Mytilene

Mytilene is the capital of Lesvos. The town of Mytilini was first founded on the small island where the Enetic castle was later constructed.

Herodotus dates the foundation of the town, in his work ” Homer’s Life”, 130 years after the conquest of Troy, that is to say around 1053 a. C., if the conquest of Troy took place in 1183, as historians say. Mytilene reached her highest development around the 7th-6th century with the philosopher Pittakos and the poets Alkeos and Sapho. Mytilene got her name by one of Makaras’ daughters, the island’ s first colonist.

The Area of Mytilene consists of the villages Agia Marina, Taxiarches, Loutra, Panagiouda, Moria, Alyfanta, Afalonas, Pamphila and the city of Mytilene. It is about 188 miles from Piraeus and it has about 25000 inhabitants.

Impressive buildings of a neo-classic architecture, historical monuments, unique archaeological treasures, like the mosaic-works found at Menandros’ s House (exhibited now at the Archaeological Museum) and the natural hot springs compose a rich cultural context. In the centre of Mytilene we will find the Ministry of North Aegean, the Regional Administration of the North Aegean and the Central Administration of the University of the Aegean.

The construction operations of the waste treatment system, not only contribute to the improvement of the quality of the citizens’ life but they also contribute to the discovery of archaeological treasures found in the centre of Mytilini during the operations.

These archaeological treasures are exhibited either at modern museums or at specially equipped open – air spaces that are impressive and have a unique historical value.The town’ s foundations are extended over seven adjoining hills.

The centre of the town is divided into three main parts: Kioski, which is a very beautiful suburb, the central old neighbourhoods and the west neighbourhoods. The efforts of the authorities to reconstruct the centre of the town and to adapt the needs of the Municipality of Mytilene to the demands of the new century are remarkable. Kioski, the old aristocratic suburb of Mytilini where we can find the new Archaeological Museum, is not far away from the Enetic Castle.

The Castle was situated on the isolated, by the channel of Euripus, part of Mytilini and seemed like a small island. The channel of Euripus, along which there were a lot of bridges, had been uniting, in the past, the south port to the north port dividing, this way, Mytilini in two parts. At Kioski there are still authentic mansions of a traditional Lesbian architecture.

The main street that goes through Kioski leads to the north port, where we can see the shattered quay and other ruins of the past. In a small distance from there, there were found ancient ruins and the entrance of the channel that was mentioned above.

Important ruins of ancient and roman structures are also discovered in the north part of Mytilini.

Along the coast that starts from the Custom House (Teloneio), the visitor has the possibility to enjoy an interesting stroll, during which he will have the chance to admire the mansion, where the old Archaeological Museum is established, the beach that belongs to the Greek Touristic Organism (EOT), the small and clean beach, called ” t’ apeili”, and above that, on a small hill among the pine trees, the bust of Sapho, the poetess, worked out artistically and given to the Municipality of Mytilini by the American artist Erietta Fors.