Mountains & Forests

On Lesvos there are two big mountains: Lepetymnos and Olympos. Lepetymnos is the highest of the two with 968 m. height. It covers the entire north side of the island and to a great extent, consists of rocky areas. It includes volcanic geotopes and ravines in its fringes where plane, chestnut, nut trees and ferns grow. In that area you will meet a combination of thick maquis shrubland, oak forest, garrigue and olive groves, as well as orchards. It is an important area for the reproducing and migratory birds of prey, but also for other smaller feathered visitors such as Masked Shrike, Cinereous Bunting and Ruppell’s Warbler. Many well signed hiking trails are found in the area, where besides the natural beauty of the landscape you will also meet chapels, old watermills and mountain picturesque settlements. 

Mount Olympos is at the south part of Lesvos with a height of about 967 m. Some of its peaks are Skoteino (914 m.), Psilokoudouno and Soroko. It is a limestone mountain and coved by calabrian pine and chestnut forests, some bluffs of black pine south of Skoteino peak and maquis. Plane trees, nut trees and poplars grow alongside the torrents, some planted and well grown firs together with chestnut and calabrian pine trees are met at the site of Sanatorio and finally olive groves that grow at an altitude of about 450 m. In the area there are cultures of various types of fruit-bearing trees such as cherry, apple, pear and peach trees. In mount Olympos in the mid May, you will have the opportunity to see one of the most beautiful orchids, Komper’s orchid (Himantoglossum comperianum), that grows in populations only here in Greece, or to locate the rare Krueper’s nuthatch, the small bird which in European ground lives and is reproduced only here, in Lesvos. The main rivers of Lesvos which spring from Olympos are the river Evergetoulas which flows in the Gulf of Gera, Vouvaris which flows in the Gulf of Kalloni and the torrent Sedoundas which, after crossing the village of Polmari, flows in the Aegean Sea. Olympos has many interesting hiking trails and is a popular destination for nature’s lovers from all over the world every year.