Limnos Tourist Guide

Moudros

The area in Moudros was inhabited since prehistoric times. The name Moudros is of unknown origin. The most probable considered the version that emerged because of a granite rock from solidified lava that existed near the port and it was where the sailors were lashing their ships.

The Church of Taxiarches was built in 1835. It is a three-ailed with a subsequent exonarthex and the wooden temple is a replica of the temple of a church in Smyrni. The church of the Evangelistria was built in 1903-1904. It is three-ailed basilica with towers on the bell tower and has impressive architectural elements. The epitaph is a gift from admiral Kountouriotis. On the site where the temple was built, formerly there was the dependency of Agia Marina of Koutloumousiou of which the Holy Table and some buildings are saved. The dependency had a tragic ending. The Turks burned it down with seven monks, when in a well of the dependency they found dead some Turkish officers. Only two monks survived, who fled to Koutloumousi and denounced that the Turks had been killed by local residents, in order to incriminate the monks, the dependency to be and to take ownership its fields. Then the abbot excommunicated the village, which was solved solemnly just a few years ago.

In 1912 Moudros became well known throughout Greece, when admiral Koudouriotis rendered it as a base of operations of the fleet during the Balkan Wars. During the First World War experienced great traffic, since it was the seat of the English military administration. In the nearby hills towards Koukonisi and Fanaraki tens of thousands of soldiers encamped. The port was converted into a naval station in order to serve the allied fleet who anchored in the bay. The southern beach, the so-called "Airport" formed as a landing site for seaplanes. Hundreds of dead soldiers from the Gallipoli expedition, mostly Australians and New Zealanders, were buried in the British cemetery, which is maintained until today. In 1918 the village gained worldwide fame when the "Treaty of Moudros' between Turkey and the allies was signed there. After the war, for a time, t Moudros became a place of exile. In "Cantata for Makronisos" Ritsos refers to "our dog Dick, of Moudros group, who was killed by the gendarmes because the loved the exiles very much ."

Roussopouli

The village named after the Byzantine landowner Rosopoulos or Roussopoulos. According to the tradition, the village was originally built northeast of the current site near Chortarolimni, close to the sea, but the residents abandoned it out of fear of piracy and moved it behind the hill Korakas.

Remnants of old temples exist at various points in the rural area of Roussopouli which is a proof of earliest habitation. Most features are the remains of Agioklapsou (Agios Climis), where you can see fragments of marble columns, proof of the existence of a Byzantine church.

Kaminia

According to the tradition, the village was initially located at the beach of Vroskopos, where Byzantine cemeteries have been found. The village's name came from the existence of kilns in which either the people manufactured clay pots or melted metals. During the decade of 1920-1930 excavations were started which revealed the prehistoric city Poliochni. In the area of Kaminia there are many attractions of particular importance. You can visit there the carved Pelasgian tombs, the "Column of Kaminion" the church of Koimisi tis Theotokou which was built in 1852, the old fountain and theTurkish inscription, the bust of the author Argyriou Moschidis and the stone paved square.

In Kaminia there are many old chapels. Specifically, Agios Alexandros of Sokastro (1930), Agios Alexandros of Ancona (1911), Agios Alexandros of Merpia (before 1900), Agia Barbara (before 1917), Agios Vlassis (before 1900), Agios Georgios of Vroskopos, Agios Georgios of the Harbour (1882), Agios Ioannis of Mesarachi (1873), Agios Ioannis of Kaminia (1881), Agios Dimitrios (1884), Agios Nicholaos (1861), Kato Panagia (1916), Agia Paraskevi (before 1900), Agia Pelagia (1878), Agios Stratis (1899).

Very beautiful beaches in the area are Xespasmata, Molos and Kokkinovrachos / Agia Triada.

Μετά την περιήγηση σας στο χωριό και την ιστορία του, θα καθίσετε στην ταβέρνα της πλατείας, που λειτουργεί όλο το χρόνο, και θα απολαύσετε ντόπια κρέατα, εκλεκτούς μεζέδες, λημνιά φάβα και ζαρζαβατικά από το περιβόλι του ιδιοκτήτη. Αν βρεθείτε στα Καμίνια δεκαπενταύγουστο, οι ντόπιοι στήνουν τρικούβερτο γλέντι, που δεν πρέπει να χάσετε.

Agia Sophia

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.

Scandali

The village is first mentioned as one of the 25 settlements of Limnos which constituted a Patriarchal Exarchy in 1321. According to the tradition, the village was built by Abbot Scandalios of a nearby monastery. Another tradition says that a foreigner who settled in the area, scandalously managed with fraud and intrigues to become the lord of the place and the people called him Scandali. Then, the village was a thousand meters to the west, in the site Drys where today we are able to see ruins and the church of Agios Konstantinos. When an earthquake destroyed the old village, Scandalis pioneered its transportation to its present location, that’s why the new village named after him. We can see that both traditions converge on that village's name came from the name of its founder.

There are four churches in the village with protector Saint, Agios Nicolaos which was built around 1880. The village has a healthy climate and abundant water, so that the cavalry of the allies settled in the fertile plain which stretches to the south during the First World War. There are still huge water tanks which were built for storing water.

Fisini

In the local dialect but also in Community documents of the 19th century the village was referred as Visin (1856) Fsin or Psin (it), and the inhabitants with anagram: Sfnades. So the feminine type was prevailed: Fisini which was attributed to the verb blow because in the area "f'sa, sfniz ' means raises tornado (cyclones).

We can still see today the ruins of the fort Skala near the village Fisini in the area called "Towers." Skala was a medieval fortress of Limnos. It is not known when the church of the village, Agios Ioannis was built, but it is similar with others of the 19th century. It was a three storey fort, but after the earthquake of 1968 it was considered risky and one floor was removed with great difficulty because the grouting of the stone was done by lead.

During the Byzantine period, protector of Llmnos was Agios Alexandros, whose relic was kept in Limnos until 1308. But then, in a pirate raid His relic was stolen and transferred to Venice. Since then, the memoralization of Agios Alexandros as the protector of Limnos gradually weakened. Many twists and tragic events occurred on the island, such as pirate raids, strifes of imperial families for the control of the island, invasions of Franks and Byzantines who succeeded one another, the Venetian period after the fall of Constantinople and finally the Ottomans in 1479. All these changes have led old habits to be forgotten. The island began to recover from poverty and illiteracy from the mid-18th century. Merchants and sailors of Limnos came into contact with Europe, Russia and Egypt. They acquired wealth and began to rebuild their old humble and often ruined temples of their villages. The ship masters who sailed in Constantinople, Smyrna and Alexandria and in the ports of the Aegean and the Black Sea. On their way to the Dardanelles they were gazing their island from afar. A chapel, which was long been in the northeast coast of Limnos, was giving them courage and strength to continue the battle with the sea. It is the temple of Agios Sozon, which is located near Fisini. The sailors considered Agios Sozon as their savior because once he saved the castaways by turning his cloak into a boat. Similarly the inhabitants of the island who were waiting for their relatives to return from the sea, they were praying to the Saint to bring them back healthy. So for Limnos naval profession and for their families, Agios Sozon gradually became the protector saint, at the feast of which they had to go every year on Sept. 7th. Towards the end of the 19th century he is honored as the patron Saint of Limnos.