Límnos, Mirina

The later morning light picked out the castle and the town much more clearly; we wanted to get a closer look. BV was very settled at anchor so we inflated the dinghy to go ashore rather than wait to move onto the quay.

In ancient times Límnos was very significant because of its position close to the entrance to the Dardanelles. Halfway across this windy part of the Aegean it was an important stop-off point for trade ships bridging Europe and Asia Minor. The trade ships also facilitated the movement of skilled people and the island had a tradition of metalworking. Límnos also features in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. According to mythology the island’s women refused to worship Aphrodite because she was having numerous affairs with the other gods. As a result, Aphrodite inflicted ‘evil smells’ on the women of Límnos which caused their husbands to ignore them. The scorned women went on the rampage murdering all of the men on the island [Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!]. When Jason and his Argonauts discovered the island they found it full of frustrated women and apparently stayed for 2 years helping to repopulate it.

Mirina’s main shopping street      

The main Bronze Age city of Polyokhni, destroyed by an earthquake in 2100BC, and the Byzantine capital of the island, Hepaestia, are on the eastern side of the island. We hoped to visit the ruins but for our first day exploring Mirina was the priority. The town has a nice atmosphere. It has a main pedestrianised area running through it flanked by proper shops rather than tourist souvenir outlets. We passed several shops roasting nuts and coffee, the pleasant aromas adding to the atmosphere of the place. We quickly tracked down a shop selling excellent fresh fruit and vegetables, a large supermarket and a gas bottle shop. We didn’t need any gas but stocked up on fresh fruit and grabbed a couple of bottles of Límnos wine which we had read is well worth pulling the cork on.

The northwestern side of the town looks out over a pleasant beach and has some rather grand old Ottoman era mansions.

Mirina’s northern beach   

The northern beach area had a good view up to the castle and we resolved to climb up there in the morning. Having explored the town a little we returned to BV and spent a lazy afternoon relaxing after our overnight passage. Space did open up on the quay but we decided to stay at anchor.

Our castle guide    

In the relative cool of the morning we went ashore again, this time to visit the castle. The start of the wide path up to the castle is off the main shopping street and it initially wends its way through the edge of the town. Along the way a happy little dog decided to accompany us and led us all around the castle.

The short climb brought us up to the large entrance gates where we followed the road through the defensive killing area dominated by the high towers above us. Once inside the outer walls the size of the castle became apparent; it covers a huge area.

Barrack block and mosque   

The castle has seen many periods of construction with almost every conqueror of Límnos taking the opportunity to add to the fortification. The earliest walls are examples of Cyclopean (built by giants) polygonal masonry which suggests that there were fortifications here from pre-Bronze Age times. Though the current remains are primarily from the Ottoman era, construction of the ‘modern’ fortress dates from 1186, with additions by the Venetians in 1207-1214.

View down onto the town’s north beach   

In 1279 the island was taken over by the Byzantines and controlled by the Genoese Gattilusi family who made the castle layout what it is today. The castle’s buildings, however, are left over from the 1479-1912 Ottoman period. The last large-stage of repairs was after the 1770 siege during the Russo-Turkish War.

Gunpowder store   

Led by our faithful guide we walked all over the ruins. Our scramble up to the citadel on the peak was too steep for the dog but he worked his way around and met us on the other side.

Both at the citadel and stuck into some of the fortifications we saw the remains of marble columns. We’ve seen before how the stone from Bronze Age temples had been used in the subsequent construction of crusaders’ castles. Perhaps here too there had been an ancient temple.

Our faithful guide dog indicated that we’d seen everything by leading us back out through the main entrance. We followed him out and worked our way back down into the town. At which point our guide trotted off; not a bad service for just a bowl of water half way through the tour!

Back in town we checked e-mails, downloaded the latest forecast and bought some more food before returning to BV. In the afternoon we planned to move on from Mirina.

Límnos, Mirina, Greece