| LESVOS Lesvos is one of the biggest islands in the Aegean and also one of the richest -- rich in culture, in natural beauty, and in products such as olives, olive oil, wine, etc. Lesvos is situated in the Eastern Aegean north of Chios and has an area of 1630 square kilometers. Lesvos has good roads and a good bus service.
HOW TO GET THERE
From Salonika all the year. Also from Rafina, Salonika and Kavalla. The island is also connected with Limnos and Chios and during the summer months with Volos, Psara, Ayios Evstratios, Samos, Patmos, Skyros,and Aivali on the Turkish coast (2 hours and 30 minutes.)
WHERE TO STAY IN LESVOS
According to Greek mythology the nine muses lived in PIERIA in the mainland Greece, but it seems that together with Lesvos they have moved to this island which became their second home. So inspiration mixed with spirituality is in the air! the sensitive most certainly feel it, and the less sensitive cannot help noticing the results that have been produced by it!!!!
HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGYAfter the cataclysm Makareas, the son of Ilios, (Sun) and Rhodes, came to Lesvos and settled and the island acquired his name Makaria. Makareas had two daughters, Mytilini and Mythimna. In the next generation Lesvos, the grandson of Aeolos from Thessaly came with the Lapithes and married the daugther of Makareas, Mythimna. It was then that the island acquired the present name Lesvos. After the Trojan War, Penthildes the son together with the grandsons of Orestis, son of Agamemnon of Mycaenae settled the island. The island's culture was at its peak from the Bronze Age to the Archaic era in the 7th-6th century BC. At that time the island's economy flourished due to the commercial and maritime fleet that it posessed and to the good quality wine production. Lesvos became a great power and colonised 11 cities on the opposite coast of Asia Minor which was called Mytilinaeon Aigialos. Lesvos also colonised Thraki and Egypt. At the same time there was a boom in literature, poetry and especially music. It was the era of the great poets. After the Persians conquered the island it followed the fate of the rest of the Aegean islands.The island became a member of the A! and B! Allegiance and was conquered again by the Persians until Alexander the Great freed the people of Lesvos and returned to them their colonies in Asia Minor in 332 BC. In the Hellenistic Years Lesvos was under the jurisdiction of the Ptolemaei, whereas under Roman rule it flourished again economically and culturally. During the Byzantine period commercial and cultural development reached its peak due to the organised cultural and spiritual centres inside the famous monasteries there. In the year 1355 AD the island was given as dowry by Emperor John V to his sister Maria Palaeologou for her marriage to the Genoese Gatelouzo, who ruled the island until the Turks conquered it in the year 1462. During Turkish occupation the island was many times the target of the conqueror's frustration until the 1st World War when the island was freed and reunited with motherland Hellas.
By Lelia Mitsides Back to the Northeast Islands |
|
|