Welcome to The Three Women of Mytilini walking tour!
With the theme of social change and political disruption, this tour guides you through some significant historical events and current issues experienced in Mytilini, Lesvos.
Starting at Sappho’s statue (our first and best known ‘woman’ of Mytilini) in Sappho Square, we travel northwards to the Asia Minor Mother statue (the second ‘woman’) and then finally back down to The Statue of Liberty (the third and final ‘woman’). Each statue has its own tale of important social and political events in the region’s history. Along the way we will encounter some other sites of historic interest, and find out more about activism and issues affecting Mytilini today.
This walk is a great way to learn much about Mytilini’s character while getting your bearings if you’re new in town, and alongside the history and culture, we’ll highlight some touristic hotspots – accessible beaches, restaurants, shops and bars.
On this page you can find more information about Mytilini followed by the information and outline of the walking tour itself. The following linked webpages give information regarding the specific statue sites and legs of the tour, in the order you will meet them.
About Mytilini
Mytilini Southern Waterfront
Lesvos is one of Greece’s 227 inhabited islands and is part of the Northeastern Aegean Island cluster (visitgreece.com, 2014). Mytilini is the capital of Lesvos, and home to most of its commercial industry. Despite Molyvos in the North boasting most mass tourism attractions relating to sun, sea and sand, Mytilini is undoubtedly the most cosmopolitan part of the island (lesvosgreece.gr, 2015a). Built around its beautiful southern harbor, Mytilini has plenty of bars, shops and restaurants alongside many magnificent cultural heritage sites such as Mytilini Castle and the domed church of Agios Therapon (pictured in photo above).
The full history of Lesvos and Mytilini is fascinating. The timeline shown below has been created specifically for this tour, and lists the all relevant historic events discussed within the tour from Ancient Greece through to present day in 2016.
Mytilini Southern Waterfront
The Walk Itself
The walk is 2.7 km long in total. Although you could do it in 35 minutes, we recommend you take half a day out to complete this tour, to give you plenty of time for rests, reflection, photography and a thorough exploration of the sites. The route triangulates three noteworthy statues in Mytilini – ‘The Three Women’-. Sappho, Asia Minor Mother and The Statue of Liberty. We recommend travelling in the direction suggested here so that you follow the chronology of the people/events the statues themselves represent, overall travelling from ancient to post-war times. Along the way however, the journey is interspersed with other sites from different periods.
Starting in Sappho Square, we give a brief history on Sappho’s life, her activism during Ancient Greek times, and her legacy, which is arguably still affecting social change today. Information is also given on the socio-political use of the square’s space in recent years. We then continue into the backstreets. Here we find [at the time of publication] copious amounts of politically charged graffiti reflecting the current social and political tensions that the Island of Lesvos, and Greece as a whole, is facing.
Once we arrive on the northern waterfront of Mytilini, straight across the main road stands the Asia Minor Mother. This memorial relates to the Asia Minor Catastrophe (1919-1922) , a time of forced immigration of many ethnically Greek families from the mainland of Asia Minor into Lesvos and the rest of Greece. It represents the social struggle and difficult repercussions of this mass social change. In this leg of the journey there are particular sites of interest pointed out en route and the option to visit the Castle of Mytilini (a great place to have a picnic if you decide to pack one!).
We next walk on to The Statue of Liberty which is a remembrance memorial to the Island’s heroes and victims during the Balkan, First World War, and Second World War. We reflect on Lesvos’ participation in these wars. The Statue of Liberty is also a vantage point, where we can see some hotspots of 2015-16 created by the current refugee crisis. Lesvos’ Lady Liberty is where we technically end our tour, but if you were to follow the map through the port it leads you back to the start, at Sappho Square, where you can rest your legs at one of the bars or restaurants perhaps.
The interactive map below highlights the route, stating at the point on the map labelled ‘Archipelligos’-which is the road where Sappho Square sits, then to ‘Navmachias Ellis’, before finally ending at ‘Agalma Tis Eleftherias’-Greek for Statue of Liberty. The path then continues on the map to take you back to Sappho Square.
For a printable copy of the map and exact directions follow the link here.
To take all the information here on the website with you on the walk, please click the following link for an easy print PDF: The Three Women of Mytilini Printing Format
References
Barnstone, W. (2009) The Complete Poems of Sappho. Boston: Shambhala.
greekcrisis.net (2016) The Greek crisis. Available at: http://www.greekcrisis.net/ (Accessed: 31 March 2016).
Keridis, D. (2009) Historical Dictionary of Modern Greece. United States: The Scarecrow Press.
lesvosgreece.gr (2015a) The city of Mytilene. Available at: http://www.lesvosgreece.gr/en/city-mytilene (Accessed: 31 March 2016).
lesvosgreece.gr (2015b) History & culture. Available at: http://www.lesvosgreece.gr/en/history-culture (Accessed: 31 March 2016).
visitgreece.net (2016) Greek Islands. Available at: http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/greek_islands (Accessed: 31 March 2016).
All Photos Taken by Site Owner, Unless Otherwise Stated in a Caption Under ‘Source’
The Three Women of Mytilini 