The dawn finds me on the bow of the ship, looking far away the dark-green coasts of Lesvos, with the seagulls flying slowly in the sky…The harbor half-asleep moves slowly at the moment the anchor disturbs its entrails…Let me get down…to be in time before sun rises, to hear the waking of this town.

    Going uphill from the harbor, there I meet the statue of Liberty, surrounded by the tiny forest "The Tsamakia" - as the natives call it - and slightly upper the aristocratic neighborhood "Kioski" with the artistic mansions, well preserved, doubtless evidence of the past's welfare, days that never came back. The Archaeological Museum, the Judge House, the Ministry οf Aegean, overwhelmed with green and slightly lower the mansion of Chalim-bey, today the Public Gallery housing human works of art. 

    At the moment I go downhill towards the old harbor, "Epano Skala" the sun paints red the ancient breakwater " Kouckos", that in past linked sea with earth…The Castle with the huge stones and the artistic embrasures, the Turkish theological seminar and the blazon of Gateluzes, faithful guardian of old times and …a stone - built tower half sank into the crystal clear water…And then the statue of Asia Minor Mother, reflects to my soul its sorrow of the year 1922 as my eyes travel towards the opposite coasts…The memories suffocate me and the light keeps hardening….

    "Kalamari" site, the old flour-mills, with the siren that has stopped calling the laborers of the past with its stiff voice, "Therma Kourtzi" site afterwards with the faded stone-built walls, the  "Tambakaria" site and then passing by the factories longing for the sea : Panayiouda  with the hospitable small cafes and the stone-paved breakwater and Moria village with the numerous olive trees, the towers with the little wooden balconies - the "sachnisinia"- the Roman Aqueduct, Aphalonas and Pamphila village with the tiny stone paved streets. Pigi, Komi, Pyrgi Thermis with the stone built houses, the sandy beach of the area, Loutropolis, the fishers' port, the Monastery of Saint Raphael built on the green hill of Karyes - the abandoned - hotel Sarlitza Palace, the fishers' port, the stone built wind mill, Petalidi beach… 

    And the road keeps going on northwards, beside Aegean Sea, just one step from the opposite coasts … Mystegna with the tiny fishers' port, Nees Kydonies with the melon-fields, the beach of Aspropotamos and the settlement of Saint Stephan, the  settlement of "Tzoukalades" ( potters ) with the stone built church, the kilns and the cottages… You smell earth and sea …The islets of Tokmakia opposite and afterwards Mandamados with the Monastery of Archangel Michael. There I take a rest at the traditional cafes  accompanied by old people, drinking in the smell of fired clay, hot fresh milk and thyme…Upper : Kapi village, Limani beach, Pelopi, Ipsilometopo, Lepetymnos, Argenos, Tsonia, Skamea…There at the beach pilgrim at the church of Virgin Mary the Mermaid …as the sun says goodbye to the day…with light heart far away from the town's and the days' lack of symmetry

    Here I am, back to the harbor longing for walking on the narrow streets of Mytilene, inside the "sokakia" as the natives call them. The light is dimming as the sun sets and then I start wandering inside the stone-paved streets of Ermou. It is the moment that the shop-keepers close the shutters to end up to coffee-shops for a small measure of ouzo…

    I go uphill through the back-streets of the refugees' settlement with the stone-built houses, and at the moment I arrive on the top of Ayias Kyriakis hill, the town has already worn its festive lights. The ancient theater -swept around by gigantic pine-trees-travel me to the ancient Greek drama and elegy.

   I go downhill with melancholy towards south, passing by neighborhoods with white painted little gardens giving out the fragrance of flourished lemon-trees -the Kamares area- Lagada area with the lilacs, Alyssida, Vournazon street with the ambitious mansions, Kavetsou street with the modern multi-storeyed buildings, Venizelou street, Sourada the aristocratic  settlement with the luxurious mansions, weighed down with statues - made of stone or copper- fountains and colorful cobbled paths. 

    Afterwards : Akrotiri area beside the sea, Varea, the Museum of Popular Art of Theophilos painter, and the Museum of Modern Art, of Terriade, Kayiani village with the church of Archangel Gabriel, with the little coffee-shops and the narrow streets, Pligoni, Ayia Marina and then back beside the sea… The airport, Neapolis, the copse of Rousellis the donator, Kratigos, Vigla, Charamida, Ayios Ermogenis and Loutra village.

    I go downhill towards west ending up to Skala Loutron, to Kountouroudia, to have a rest at the small cafes, beside the greenish seawater, as I wait for the boat that will take me to the opposite coasts of Geras Gulf…