Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
measured, with some appealing beaches and yet another spa. Inland and southeast, the
main paved road via Vafiós curves around 968m, poplar-tufted
Mount Lepétymnos
.
You can complete a scenic loop of the mountain via Kápi and Ypsilométopo on its
southern flank.
Pétra
Given political and practical limits to expansion in Mólyvos, many package companies
have shifted emphasis to
PÉTRA
, 5km due south. The modern outskirts sprawl untidily
behind its broad, sandy beach, but two attractive nuclei of old stone houses, some
with Levantine-style balconies overhanging the street, extend back from the part-
pedestrianized seafront square. Pétra takes its name from the giant, unmissable rock
monolith inland, enhanced by the eighteenth-century church of the
Panayía
Glykofiloússa,
, reached via 114 rock-hewn steps. Other local attractions include the
sixteenth-century church of
Áyios Nikólaos
, with three phases of well-preserved
frescoes up to 1721, and the intricately decorated
Vareltzídhena mansion
(Tues-Sun
8am-3pm; free), with late eighteenth-century naïve wall paintings of courting
couples, a bear being trained, sailing ships and a stylized view of a naval engagement
at Constantinople.
Ánaxos
ÁNAXOS
, 3km south of Pétra, is a higgledy-piggledy package resort fringing by far the
cleanest
beach
and seawater in the area: 1km of sand well sown with sunbeds and a
handful of tavernas. From anywhere along here you enjoy beautiful sunsets between
and beyond three offshore islets.
Loutrá Eftaloú
Daily: May & Oct 9am-1pm & 3-7pm; June-Sept 10am-2pm & 4-8pm; Nov-April variable access • €3.50 for group pool • Occasional
summer shuttle-bus service from Mólyvos
he
Loutrá Eftaloú
thermal baths lie 5km east of Mólyvos, at the end of the paved
road. Patronize the hot pool under the Ottoman-era domed structure, rather than
the sterile modern tub-rooms. The spa is well looked after, with the water mixed up
to a toasty 43°C, so you'll need to cool down regularly; outside stretches the long,
good pebble beach of
Áyii Anáryiri
, broken up by little headlands, with the two
remotest coves nudist.
Sykaminiá
The exquisite hill village of
SYKAMINIÁ
(Sykamiá, Skamniá), just under 10km from
Mólyvos, is the birthplace in 1892 of novelist Stratis Myrivilis. One of the imposing
basalt-built houses below the platía, from which there are views north to Turkey, is
marked as his childhood home.
Skála Sykaminiás
A marked trail short-cuts the twisting road from just east of Sykaminiá down to
SKÁLA SYKAMINIÁS
, easily the most picturesque fishing port on Lésvos. Myrivilis
used it as the setting for his best-known work,
The Mermaid Madonna
, and the tiny
rock-top
chapel
at the end of the jetty will be instantly recognizable to anyone who
has read the topic. he only local
beach
is the one of Kayiá 1.5km east, which has a
pebble-on-sand base.
Klió and Tsónia
Some 5km east from upper Sykaminiá is
KLIÓ
, whose single main street leads down to
a platía with a plane tree, fountain and more views across to Turkey. The village is set
attractively on a slope, down which a wide, paved road descends 6km to
Tsónia
beach,
600m of beautiful pink volcanic sand.
