Lesvos, Greece

I've been travelling quite a bit this year for work. I even got a chance to visit Greece twice in two months. I will start with the last trip as it is stil very fresh.

The Island of Lesvos was known to me mainly from the literature classes on the poet Sappho. Otherwise it never called special attention to me. And I have never considered it as a holiday destination, like other Greek islands: Crete, Santorini, Corfu etc.

After visiting it, I'm still not convinced I would return for a holiday. But as the occasion of visiting arrived, for sure I was more than happy to take it.

At first glance Lesvos gives a mediocre impression as quite plain island. But when taking a closer look, it charms with its diversity and quite colourful details.

As the principal reason of my visit was work, I didn't had much time to visit around. I stayed just outside the capital Mitilini and there was just enough time to see the south part of the island.

The cities are very lively and colourful, easy to access and easy to go around.

The country side is green - olive green and offers spectacular views on the see and amazing sunsets. 

The primary activity of the island is not, as it is the case for other Greek islands, tourism, but agriculture. Mainly olives, as there are reportedly more than 12 millions of olive trees and 5 different types. So it is amazing to see the never ending olive trees plantations every where with olive trees more than 1000 thousand years old. 

Therefore, olive oil and olives are the main ingredients of many dishes. The island doesn't varies much from the typical Greek cuisine. You will find musaka and, almost obligatory at every meal, Greek salad and of course the sweets. I must confess that I don't like baklava or other similar sweets as they can be to heavy on a stomach and too sweet - and I'm a big sweets lover otherwise, but here I tasted the best sweets ever. Very light and sweet enough to satisfy every sweet tooth around. 

And the one thing that always fascinates me when wondering the streets of a city is street art, which for me gives a place a special atmosphere, variety and colourfulness. Mitilini is full of it and it combines beautiful with the otherwise tidy town.