Leros

Leros (Greek: Λέρος; Italian: Lèro) is a Greek island in the Dodecanese, in the southern Aegean Sea.

Leros, the island of Artemis (Goddess of the hunt) is a beautiful, friendly island 171 nautical miles (317 km) from the mainland port city of Piraeus (45 min flight to Leros airport (IATA code: LRS), from Athens or 11 hour ferry ride from the port city of Pireaus); an island of 53 square kilometres having a coastline of 71 km. A member of the Dodecanese archipelago, Leros has a population of 8,500 although this figure swells to over 15,000 during the summer peak. It is home to the fabulous Panagia Castle as well as two ancient fortifications.Very near to Leros is Patmos, Lipsi, Kalymnos and the small islands of Agia Kyriaki, Farmakos, Marathi island Aspronisia and Pigianousa.

Leros: the village of Panteli

History

Antiquity

According to Homer, Leros took part in the Trojan war under its leaders Antifos and Feidotos, grandchildren of Hercules. Thucydides stressed the special importance of the bays and the harbours of Leros during the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 B.C.), where Leros supported the democratic Athenians. After the end of the war Leros came under the sovereignty of the Spartans. It then followed the fate of the rest of the Dodecanese Islands during the years of Alexander the Great and his successors, the Roman years and the Byzantine period.

On his campaign east, Alexander the Great passed through Leros as evidenced by the funerary steles and coins from that period found on the island. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, Leros joined the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Middle Ages and the Ottoman Period

During the Byzantine Age, the island was incorporated into the Theme of Samos. During the thirteen century, the island was occupied by the Genoese and then by the Venetians. In the year 1309, the Knights of St John seized and fortified Leros. In 1505 the Ottoman Admiral Kemal Reis, with three galleys and other seventeen warships, besieged the castle but could not capture it. The operation was repeated in 1508 with more ships, but again nothing was achieved. Legend has it that then the island was rescued by the only surviving knight, barely 18 years old. He dressed women and children with the armor of the dead defenders, convincing the Ottomans that the garrison of Leros was still strong. Finally, on 24 December 1522, following the siege of Rhodes, a treaty was signed between Sultan Suleiman and the Grand Master of the Knights, Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, and Leros, along with all the Aegean possessions of the Order, passed into Ottoman hands.

During the Ottoman occupation Leros, along with the other islands, enjoyed a privileged regime, with partial autonomy and self–government. During the Greek revolution of 1821, the island was liberated and became an important base for the re-supplying of the Greek Navy. Administratively, it came under the jurisdiction of the Temporary Committee of the Eastern Sporades.

With the Treaty of London, on 3 February 1830, however, which determined the borders of the newly–established Greek state, the freed islands of the Eastern Sporades were given over to Turkey again. In the "Diary of the Prefecture of the Archipelago" of 1886, Leros, along with the islands of Patmos, Lipsos and Fournoi, belonged to the Turks. The island's administrative council was made up of both Greeks and Turks.

The Italian Period

In 1912, during the Lybian War against the Ottoman Empire, the Italians occupied all of the Dodecanese islands (except Kastelorizo). On May 12, 1912 the island was seized by the sailors of the Italian Navy cruiser "San Giorgio". The Greek inhabitants of the islands declared the autonomy of the islands under the title "The Aegean State", with the aim of unification with Greece, but with the outbreak of the First World War, these moves came to nothing, and the Italians retained control of the islands.

From 1916 to 1918, the British used Leros as a naval base. In the Venizelos-Tittoni Agreement of 1919, the island was to be returned to Greece, along with all of the Dodecanese except Rhodes, but after the Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War the Italians canceled the agreement. As a result, the Treaty of Lausanne confirmed the Italian possession of Leros and the Dodecanese.

The new Italian Fascist regime actively attempted to "Italianise" the Dodecanese, by making the Italian language compulsory, giving incentives to locals to adopt the Italian nationality, and clamping down on Greek institutions. In the 1930s a new model town, Portolago, was built by the Italian authorities. It is one of the best examples of Italian Rationalist architecture. The Greeks later renamed it Lakki.

During the 31 years that the Italians remained in Leros, they set up a great plan to build and fortify the island, since its strategic position and its large natural harbours (the largest of which, Lakki, is the largest deep water harbour in the Mediterranean Sea), made it an ideal naval base. The fortification of Leros and the creation of a major naval base at Lakki, ensured that the Italians had control over an area of vital interest to the Allies (the Aegean, the Dardanelles and the Near East). Mussolini, who called Leros "the Corregidor of the Mediterranean", saw the island as a crucial base for the Italian domination of the eastern Aegean Sea, and even built a mansion for himself in the town of Portolago.

World War Two

Main article: Battle of Leros

In 1940 as Italy was on the side of Germany, Leros suffered attacks and bombing by the British Royal Air Force. As a result of the naturally protected coves and the protection they provided to warships, the island was the second most bombed during World War Two (after Crete). On 8 September 1943, as Italy could not continue the war on the German side, it signed an armistice and came over to the Allied camp. After the Italian armistice, British reinforcements arrived on Leros and the island suffered continuous German bombing. One of the largest attacks was on the Greek Navy's flagship, the Queen Olga, sunk by German bombers on Sunday September 26 1943. The British Royal Navy ship, HMS Intrepid, was also sunk on that day in Portolago. The island of Leros was recaptured by German troops during operation Taifun in airborne and amphibious assaults in November 1943. The forces involved were paratroop units and a battalion from the elite Division Brandenburg.

Contemporary History

On the 7 March 1948, Leros as with all the Dodecanese, was reunited with the rest of Greece. After approximately 400 years the Dodecanese became officially Greek once more. During the post-war years the Greek governments used many buildings in Leros for various reasons. In 1959 the mental hospital of Leros was founded, whose original primitive conditions have been improved to such an extent that today it is considered a model for the reformation of psychiatric care in the whole of Greece.

File:Agia Marina.JPG

Port of Agia Marina

Tourist Highlights

Leros has a number of charming small towns and beaches.

Agia Marina has a number of bars, nightclubs and restaurants, all located in a strip which overlooks Alinda Bay. They include Meltemi Bar, Apothiki (Warehouse) Nightclub, Music House and the 24 hour cafe/restaurant, Glaros (The Seagull). Further down the road in Broutsi you will find the famous Faros Bar, a bar built into a cave underneath the old lighthouse. The bar has an outdoor area which has a platform on the water, overlooking the entry to Alinda Bay and a breakwater.

Pandeli is also a well known area, littered with wonderful restaurants like Psaropoula, Zorbas, Patimenos and Drosia which are perched right on the water's edge. At one end of Pandeli Bay sits the famous Savana Bar, run by two Englishmen, Peter and Simon. The bar is well known for its Scandinavian barflies, "Aussie" breakfasts and multitudes of tourists who take advantage of the bar's location next to the pier after they moor their yachts in the harbour during a Leros stopover. At the other end sits the new Cafeteria and Bar Castelo build in a more sophisticated style that attracts mostly the Greek locals. Vromolithos is one of the best beaches on Leros ,just a few minutes walk from Pandeli For those interested in the 2nd World War, visit the Commonwealth Cemetery at Krithoni, the new War Museum SW of Lakki and the Bellenis Tower in Krithoni. The island is scattered with old shell cases and other remnants of the battle in November, 1943. During the summer don't miss the opportunity to visit the neighbouring small islands of Marathi, Arkioi, Lipsi, Aspronisia on daily excursions with "Barbarossa"

In September 2005 the Leros war museum was opened in Merkia, near Lakki. The museum is inside an old tunnel made by the Italians during the Second World War. It looks like the Dover war museum though on a tiny scale. There are several items from the battle of Leros including: guns, helmets, bombs, uniforms and many photos.

Travel Information

Leros has an Airport at Partheni that connects daily the island with Athens. There are also ferry connections to and from Athens and the other islands of the Dodecanese. The Catamaran Dodekanissos Express (all year) and the Hydrofoils (only during the summer) connecting Leros with the most of the Dodecanese islands. For those who want to visit Leros the alternative way to Ferry travel (8-10 hours) is to fly to Athens and then fly to Leros with domestic flight or fly direct to Kos and then to Leros by boat (1 - 2 hours).

Leros traditional Music

Many local songs of Leros are among the most famous among the traditional Music of Greece,some of those songs includes (Pote tha'nixoume pania)(Mes tou Aegeou ta Nisia ) and (proutzos)

See also

• List of islands of Greece

External links

• Leros
• Leros explained
• Leros ,guide for visitors
• Traditional Songs of Leros
• the oldest restaurant of Leros
• Leros Marina
• The Battle of Leros
• Leros restaurant Drosia at Panteli beach
• Leros rent a car

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