THE ISLAND OF AGIOS EFSTRATIOS IN GREECE

No I have never been there, but the island is probably so insignificant I could not find a descent website about it. So I decided to make a little page about it myself. I once did fly over the Island of Agios Efstratios though :), which is a strange experience. It was so easily to be recognized, because all of the islands in its surrounding are green and covered with trees. Then when you fly over Agios Efstratios you see suddenly a grey rock with almost nothing growing on it. Apparently it only has low scrubs and a couple of oak trees growing on it, mostly in the folds of the hills. The island of Agios Efstratios is situated southwest of Limnos, has hardly any ferry-connections and is therefore seldom visited by tourists. It is named after a saint that was exiled to the island and died here. The island is 43 km2 large and has around 300 inhabitants. It was once used a a camp for political prisoners during the 1930's and it has never been populair. In a 1968 earthquake most of the houses were demolished and replaced by concrete prefabricated buildings laid out on militairy formation. They buldozed the only settlement on the island before that. This may all sound very unattractive, but the island is supposedly nice for making walks and it has some good beaches. I guess if you like it really quiet this island is an option. The sea around the island of Agios Efstratios and so most of the people here live from fishing. There are a couple of nice bays and churches on Agios Efstratios and there are ruins of a medieval wall. There are also a few remains from Roman and Byzantine times. The only settlement of the island is the main town Agios Efstratios itself. Here you find a pleasant beach, a couple of simple tavernes and some rooms for rent, but people also put up their tents on the beach. Supposedly free camping is allowed on the island. A bit further on the island there is a very nice sandy beach called Velia. Agios Efstratios has ferry connections with Lesbos, Samothrace, Agios Kostandinos and Kavala (mainland) and Kimi on Evia. Always check the schedules of the ferries if you want to be sure. The island has no real roads and there are no buses so you will have to walk to reach a destination

© Hans Huisman, https://www.angelfire.com/super2/greece/ 2013