About Lesvos

Having visited the island of Lesvos for a number of years and at different times, we thought a personal website of our trips would help visitors who have not yet experienced this beautiful island to see what they are missing, but would also remind those who have visited of some of the more memorable sites and sounds.

For those who have not visited the island we would strongly recommend acquiring a copy of the following to aid your trip planning:

A Birding Guide To Lesvos - Steve Dudley
Orchids of Europe North Africa and the Middle East - Pierre Delforge
Car tours and walks – Sunflower (Brian and Eileen Anderson)
Road Edition map of Lesvos no.212, 1:70000

The island is deceptively large, and although the road network is continuously being improved you can find yourself spending a great deal of time driving from one site to another, so having a couple of plans is a good idea. The daily report books in the Pasiphae, Malemi and Skala Kalloni II hotels can help tremendously if checked out the previous evening to plan your following day. We have seen many a stressed birdwatcher driving off in a cloud of dust when they find out that a particular bird has turned up on the opposite side of the island!

We tend to enjoy visiting a few favourite sites and make a day of them. However if the weather gets warm birding early in the morning and later in the evening can be most productive, so perhaps looking for other wildlife during the middle of the day can help pass the time. We also like to find areas that are not so much on the main visitors trail, and finding your own nesting Kruper’s Nuthatch with more or less no one else around is very enjoyable. 2007 saw the Achladeri site chicks leave the nest in the first days of May, however, we left on the 10th and ours were still being frantically fed, as often as every 3 to 4 minutes at times…

The island has some dramatic scenery, in part due to the huge volcanic eruption there some 20 000 000 years ago. The west of the island is very barren in places, with localised green areas along river valleys, which are usually very bird productive, and this is where the petrified forest can be found (there is even a big piece of tree by the side of the track between Eressos and Sigri) The middle of the island is predominately olive groves and farm land of various uses, and Skala Kalloni makes for a good central location with it’s two rivers and salt pans to hand. The mountains around Agiassos are one of our favourite places, and hold a wonderful selection of flowers and plants including fritillaries and peonies, but most especially the orchids. There are also some more localised birds their including Bonelli’s Warbler and Hawfinch.

Whatever you are coming to the island for, it holds many surprises, and we hope this site makes you look forward all the more to your visit.

Our holiday plans are usually based on staying at two locations on the island.

Sigri - You can spend a more leisurely time in the west of the island where sites such as Ipsilou (15 minutes drive) Faneromini fords (less than 5 minutes drive) Meladia ford (20 minutes drive) can easily be reached earlier in the morning than most visitors and later in the evening when the birds can be more visible and less disturbed. We stay with Anastasia in her apartments half way between Sigri and Faneromini and this can be booked through her daughter sara on info@villa-anastasia.de

Skala Kalloni - Being based here allows you access to the bird rich locations around this location, plus sites such as Achladeri and the Napi valley. We stay at the Oasis apartments at the entrance to the Potamia valley.

Paul and Vera Manning.

View Wildlife of Lesvos in a larger map]

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View Lesvos orchids in a larger map