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Lesvos , the third-largest Greek island after Crete and Evvia, is not only the birthplace of Sappho, but also of Aesop, Arion and - more recently - the Greek primitive artist Theophilos, the Nobel laureate poet Odysseus Elytis and the novelist Stratis Myrivilis. Despite these artistic associations, Lesvos may not at first strike the visitor as particularly beautiful or interesting; much of the landscape is rocky, volcanic terrain, dotted with thermal springs and alternating with vast grain fields, salt pans or even near-desert. But there are also oak and pine forests as well as vast olive groves, some of these over five hundred years old. With its balmy climate and suggestive contours, the island tends to grow on you with prolonged acquaintance. Lovers of medieval and Ottoman architecture certainly won't be disappointed. Castles survive at the main town of Mytilini, at Molyvos, Eressos and near Andissa; most of these date from the late fourteenth century, when Lesvos was given as a dowry to a Genoese prince of the Gateluzzi clan following his marriage to the niece of one of the last Byzantine emperors. Apart from Crete and Evvia, Lesvos was the only Greek island where Turks settled significantly in rural villages (they usually stuck to the safety of towns), which explains the odd Ottoman bridge, shed-like mosque or crumbling minaret often found in the middle of nowhere. Again unusually for the Aegean islands, Ottoman reforms of the eighteenth century encouraged the emergence of a Greek Orthodox land- and industry-owning aristocracy, who built rambling mansions and tower-houses, a few of which survive. More common are the bourgeois townhouses of the worthies in Mytilini town, built early in the twentieth century to French Second Empire models; many of these have often been pressed into service as government buildings or even restored as hotels. Social and economic idiosyncrasies persist: anyone who has attended one of the extended village paniyiria , with hours of music and tables in the streets groaning with food and drink, will not be surprised to learn that Lesvos has the highest alcoholism rate in Greece. Breeding livestock, especially horses, is disproportionately important, and traffic jams caused by mounts instead of parked cars are not unheard of - signs reading "Forbidden to Tether Animals Here" are still common, as are herds of apparently unattended donkeys wandering about. Much of the acreage in olives is still inaccessible to vehicles, and the harvest can only be hauled out by those donkeys - who are duly loaded en masse onto the back of trucks to be transported to the point where the road fizzles out. Historically, the olive plantations, ouzo distilleries, animal husbandry and fishing industry supported those who chose not to emigrate, but with these enterprises relatively stagnant, mass-market tourism has made visible inroads. However, it still accounts for just five percent of the local economy: there are still few large hotels outside the capital, Skala Kalloni or Molyvos; self-catering villas barely outnumber rooms, and the first official campsites only opened in 1990. Foreign tourist numbers have in fact levelled out since 1996, the result of stalled plans to expand the airport, unrealistic hotel pricing and the dropping of the island from several German and Dutch tour operators' programmes. Public buses tends to radiate out from the harbour for the benefit of working locals, not day-tripping tourists. Carrying out such excursions from Mytilini is next to impossible anyway, owing to the size of the island - about 70km by 45km at its widest points - and the last few appalling roads (most others have been improved, along with their signposting). Moreover, the topography is complicated by the two deeply indented gulfs of Kalloni and Yera, with no bridges across their mouths, which means that going from A to B involves an obligatory change of bus at either Mytilini, on the east shore, or the town of Kalloni, in the middle of the island. It's best to decide on a base and stay there for a few days, exploring its immediate surroundings on foot or by rented vehicle.
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