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MYRINA (Kastro), the capital and port on the west coast, has the atmosphere of a provincial market town rather than of a resort. With about five thousand inhabitants, it's pleasantly low-key, if not especially picturesque, apart from a core neighbourhood of old stone houses dating from the Ottoman occupation, and the ornate Neoclassical mansions at Romeikos Yialos. Few explicitly Turkish monuments have survived, though a fountain at the harbour end of Kydha retains its calligraphic inscription and is still highly prized for its drinking water. Most other things of interest line Kydha/Karatza, the main shopping street stretching from the harbour to Romeikos Yialos, the beach and esplanade to the north of the castle, or Garoufalidhou, its perpendicular offshoot, roughly halfway along. The originally Byzantine castle (access unrestricted), on a headland between the ferry dock and Romeikos Yialos, is quite ruined despite later additions by the Genoese and Ottomans, but warrants a climb at sunset for views over the town, the entire west coast and - in exceptional conditions - over to Mount Athos, 35 nautical miles west (which can also be glimpsed from any suitable height east of town). The Archeological Museum (daily 8am-7pm; ?1) occupies an Ottoman mansion behind Romeikos Yialos, not far from the site of Bronze Age Myrina in the suburb of Riha Nera. Finds are assiduously labelled in Greek, Italian and English, and the entire premises are exemplary in terms of presentation - the obvious drawback being that many of the best items have been spirited away to Athens, leaving a collection that's essentially of specialist interest. The south ground-floor gallery is mainly devoted to pottery from Polyokhni (Polychni); the north wing contains more of the same, plus items from ancient Myrina; upstairs features galleries of post-Bronze Age artefacts from Kavirio (Kabireio) and Ifestia (Hephaestia). The star upper-storey exhibits are votive lamps in the shape of sirens, found in an Archaic sanctuary at Hephaestia, much imitated in modern local jewellery. Rather less vicious than Homer's creatures, they are identified more invitingly as the "muses of the underworld, creatures of superhuman wisdom, incarnations of nostalgia for paradise". Another entire room is devoted to metalwork, of which the most impressive items are gold jewellery and bronze objects, both practical (cheese graters, door-knockers) and whimsical-naturalistic (a snail, a vulture).
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