Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Plátanos
up on the hillside. While Léros can be very attractive, however, it doesn't hold
spectacular
beaches
, so tourism remains relatively low-key.
The island still bears traces of the
Battle of Léros
of November 1943, when German
paratroops displaced a Commonwealth division that had occupied Léros following the
Italian capitulation. Bomb nose-cones and shell casings turn up as gaily painted garden
ornaments, or do duty as gateposts. After the war, the local economy relied on prisons
and sanatoria in former Italian military buildings. During the civil war and the later
junta, leftists were confined to a notorious
detention centre
at Parthéni, while
hospitals
warehoused intractable psychiatric cases and mentally handicapped children. In 1989,
a major scandal exposed conditions in the asylums; most wards were eventually closed.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
LÉROS
By air
A tiny airport near the island's northern tip is served
by twice-weekly flights to Astypálea, Kos and Rhodes.
By ferry
Large ferries and the
Dodekanisos Pride
catamaran arrive at Lakkí; smaller ferries and the
Dodekanisos Express
arrive at Ayía Marína. Destinations
served: Agathoníssi (5 weekly; 1hr 10min-4hr); Arkí (5
weekly; 2hr 50min); Kálymnos (1-2 daily; 45min-1hr
15min); Kos (1-3 daily; 1hr 25min-3hr); Lipsí (2-3 daily;
20min-1hr); Pátmos (2-4 daily; 40min-1hr 55min);
Pireás (3 weekly; 9-11hr); Rhodes (1-2 daily; 4hr-5hr
15min); Samos (1-2 daily; 1hr 55min-5hr 20min); Sými (6
weekly; 3hr 10min-5hr 50min); Syros (2 weekly; 5hr
30min).
Travel agencies
Aegean Travel, 9 King George Ave, Lakkí
(
T
22470 26000,
W
aegeantravel.gr); Kastis Travel, Ayía
Marína (
T
22470 22140).
GETTING AROUND
By bus
Regular buses from the main taxi rank in Platanós
run north via Ayía Marína, Álinda and the airport to
Parthéni, and south to Lakkí and Xirókambos.
Car and scooter rental
Motoland (Pandélli,
T
22470
24103; Álinda,
T
22470 24584) and Rent A Car Léros (Lakkí,
T
22470 22330). Take care if you rent a scooter - Lerian
roads are particularly narrow, potholed and gravel-strewn,
and the low-slung, fat-tyred bikes on offer don't cope well.
8
Lakkí
Set in a hugely indented bay on Léros's southwest coast, the unusual town of
LAKKÍ
is
the arrival port for all the island's large
ferries
. Built in the 1930s as a model town to
house 7500 civilian dependants of an adjacent Italian naval base, it's now an
incongruous under-populated relic. Sweeping boulevards, out of all proportion to the
traffic they ever see, are lined with Stream Line Modern edifices (see box, p.582)
including a round-fronted cinema, but the entire seafront tends to be devoid of life
even in high season. It does have a handful of hotels and restaurants, but none is worth
recommending.
Lakkí's nearest approximation to a
beach, sand-and-gravel
Kouloúki
500m west, holds ample trees for
shade and supports a seasonal
taverna. A kilometre or so beyond,
Merikiá
is a little nicer, and has two
tavernas.
Lipsí & Pátmos
LÉROS
Ayía
Kiourá
N
Blefoútis
Parthéni
Artemis
Temple
Kryfós
Panayiés
Dhýo Liskária
Álinda
Áyios
Nikólaos
Ayía Marína
Krithóni
War Museum
Merikiá • Daily 10am-1pm • €3
An interesting little
War Museum
, set
in two long arched tunnels that
burrow deep into the hillside close to
Merikiá beach, 2km west of Lakkí,
commemorates the 1943 Battle of
Léros. Part of an enormous Italian-
built subterranean complex, the
Áyios
Isídhoros
Pandélli
Plátanos
Goúrna
Spília
Tourkopígadho
Vromólithos
Dhrymónas
Ángyra
Lakkí
Kouloúki
Merikiá
Lepídha
Xirókambos
0
2
kilometres
Kálymnos (Póthia)
Kálymnos (Myrtíes)
