Driving in Lesvos to Polichnitos and Agiassos, and going off road

Because Lesvos Island was a big island, in fact the 3rd largest island in the Grecian archipelago, Dutchman and I decided to rent a car so that we can see farther areas. This was after a week of going around with the scooter.



Lesvos Map







Our holiday base is Anaxos located in the northern part of the island and we are going to Polichnitos and Agiassos.







Polichnitos



For this trip, we have decided to go to Polichnitos and Agiassos, and I was also hoping, Plomari, but that never came to fruition. Just before reaching Polichnitos we saw this abandoned (military) runway. Dutchman is fascinated with airplanes, he once was a spotter (mostly military aircraft), so we did a detour and inspected the runway. It was barricaded but what the heck, we will check it out =)



Dutchman said that the airport could have been used during the years when hostilities between Turkey and Greece were heightened. As you can see, Turkey is just a stone’s throw away. Both had a very turbulent relationship and past, let us just say that both nations are friendly with each other now but there is still work to be done.







In Polichtinos, we stopped to take our lunch. Dutchman and I are not big eaters, we usually eat light and healthy. We also share our food. And because of the heat, we always end up ordering the usual local refreshing Greek snacks suspects—Greek Salad and Greek Yoghurt to go with our lemon soda and water. In Greece you always get a basket or plate of bread. They gave us buttered garlic bread.



The Cafe Toulipa was a nice temporary oasis for us. It is located on the intersection of the village with an open terrace that has ivy crawling on its wooden trellis. A perfect retreat on a warm summer day since the foliage gives a cooling effect.









Nevertheless, Polichnitos town was almost dead! There were barely people walking on the streets, Maybe because it was sweltering hot, but anyway, we have decided to move on...













Off-the-beaten-path



We drove down to the beach and pondered if we should stop for a quick dip but decided to drive further until we reached the junction. There is an unpaved road going up the mountains, a short cut actually to Agiassos, and well before we knew it, the adventurous in us kicked in. We are going off road with our little car!



The off-the-beaten-path is a narrow gravel winding road in the mountains where we barely saw a soul during the entire drive. I watch too many CSI’s and Investigation Discovery episodes these days so being in the middle of the wilderness I cannot help but think of grisly stuff. Let’s not go in there, but you can imagine the torture going through in my head as we drove through this deserted part of the island.



It was a long slow drive of half an hour. Not a nice place to get a flat tire or problem with your motor. Here is a quick video:








As we drove on the gravel road passing by the lush vegetation of olive trees and pine trees, we never saw a single soul. A bit eerie.







Agiassos



Finally we reached the main road to Agiassos. In this part of Lesvos we noticed more pine trees than olive trees. I love it that the island is quite varied, not only in terrain but in vegetation as well.



Agiassos is one of the pretty places in Lesvos and I really wanted to see it, however when we were there we could not find parking. The village sits high up in the mountain and we will have to park somewhere before going up. A heated debate ensued in the car about going into the village or not.



Anyway, without going further into detail, we turned back the car to the direction of Anaxos, in the northern part of the island where we are staying. My heart was so heavy, but sometimes we just have to let certain things go.









The only 2 pictures of Agiassos that I took, taken from the entrance of the village. You can already see and feel that this village is going to be pretty, but, helaas...