Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
THE OLIVES OF LÉSVOS
No other Greek island is as dominated by
olive production
as Lésvos, which is blanketed by
approximately 11 million olive trees. Most of these vast groves date from after a lethal frost in
1851, though a few hardy survivors are thought to be over five hundred years old. During the
first three centuries after the Ottoman conquest, production of olive oil was a monopoly of
the ruling pasha, but following eighteenth-century reforms in the Ottoman Empire, extensive
tracts of Lésvos (and thus the lucrative oil trade) passed into the hands of the new Greek
bourgeoisie, who greatly expanded the industry.
Museum of Industrial Olive Oil Production in Lésvos
Daily except Tues 10am-6pm, closes 5pm mid-Oct to Feb • €3 •
T
22530 32300,
W
piop.gr
On the southern outskirts of Ayía Paraskeví stands the eminently worthwhile
Museum
of Industrial Olive Oil Production in Lésvos
(Mousío Viomihanikís Elaeouryías Lésvou),
housed in a restored communal olive mill. The mill, built by public subscription in the
1920s, only ceased working under the junta; the industrial machinery has been lovingly
refurbished and its function explained, while former outbuildings and warehouses are
used as venues for secondary exhibits and short explanatory films.
Kalloní and around
KALLONÍ
is a lively agricultural and market town in the middle of the island. Some
3km south lies the town's seaside package resort,
Skála Kallonís
, backing a long, sandy
but absurdly shallow beach on the lake-like gulf whose water can be turbid. It's mainly
distinguished as a
birdwatching
centre during the nesting season (March-May) in the
adjacent salt marshes. The local speciality
is the gulf 's celebrated, plankton-nurtured
sardines
, best eaten fresh-grilled from August to October, although they're available
salt-cured all year round.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
KALLONÍ AND AROUND
Aegeon
Kalloní
T
22530 22398,
W
aegeon-lesvos.gr.
Set in a leafy garden, with above-average furnishings for
its class, a large pool and friendly owners, this is the best
option
am
ong the hotels grouped on the west side of
town.
€45
Medusa
Skála Kallonís
T
697 22 01 813.
Top restaurant
for sardines done Kalloní style and other super-fresh fish
and seafood, much of it under €10. Pleasant location in a
renovated stone house on the seafront.
April-Oct daily
10am-1am.
Limónos monastery
Museum daily 9.30am-6.30pm, may close 3pm off-season • €2
West of Kalloní, the road winds 4km uphill to
Limónos monastery
, founded in 1527 by
the monk Ignatios, whose cell is maintained in the surviving medieval north wing. It's a
rambling, three-storey complex around a vast, plant-filled courtyard, home to just a
handful of monks and lay workers. The
katholikón
, with its ornate carved-wood ceiling
and archways, is traditionally off-limits to women; a sacred spring flows from below the
south foundation wall. Only the ground-floor
ecclesiastical museum
is currently
functioning, with the more interesting ethnographic gallery upstairs still closed.
Hídhira
Seven kilometres south of the beautiful settlement of
Vatoússa
, which boasts a classic
plane-shaded square and some fine architecture, stands the hilltop village of
HÍDHIRA
,
with a fine winery and interesting museum. The village is a dead end unless you have a
jeep capable of continuing across the rough track to Eressós by way of Ágra.
Methymneos Winery
Daily July-Sept 9am-6pm, otherwise by appointment •
T
22530 51518,
W
methymneos.gr
Just below the entrance to Hídhira, the
Methymneos Winery
has successfully revived
