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ALYNDA , 3km northwest of Ayia Marina, ranks as the longest-established resort on Leros, with development just across the road from a long, narrow strip of pea-gravel beach. It's also the first area for accommodation to open in spring, and the last to shut in autumn. Many of the half-dozen hotels and pensions here are block-booked by tour companies, but you may have better luck at two outfits overlooking the war cemetery: Hotel Gianna (tel 02470/23 153; ?34-42), with fridge-equipped rooms plus a few studios, or the nearby Studios Diamantis (tel 02470/23 213; ?34-42) just inland, with large balconied units, though not the pleasantest management. At Krithoni, 1.5km south, more comfort is available at the island's top-flight accommodation: the Crithoni Paradise (tel 02470/25 120, fax 24 680; ?73 and upwards), a mock-traditional low-rise complex with buffet breakfast, a large pool and all mod cons in the rooms. Restaurant options aren't brilliant, except for To Steki next to the war cemetery, open year round with good grills and rich mezedhes attracting a local clientele. The Allied War Graves Cemetery , mostly containing casualties of the November 1943 battle, occupies a walled enclosure at the south end of the beach; immaculately maintained, it serves as a moving counterpoint to the holiday hubbub outside. The other principal sight at Alynda is the privately run Historical and Ethnographic Museum (May-Sept only, daily 10am-1pm & 6-9pm; ?3), housed in the unmistakable castle-like mansion of Paris Bellinis (1871-1957). Most of the top floor is devoted to the Battle of Leros: relics from the sunken Queen Olga , a wheel from a Junkers bomber, a stove made from a bomb casing. There's also a rather grisly mock-up clinic (mostly gynecological tools) and assorted rural impedimenta, costumes and antiques. Alternative beaches near Alynda include Panayies , a series of gravel coves (one naturist) at the far northeast of the bay, and Gourna , the turning for which lies 1km or so off the trans-island road. The latter, Leros's longest sandy beach, is hard-packed and gently shelving; it's also wind-buffeted, bereft of any nearby facilities, and permanently fringed by an impromptu car park and dumped construction rubble. A separate road beyond the Gourna turning leads to Kokalli , no great improvement beach-wise, but flanked to one side by the scenic islet of Ayios Isidhoros , which is tethered to the mainland by a causeway, its eponymous chapel perched on top. Seven kilometres from Alynda along the main route north, a marked side-track leads left to the purported Temple of Artemis , on a slight rise just west of the airport runway. In ancient times, Leros was sacred to the goddess, and the temple here was supposedly inhabited by guinea fowl - the grief-stricken sisters of Meleager, metamorphosed thus by Artemis following their brother's death. All that remains now are some jumbled, knee-high walls, which may in fact have been an ancient fortress, but the view is superb. The onward road skims the shores of sumpy, reed-fringed Partheni Bay, with its dreary army base (formerly the political prison), until the paved road ends 11km along at Blefoutis , a rather more inspiring sight with its huge, virtually landlocked bay. The beach (the rough Lerian norm) has tamarisks to shelter under and an adequate taverna, Iy Thea Artemi , for kalamari -and-chips-type lunch.
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