It is also greener, grander and more fertile than others in the island group. Tourism is not the major industry here, as in many of the Aegean islands. Lesvos is economically stable with large agricultural activities eg...market gardens, tobacco, high quality meat, dairy products and famous cheeses, fish, especially sardines...naturally olives and olive oil. I read that there are over 11 million olives trees on the island!
Ouzo from Mytilini is considered to be the finest produced in Greece at the moment.
There are also many wonderful monasteries..including Ipsillo and Limonos.....
The history of these islands is complex....far too long to explain in these pages. But one must not forget that the Turks took Lesvos in 1462 ....until 1912 when the island was finally liberated to the Greek population. One definitely sees a Turkish influence here, especially in Mytilene.
'Pacific Pearl' is alongside the town quay for 2 nights.
Playing tourist, food shopping, plus visit to Lidl for our favourite charcuterie and chocolats etc. We ate delicious pizzas last night. nice change.
However, Mytilini is a busy interesting town, not touristique at all...admittedly it is noisy, dusty and dirty, but the Wind internet connection is extremely rapid. Out in the secluded anchorages, it can be very slow.
We will be at anchor again tomorrow night....more anchorages to discover, then a long sail over to Limnos ...southerlies are predicted again for the coming weekend!
I forgot to say that there must be at least 200 illegal immigrants hanging around the customs area of the main port. They have managed to make their way here from Turkey..they made it, but many do not!
There is also a roaming population of 'gypsies' in the town, omnipresent everywhere...we lock up every hatch, even the small ones. One must be extra careful all the time...