Cycladia Travel Guides

Limnos has several churches and quite a few chapels. Very often, beaches on the island are named after the homonym chapel situated right above the coast.

Limnos has several churches and quite a few chapels. Very often, beaches on the island are named after the homonym chapel situated right above the coast.

Among the churches worth visiting is the imposing Metropolitan church of the island, devoted to Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) in Myrina, the church of Evangelistria in Moudros, which was built in 1904 and hosts documents dating back to WW I, Saint Sozon in Fysini in a gorgeous landscape, Saint Paraskevi in Thanos, with five magnificent arcs, Saint George in Atsiki with its unique stone-sculptured steeple, and Saint Melitini or Saint Meltina in Kallithea.

Some of the chapels worth visiting are Panagia Kakkaviotissa in Thanous, which is nested in an isolated cave on top of a mountain, Saint Ermolaos next to the homonymous beach, Saint Marinos or Saint Marnos in eastern Limnos (close to the village of Agia Sophia), Saint Barbara in Gomati, Saint Nikolaos in Rosopoulo, Saint John in western Limnos next to Ai Giannis beach and Saint Anargyroi in Fysini. All chapels are extremely graphic with white and light blue being the dominant colours.
Today, there are no monasteries in Limnos although there used to be quite a few.

Limnos long history explains why its most visited museum is the Archaeological Museum situated in Myrina. In this beautiful neoclassical building, visitors will see prehistoric findings, findings from the Roman era, as well as objects of the Hellenistic Era, coming from Poliochni, Hephaesteia and Kaveirio. For more information: Tel.: +30 22540 22990

The Folklore Museum of Limnos is located in Portianou village and represents the everyday life on the island through objects, tools and traditional clothes. In the museum, there is the armchair of Winston Churchill who used Portianou as his base. For more information: Tel.: +30 22540 51785

The Ecclesiastical Museum of Limnos is situated very close to the island’s Metropolitan Church and hosts Orthodox images, documents and ecclesiastical objects. For more information: Tel.: +30 22540 22474

The Museum of Marine Tradition and Sponge established in 2006 in Nea Koutali is a very interesting museum that presents how sponges were taken from the bottom of Limnos’ sea and were turned into useful objects. As in many other Greek islands, there are no longer sponge divers in Limnos. The museum also hosts objects of archaeological interest that were drawn from the sea bottom, as well as pictures and relics from the life of the Nea Koutali inhabitants when they used to live in Asia Minor. Tel.: +30 22540 92383

The Gallery of Contemporary Balkan Art in the village of Kondias is a venue that hosts art exhibitions (painting, photography) and artistic events (concerts, dance shows, book presentations, etc.) especially during spring and summer.

Christodoulideio Megaro in Myrina is a fantastic spacious neoclassical mansion that was turned into a gallery and hosts art exhibitions and interesting events. Information is available by the municipality of Limnos (Tel.: +30 22543 50000)

Apart from the island’s capital, Myrina, which is a charming big village with neoclassical houses, shops, a beautiful port, an impressive castle and two distinctive suburbs (the Roman and the Ottoman suburb), Limnos has 32 villages. Some of them have very interesting architecture, like Kondias in the southwest with its stone-built houses and its gorgeous wind mills, or Kornos (6 km from Myrina) with its neoclassical houses and its narrow streets. In Romanou in eastern Limnos, visitors will be amazed by the plethora of big jars that are half-buried and are used to store wine and oil.

In Therma, close to Myrina, there are thermal spas where the water temperature is between 39°C and 43°C. Platy is a coastal village turning into a popular holidays resort. Moudros, the second biggest settlement of the island, is a beautiful village with lovely red-roof houses and amazing beaches nearby.

Plaka in the northeast could be called “the white village”, since all houses and the village’s church are white; and Kaspakas is a traditional mountainous village with paved narrow streets and houses with tall windows of typical North Aegean architecture.

Limnos has amazing archaeological sites; Poliochni is not only a remarkable archaeological site of Limnos; it is among the most important archaeological sites of Southern Europe. Here, seven cities were consecutively built one on top of the other between 4000 B.C. and 1500 B.C. Poliochni’s parliament proves that democracy existed in Greece in many areas apart from Athens and this is the oldest parliament discovered so far in the world!

Hephaesteia was the second city of Limnos in the Ancient, Roman and Byzantine Eras (1000 B.C. until 1200 A.D.) and it comprised of houses, a palace, spa sites, and temples. The ancient theatre of Hephaesteia is really impressive and it is used nowadays as the venue of several artistic events.

Very close to Hephaesteia, there is the ancient Sanctuary of Kaviria, where celebrations were organized in honour of Kaviri (deities that were considered to be sons of Hephaestus). Right below the Sanctuary of Kaviria, there is the Cave of Filoktitis, who lived in this cave for 10-12 years after he was bit by a snake when the Greek fleet stopped in Limnos on its way to Troy. Filoktitis left the island and joined the rest of the army in the Trojan War after an oracle suggesting that only the invincible bow of Hercules could help win the Trojan War; and this bow was in the possession of Filoktitis. The Cave is very impressive and it is worth swimming in it!

Finally, in Myrina there is the Ancient Myrina (ruins of the Myrina town in the 3rd and 4th Milleniums B.C.) and the Sanctuary of Artemis in the hotel Porto Myrina Palace.

Apart from its archaeological sites, Limnos has many other attractions; the Myrina Castle, built in 1186, awaits visitors to explore its administration buildings, its tank complexes and its galleries, as well as to admire more than 100 deer that wander around.

Limnos’ Desert, also called Pahies Ammoudies, is the only dessert in Europe, situated close to Katalakkos, and occupies about 70 acres of land. These dunes are certainly worth a visit!

The island’s Petrified Forest may be small and not well organized, but it is in the area of Moudros which mandatory to visit anyway. Some petrified trees are also exhibited in the Municipality of Limnos.

Aliki and Hortarolimni in Eastern Limnos create a wetland of amazing beauty; the former is a salty lagoon, whereas the latter is a brackish marsh. In between them, there is Asprolimni, a smaller lake. Visitors may admire the natural beauty and the 250 species of birds, among which the fabulous pink flamingos.