Lesvos is the third largest island tourists could find when they travel to the north eastern Aegean Islands for a trip to Greece. This island has a territory of approximately 1650 km2 and a population of about 91.000 inhabitants. Around 30.000 of the island’s inhabitants live in the capital city called Mytilene while the other 60.000 live in other towns such as, for example, Plomari, Kalloni, Ayassos, Molyvos, Gera Villages, and Eressos.
Lesvos offers a mountainous appearance and is characterized by having two gulfs of such a length that visitors would be at walking distance from the sea in almost any place of the island. Besides this, this island is also characterized by having an important amount of green areas as well as a very varied flora, factor which has caused it to be known as the Emerald Island.
The main resource of the inhabitants of Lesvos is the agriculture and related activities, followed by tourism in second place. The fertile lands of the island and the great amount of olive trees and fruit trees it has, allow its inhabitants to export a great amount of derivate products, many of which are highly demand from several other nearby destinations and even from far away spots as well.
The first reference known about Lesvos appears in Homer’s writings where this island is mentioned as the seat of Macar and called Macaros Edos. According to historians, during the Late Bronze Age this island received its first name: Lazpas. Experts affirm that during this époque a group of people from mainland Greece arrived to Lesvos introducing an Aeolic dialect to the island.
The island of Lesvos has an important amount of interesting archaeological sites such as, for example, the habitation of Thermi which dates from the year 3000 BC, a Neolithic cave called Kagiani, and a Neolithic settlement known as Chalakies. Besides this, tourists who are interested in history and archaeology could also enjoy meeting the place where the ancient city of Mytilene was located, the island’s Roman and Ancient Greek remains, and also the ruins of three medieval and very interesting castles.