Limnos Tourist Guide

Agia Sophia - See on Map

Since 1918 when the Municipalities and Communities had been established, Agia Sophia has always been a settlement of the community of Fisini.

Since 1918 when the Municipalities and Communities had been established, Agia Sophia has always been a settlement of the community of Fisini. Along with Skandali were the villages of Skala from the homonymous nearby medieval fortress and their inhabitants were called Skaliotes. Agia Sophia named after the homonymous church, which has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Tradition says that the original settlement was situated western, at the site Paliomantra near Moudros Bay, where there are ruins, an old cemetery and the church of Agios Nicolaos.

The relocation took place by common decision, after a pirate raid from Psarians during a wedding. Rather it is the raid that Sathas said that became "in Mountros and the nearest parts of his" shortly after Orlofika. The residents lifted even the stones of the old houses whitch they used to built the new ones. Although there was no water, they preferred the site Kalivia Agiasofias, as it was called by then, because it was safer. The original inhabitants were about 35 people. The rest of them, chose to settle in the village Skandali because it was closer to their properties. In two locations around the village we can see ruins of medieval facilities. Parthenomtos, west of the village, from where the residents moved in Skandali and Agiomarnos and east of the village, close to the coast, where besides the ruins of old houses we can see a ruined church. This is Agios Marinos, a church which is mentioned in 1355 in a document of the monastery of Lavra. Marble columns have been found there, while there is a chapel of Agia Marina and a deserted chapel of Saints Constantinos and Helen.

In the region of the village also belongs Paradisi hill (286 m) which dominates in southeastern Limnos. Fossilized tree trunks have been found on its slopes and there are pastures and big areas with bees while rabbits and partridges are abundant. That is why a large part of Agia Sophia has been declared as a protected zone for the fauna.