days exploring before you leave the island.