Lésvos: Way out west

The northwest quarter of Lésvos is dramatic, volcanic and noticeably less humid. Despite its barren appearance, it is brimming with unusual wild herbs and birdlife: rose-coloured starlings, bee eaters, hoopoes and pairs of golden orioles.

Until modern times it was the home of wild horses – some believe they may be the last link with the horse-breeding culture of the Troad in the late Bronze Age, mentioned in the Iliad. Skalachóri once exported oak from the port Kaló Limáni, recalling a time when the forests were thick here.

The volcanic soil to the enabled one of Greece’s rarest grapes, Chidiriotiko, to survive the phylloxera epidemic, and in 1985 it was revived at the Methymnaeos in Chídira, which since 1985 has been making their distinctive organic PGI wines—a dry white, red and orange, with a distinctive orange colour and flavour. The winery is open for free visits in August until 20 September, daily except Monday 10am-2pm.

Ancient Ántissa