Municipality of Eressos – Antissa
Skala Eresou Beach
esides the towns of Eressos and Antissa, whose names come from the cities of ancient Lesbos, the Municipality of Eressos – Antissa also includes five other communities: Mesotopos, Vatoussa, Chydira, Sigri, and Pterounta. It occupies the most mountainous region of western Lesvos, which is dominated by bare rocky hills and a volcanic landscape – the result of the huge volcanic eruption that shook the island and the entire Aegean region in Prehistoric times. Traditionally an agricultural and herding area, it also contains some of the island’s major tourist destinations, including Skala Eressos and Sigri. The area is inundated with a rare yellow shrub, the rhododendron, which blooms in the spring and intoxicates you with its scent.
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agora and prytaneion (city hall), and, according to sources, temples dedicated to Apollo, Athena, Dionysus and Poseidon. The Eresii also minted their own coins. At Xokastro there are the ruins of an ancient city and at Vigla those of an Acropolis. These are the Archaic-period walls, a Genovese and a Turkish castle, a medieval fortress and a Roman cistern. Eressos is also the birthplace of Sappho (630 BC), the greatest lyric poet in the history of world poetry, and Theophrastus, the founding researcher of plants, rocks and ecology.
The Archeological Museum
The Archeological Museum displays Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic pottery and relief carvings, coins, engraved funerary stele and the anchor of a Turkish flagship that was blown up by Papanikolis in the Bay of ErEressos, Skala Eressos essos in 1821. The village of Eressos has been inhabited since the late Bronze Age and has interestSkala Eressos with its ing architectural features. In its center is the seaside settlement of Skala, Blue Flag with its spectacular sandy beach. A beautiful 4 kilometer-long road lined with mulberry trees and poplars takes you from the mountain village to its seaside A Brief History Ancient Eressos had a stadium, theatre, settlement, Skala Eressos (also called Yialos).
78 Lesvos Guide