Lesvos: A different kind of Greek Island

Lesvos is the 3rd largest Greek island, and is very close to the Turkish coast. There were a lot of Greek military boats around, and there was one in our marina, a smallish maybe 35m boat carrying 2 small deck-mounted guns that would do daily patrols. Greece has a mandatory military service for young men and I would see a few of them on the boat every day.

We needed to go into the main port of Mitilini because our generator stopped working and since we would be in a marina for a few days we decided to replace our boat ‘house’ batteries at the same time. I had been babying the batteries to make them last the summer, but during charging I noticed that one of the batteries had become hot (50 degrees C) and I could hear fluid bubbling inside, so they had to go.

Long story short: we got new batteries after a few days. I went with old fashioned lead-acid which should last 2 or 3 years: I’ll do the new lithium ones next time (they are 3x as expensive at least). The generator turned out to have a carbon-clogged exhaust system. I’m amazed it ran at all! Anyway, both issues were fixed.

The Miltini marina had free bikes to use, and I went biking through the city a few times. I was almost hit once but it is a great way to get around. There is an old castle right by the city, up on a hill of course, and I noticed a few WWII bunkers right by the castle overlooking the bay.

It is interesting that the same terrain has kept military value over thousands of years. You have a good view of the main bay, so you can see the bad guys coming and you can throw rocks at them.

Victoria and I rented a car and we drove across the island to the north, then down to the south-east which is famous for their Ouzo (it does taste a bit smoother) and then back to Miltilini. The island is very green, especially to the south west, and apparently has always been very agricultural.

Lesvos has a population of about 80,000 people. In 2015 there were roughly 20,000 Syrian refugees here fleeing the Syrian civil war. It must have been horrible for everyone. I did meet one Syrian man who started a very small Syrian food takeout place. I had an excellent falafel wrap. I didn’t ask him if he was one of the Syrian refuges who had stayed but I assumed this was the case.

We didn’t enjoy the city of Mitilini as much as we expected. It seemed to be not-so well layed-out. One of the only places to have dinner in a nice environment was at the marina! It was always crowded with locals. I enjoyed biking through the older part of the city, but it was all a bit grimy and sometimes smelly. The marina was well-run, but I wouldn’t want to spend a winter here. Our home marina in Crete is much nicer.