Lesbos

Mytilene was founded in the 11th century BC on a small island just off the coast, later joined to Lesbos; a channel 700 metres long once linked its north and south harbours along the line of today's Ermou Street. In the 7th century BC it won the leadership of the island from Methymna, and its most famous citizens were the poets Sappho and Alcaeus and the statesman Pittacus. When the city revolted against Athens in 428 BC, the Athenian assembly voted to kill all its men, then changed its mind the next day; a fast trireme carried the reprieve, though a thousand rebels were executed. Aristotle lived here from 337 to 335 BC, and Rome took the city in 81 BC in a siege in which a young Julius Caesar served.

In 1355 the Byzantine emperor gave Lesbos to the Genoese Francesco Gattilusio, whose family rebuilt the castle and held it until Mehmed the Conqueror captured the city in 1462. Under the Ottomans Mytilene was considered the busiest Ottoman port in the Aegean, exporting olive oil, wheat, wine and soap, and its population grew five-fold. Greek forces took it in November 1912, during the First Balkan War. After 1922 the island's Muslims left in the population exchange and refugees from Asia Minor arrived, remembered by the Statue of the Asia Minor Mother in the town.

By 2015 Mytilene had become a main entry point for refugees and migrants heading for Europe, and over half a million people arrived on Lesbos that year. The Moria camp outside the town, once the largest in Europe, burned down in September 2020 and was closed; a new closed reception centre was planned at Vastria near Nees Kydonies.

Sappho is the island's emblem: her statue stands in Sappho Square on the harbour, and Eresos in the west, her traditional birthplace, has made Skala Eresou a destination for lesbian travellers since the 1980s. Longus set his novel Daphnis and Chloe in the countryside around Mytilene, and the island's later artistic names include the naive painter Theophilos, whose museum stands in Varia, and the publisher Tériade, a native of Mytilene who commissioned Picasso, Matisse and Chagall for his publications in Paris and whose museum opened in Varia in 1979.

Mytilene's streets show its layers. Neoclassical public buildings and mansions line the centre, the baroque church of Saint Therapon dominates the harbour, and the ruined Yeni Mosque and the Çarşı Hamam recall the Ottoman town. The Catholic church of the Theotokos keeps part of the relics of Saint Valentine.

Many island families trace their roots to the towns of the Anatolian coast across the strait, and ferries to Ayvalık keep the link alive. Ouzo is the island's drink and its pride: Lesbos is considered one of the places where it originated, and it is sold in every village coffee shop.

The municipal unit of Mytilene had 41,379 people in 2021, out of 83,755 on the whole island. The town is the capital of the North Aegean region, the seat of a metropolitan bishop, and the headquarters of the University of the Aegean, whose six schools here teach about 3,700 undergraduates. Students, government offices, the hospital, the courts and the port keep it busy all year.

The island's economy is essentially agricultural, and olive oil is its main source of income: eleven million olive trees cover 40 per cent of Lesbos. Fishing and the making of soap and ouzo follow, and tourism, encouraged by the airport and the coastal towns of Petra, Plomari, Molyvos and Eresos, contributes substantially. Mytilene also exports Kalloni sardines, olive oil, ladotyri cheese and woodwork.

Since 2019 the island has been divided into two municipalities, Mytilene and West Lesbos, with its seat at Kalloni. Life in the capital revolves around the harbour, Ermou Street and the squares, while the villages of the interior are quieter and older; the handling of migration remains a sensitive subject.

Ouzo, the dry anise-flavoured aperitif, is the island's signature, and Lesbos is considered one of the places where it originated. Plomari on the south coast is its home, with famous distilleries and two museums, the World of Ouzo and the Barbayannis Ouzo Museum. Alcohol is sold in every village coffee shop and in the bars by the wharf in Mytilene.

The classic partner is the sardine of the Bay of Kalloni, one of the island's exports, celebrated each July at a festival in Skala Kalloni where it is grilled and served with plenty of ouzo. Ladotyri Mytilinis, a hard table cheese of sheep's milk or sheep's and goat's milk preserved in extra virgin olive oil, has been made since ancient times and holds Protected Designation of Origin status. Olive oil from the island's groves runs through all its cooking, and the island's sweets are a speciality of their own.

In Mytilene, the bars near the ferry wharf are the place for an ouzo, and the market streets of the agora around Ermou Street, just behind the quay, are the centre for shopping.