1 Night 2 Days Mytilene Travel Route

Lesbos is one of the beautiful islands of Greece, just across Ayvalık, in the North Aegean, easy to reach from Istanbul. So, we set out to leave Istanbul for a weekend and visit Lesbos. Although it was short, it was very good. 1 night 2 days Mytilene itinerary waiting for you in this article.

If you have more time to visit Mytilene Things to do in Lesvos You can take a look at my post.

What You Will Find In This Article

Transportation from Istanbul to Ayvalık

The first part of our journey was to reach Ayvalık from Istanbul. You can come from Istanbul with your own car or you can go to Ayvalık by bus. We chose the bus option as we did not want to drive at night. Our bus, which departed from Istanbul Alibeyköy at 22:30 in the evening, reached Ayvalık bus station at 05:30. You can also come with the next bus, we came a little early.

Minibuses go from Ayvalık bus station to Ayvalık Port. They start working at 06:00 in the morning. We got on the minibus and reached the port. The minibus travels a bit too much, although the distance is short, the journey can take up to half an hour, so plan accordingly.

You can also take a taxi from the bus station to the port.

Transportation from Ayvalık to Mytilene

When it comes to Ayvalık Port, there are offices of Turyol and Jalem Tur companies just opposite. You can buy your ticket from these offices or online. The Turyol ferry is by car, while Jalem Tur only takes passengers. You can go to Lesbos from Ayvalık by ferry, with your own vehicle or on foot.

Your ferry ticket; turyolonline.com You can pick it up from the Ayvalık Port office. Single ticket costs 20€ one way, 30€ round trip. You can check Turyolonline.com for other prices.

After completing your ticket, you need to come to the port and pay your departure fee of 2022 TL for 150, which is valid for Turkish citizens, and 15 TL for individuals, your port tax.

To go to Lesbos; You must have a valid passport and Schengen visa. If you have a green passport, you can go without a visa. The door visa application, which is valid until 2019, is unfortunately not available at the moment.

You can travel indoors inside the ferry or outdoors on the top floor. The journey by car ferry takes approximately 1,5 hours. Ferry from Ayvalık at 09:00; It departs from Lesbos at 18:00 in the evening.

To get more details How to go to Mytilene? You can take a look at my post.

Transportation in Mytilene

We went to Lesbos, but how will we travel on the island when we go?

Renting a car or motorcycle is the easiest but most expensive way to tour the island. I rented a scooter from Golden Sun company on my first visit to Lesbos, and rented a car from Discovery company on my second visit. In 2019, I paid 4 Euros for scooter rental for 70 days and 2022 Euros for 2 days car rental in 100.
You can come to the island with your own vehicle by Turyol ferry from Ayvalık, so you can visit the island comfortably.
Another way to visit the island is to use public transport. Intercity buses do exist, although they are not very frequent. You can check the hours and prices on the KTEL LESVOS website. For example, there are 3 buses a day from Mitilini to Molivos on weekdays, and 2 buses on weekends, the price of which is 6,90 €.
The last option is to join the tours from Ayvalık. You can check tour options and prices on the Turyol website.

The tour route of Midilli for 09 night and 00 days, which we set off from Ayvalık with the ferry at 18:00 in the morning and return with the ferry at 1:2 the next day, is given below in details.

Day 1 Route

Our choice to tour the island was to rent a car. We set off with the car we rented from the ferry and started to move towards the north of the island.

Sarlitza (Sarlica) Palace

Sarlitza Palace — Sarlitza (Sarlica) Palace

Our first stop is the abandoned hotel located at the exit of Thermi Town, famous for its hot springs. Sarlitza (Sarlica) Palace it happened. Located only 11 km from the city of Mitilini, where we got off the ferry, the hotel was a luxury spa hotel during and after the Ottoman Period, and was closed and abandoned during the economic crisis in Greece. I'm sure it was very beautiful with the view overlooking the Thermi harbor. Remains of a Temple of Artemis and a bath from the Roman Period were also found in Thermi Town. This region has been used as a spa throughout history.

Mantamados Village & Taksiyarhis Monastery

After Sarlıca Hotel, we continue a little inland from the seaside and go to Mantamados, the village of Lesbos, famous for its milk and dairy products. The village is 35 km from Mitilini. The square of the village, which takes its name from the "Manda", and the cafes around it are very cute. You can buy cheese or yogurt from the dairy here. The right address to eat yogurt with honey, which is very popular on the island. The Church of St. Vasili in the square beautifies the square with its bell tower.

The main reason why Mantamados is famous is the Taksiyarhis Monastery. This place is famous for hosting the only icon in the world made with human blood. He has a sad story. In the 10th century, the island was frequently attacked by pirates. The priests built their monasteries on a hill far from the sea to be protected from pirate attacks, but they could not escape from the pirates. One night, pirates raided the monastery and killed 39 priests, and the only surviving priest made the icon of Archangel Michael using earth and candles soaked in the blood of other priests after the pirates left. Taksiyarhis Church has a special place for Christians as it is accepted as the center of 140 churches dedicated to Archangel Michael in the world.

Scale Sikaminia

Sikaminia, the birthplace of Nobel Prize-winning writer, journalist and scientist Stratis Myrivilis, is a village built on a steep hillside, attracting attention with its stone houses and cobblestone pavements. Sikaminia got its name from the mulberry trees in the village. The Folklore Museum in the village is among the places you can visit.

Many settlements on Lesbos are divided into two, on the hill and on the coast. If Skala is written in front of the village names, know that it is the coastal part of the village. Like our up/down. The coastal part of the village of Sikaminia is Skala Sikaminia. Mitilini is 49 km from the center and can be reached by a steeply descending road of approximately 4 km from the upper village. There are stone houses on the beach, a small harbor with fishing boats and a small chapel built on a rock.

This beautiful village, which inspired Stratis Myrivilis' book "Panagia Gorgona" (Mermaid Madonna), is also famous for its restaurants on the beach. There are two fish restaurants next to each other; one is Mouria tou Myrivili (Under the Mulberry Tree) and the other is Anemoessa. I tried both, the food is delicious in both, the prices are the same as the rest of the island. I especially recommend the stuffed sardines, octopus and fried zucchini flowers.

Molivos

Molivos, the most popular and in my opinion the most beautiful city of Lesvos, is 60 km from Mitilini. With its castle on the hill, stone houses spread around the castle, souvenir shops, cafes and restaurants, this is a settlement where every corner can be photographed. In Molivos, do not forget to sit and drink frappe in their terraced cafes overlooking the sea.

Tropicana Platanos, which is located under a giant plane tree in the side streets of the castle in Molivos, Aptofyon Patisserie, which is a traditional bakery right next to it, Sokaki Cocktail Bar, which is one of the places overlooking the sea, The Blue Fox where you can eat traditional Mytilene desserts, and The Octapus Restaurant at the port. But let me underline that I haven't had a bad meal anywhere in Lesvos, so you will be satisfied with other places as well.

We stayed in Molivos for 1 night and 2 days on our Lesbos tour route. Inside the castle, Machi Guest House was 35,5 Euros per night. This Click to make a reservation at the hotel. Where I've Stayed Before”The Schoolmistress With The Golden Eyes” It was a hotel in one of the streets leading to the castle of Molivos, with a beautiful sea view. Both do not provide breakfast, they provide hostel service. There was a tiny kitchen in Machi, we bought our pastries from the nearby patisserie and had our breakfast on our balcony.

There is a beach to swim in the center of Molivos, but the sea is not very beautiful. If you still want to go to a beach, Congas Beach is among the most recommended places. The sunset from here is also wonderful.

We preferred Petra to swim in the sea. It has more beautiful and wider beaches than Molivos. If you do not want to take advantage of the sunbeds and umbrellas, you can lay your towel and swim in the sea without paying any fee.

Day 2 Route

On the second day, our route was also our return route. On the first day we went to Molivos from the north, and on the second day we will return to Mitilini from the south.

Petra

We start the day in Petra, which is 4-5 km from Molivos. You can come to Petra to take advantage of its beaches, to watch the magnificent sunset or to see the monastery built on a solid rock. This is a tiny village where you can spend the whole day with stone houses, cobblestone streets opening to the sea, souvenir shops and cafes/restaurants.

Our next route after Petra is Agiasos Village. If you have time, you can add the Museum of Industrial Olive Oil Production in Greece and Ancient Temple of Messon stops on the way to your trip. We couldn't stop by because we didn't have enough time.

Agiasos Village

Agiasos Village may be my favorite place in Lesvos. One of the traditional Lesbos mountain villages, the village is located 25km from Mitilini, at the foot of Mount Olympus. Various fruits, especially chestnuts, grow on the fertile hills of the village.

The village is famous for its ceramics and woodwork. The Church of Panagia Vrefokratusa (The Virgin Mary holding the Prophet Jesus), located in the center of the village, is also decorated with woodwork. There are many street cafes, patisseries, taverns and dairy farms in the streets around the church. Whether you sit in one of these or buy something from the shops and eat it in your hand, you should definitely taste something here, because whatever I ate in this village was very good. Don't forget to dive into its side streets and enjoy the beautiful architecture!

Myth

We arrived back in Mitilini a few hours before our ferry departed. All shops and most cafes/restaurants in Mitilini are closed on Sundays. Therefore, if you are planning your trip on the weekend, I suggest you consider visiting Mitilini on Saturday.

In the center of Mitilini, you can visit places such as Hagios Therapondas Church, Ermou Street, Hagia Athanasious Metropolitan Church, New Mosque, Turkish Bath and Historical Roman Agora, and if you have time, you can visit Mitilini Castle.