55 Best Sights in The Northern Aegean Islands, Greece

The enormous five-domed post-Baroque church of Agios Therapon, completed in 1935, was designed by architect Argyris Adalis, an islander who studied under Ernst Ziller, the prolific architect of so many of the municipal buildings in Athens. The church is dedicated to St. Therapon, whose name means "healer," and it has been visited by many people who came to Lesvos to recuperate from illness. It has an ornate interior, a frescoed dome, and there is a Byzantine museum in the courtyard that is filled with religious icons.

Perched high on a granite outcrop in the mountainous interior is an eerie testament to the violent history of the island. Anavatos (the name means "unassailable") was built in medieval times and flourished as a community until the massacres of 1822. The Ottomans attacked and fierce street-by-street fighting ensued until the Greeks were overwhelmed. Rather than be enslaved by the invading forces, the women and children of the village threw themselves over the steep cliffs to their death. Further devastated in the earthquake of 1881, the village lies abandoned, but the views remain breathtaking in this ghostly, poignant monument.

Samian sculptures from past millennia were considered among the best in Greece, and examples here show why. The newer wing holds the impressive kouros from Heraion, a colossal statue of a male youth, built as an offering to the goddess Hera and the largest freestanding sculpture surviving from ancient Greece, dating from 580 BC. The work of a Samian artist, this statue was made of the typical Samian gray-and-white-band marble. Pieces of the kouros were discovered in various peculiar locations: its thigh was being used as part of a Hellenistic house wall, and its left forearm was a step for a Roman cistern. The statue is so large (5 meters [16½ feet] tall) that the gallery had to be rebuilt specifically to house it. The museum's older section has a collection of pottery and cast-bronze griffin heads (the symbol of Samos). An exceptional collection of tributary gifts from ancient cities far and wide, including bronzes and ivory miniatures, affirms the importance of the shrine to Hera.

The mastic shrub has dominated Chios life, economy, culture, and destiny for centuries, and its role is explained in depth in well-designed exhibits in a stunning glass, stone, and wood pavilion overlooking a wide sweep of mastic groves. Aside from learning about how the valuable resin is cultivated and processed, you will see artifacts and photographs of village life and learn about the tumultuous history of the island, including times when hoarding even a sliver of mastic gum was a crime punishable by death.

In medieval times and later, wealthy Genoese and Greek merchants built ornate, earth-toned, three-story mansions on this fertile plain of tangerine, lemon, and orange groves south of Chios Town. On narrow lanes behind stone walls adorned with coats of arms, each estate is a world of its own, with multicolor sandstone patterns, arched doorways, and pebble-mosaic courtyards. Some houses have crumbled, but many still stand, surrounded by fragrant citrus orchards and reminders of the wealth, power, and eventual downfall of an earlier time. These suburbs of Chios Town are exceptional, but the unmarked lanes can be confusing, so leave time to get lost and to peek behind the walls into another world.

A 13th-century Byzantine-Genoese fortified castle is a magnetic presence when seen from below, and a drive or walk to the hilltop landmark affords a hypnotic view down the tiers of tiled roofs to the glittering sea. At dawn the sky begins to light up from behind the mountains of Asia Minor, casting silver streaks through the placid water as weary night fishermen come in. Wisteria vines shelter the lanes that descend from the castle and pass numerous Turkish fountains, some still in use.

The pine-covered headland between the bays of Mytilini town supports an ancient castle and fortress, with many intact walls that seem to protect the town even today. It was built by the Byzantines on the site of an ancient acropolis possibly dating to 600 BC; the remains of a temple to Apollo and sanctuary dedicated to Demeter have been unearthed. Destroyed during battles with the Romans, it was then repaired using available materials by Francesco Gattilusio of the powerful Genoese family—note the ancient carved marble crammed here and there between stones. Finally, it fell into the hands of the Ottomans, who expanded the castle and created new buildings including a madrasa (religious school) and Turkish hammams. Most intriguing, perhaps, is the temple at the center believed to be the original acropolis: it was first a sanctuary dedicated to Demeter, then repurposed as a church, then later as a mosque. Look above the gates for the two-headed eagle of the Palaiologos emperors, the horseshoe arms of the Gattilusio family, and Arabic inscriptions made by Ottoman Turks.

This towering church just off the main square was built in 1694 and is embellished with a lavishly decorated portico and an impressive bell tower. Every August 15 the Virgin Mary is celebrated in one of the biggest festivals on the island.

Famous throughout Greece, this glittering volcanic black-pebbled beach is just next to the attractive seaside village of Emborios, where the waterfront is lined with tavernas serving seafood. The cove comprises three beaches, which are backed by jutting volcanic cliffs and fronted by calm dark-blue water colored by the deeply tinted seabed. Here, perhaps, was an inspiration for the "wine-dark sea" that Homer wrote about. Bring an umbrella and water shoes as there is no shade and the black pebbles get very hot. Amenities: parking (no fee). Best for: sunrise; swimming; walking.

The 19th-century church that commands the main square of Mesta (and one of two churches of the same name in the town) is one of the wealthiest in Greece; its vernacular is Baroque combined with the late-folk-art style of Chios. There is a double staircase leading to the bell tower and to a pebbled courtyard. The church was built on the ruins of the central refuge tower and dedicated to the Archangels Gabriel and Michael.

Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos ("the Dueler") ordered the Nea Moni monastery built where three monks found an icon of the Virgin Mary in a myrtle bush. The octagonal katholikon (medieval church) is the only surviving example of 11th-century court art—none survives even in Constantinople. The monastery has been renovated a number of times: the dome was completely rebuilt following an earthquake in 1881, and a great deal of effort has gone into the restoration and preservation of the mosaics over the years. The distinctive three-part vaulted sanctuary has a double narthex, with no buttresses supporting the dome. This design, a single square space covered by a dome, is rarely seen in Greece. Blazing with color, the church's interior gleams with marble slabs and mosaics of Christ's life, austere yet sumptuous, with azure blue, ruby red, velvet green, and skillful applications of gold. The saints' expressiveness comes from their vigorous poses and severe gazes, with heavy shadows under the eyes. On the iconostasis hangs the icon—a small Virgin and Child facing left. Also inside the grounds are an ancient refectory, a vaulted cistern, a chapel filled with victims' bones from the massacre at Chios, and a large clock still keeping Byzantine time, with the sunrise reckoned as 12 o'clock.

Every day in summer, a glass-bottomed boat sails from Sigri port across to Nissiopi island, Greece's first marine fossil park. Once home to dinosaurs and giant forests, guides from the Natural History Museum explain how huge, fossilized trunks came to be buried in layers of ash. The fascinating trip finds tree stumps petrified beneath the waves and describes the birth of the Aegean Sea millions of years ago.

An air of mystery pervades this old Muslim and Jewish neighborhood, full of decaying monuments, fountains, hammam baths, and mosques, within the walls of the Kastro (castle) fortifications, built in the 10th century by the Byzantines and enlarged in the 14th century by the Genoese Giustiniani family. Under Turkish rule, the Greeks lived outside the wall, and the gates closed daily at sundown. Scattered among the precinct are several stone towers and, inside the old gate, the cells where the Turks jailed then hanged 75 leading Chiotes during the fight for independence in 1822, when Chios joined the rest of Greece in rebellion against the occupying Turks. The revolt here on the island failed, and the sultan retaliated: the Turks killed 30,000 Chiotes and enslaved 45,000. The event was written about by Victor Hugo and depicted by Eugène Delacroix in The Massacre of Chios. The painting, now in the Louvre, shocked Western Europe and increased support for Greek independence. Copies hang in many places on Chios, including in the Byzantine Museum. In Frouriou Square, look for the Turkish cemetery and the large marble tomb (with the fringed hat) of Kara Ali, chief of the Turkish flagship in 1822.

Ancient trees fossilized by volcanic ash up to 20 million years ago stand stark on a hillside above Sigri. If you're expecting a thick woods, you might be taken aback by this seemingly barren site that at first appears as a collection of stumps leaning every which way among shrubs and rock. However, a walk along well-organized trails reveals delicate colors and a haunting, strange beauty. You can also study the specimens at Ipsilou, a large monastery on the highest peak in this wild, moonscape-like volcanic landscape, overlooking western Lesvos and Asia Minor across the Aegean.

Considered by Herodotus as the world's Eighth Wonder, this famed underground aqueduct was completed in 524 BC with archaic tools and without measuring instruments. The ruler Polycrates, not a man who liked to leave himself vulnerable, ordered the construction of the tunnel to ensure that Samos's water supply could never be cut off during an attack. Efpalinos of Megara, a hydraulics engineer, set perhaps 1,000 slaves into two teams, one digging on each side of Mt. Kastri. Fifteen years later, they met in the middle with just a tiny difference in the elevation between the two halves. The tunnel is about 1,018 meters (3,340 feet) long, and it remained in use as an aqueduct for almost 1,000 years. More than a mile of (long-gone) ceramic water pipe once filled the space, which was later used as a hiding place during pirate raids. Today the tunnel is exclusively a tourist attraction, and though some spaces are tight and slippery, you can walk the whole length—a wonderful way to enjoy natural coolness on swelteringly hot days—or part sections. On a hillside above the tunnel entrance are the scant remains of a Greek and Roman theater, and ancient city walls.

Ancient Eresos "was founded on a hill and lied by the sea" according to the Greek geographer and historian Strabo, and sections of the preclassical walls, medieval castle ruins, and the 5th-century-AD church, Agios Andreas, remain from the storied and long-inhabited site. The church has a mosaic floor and a tiny adjacent museum housing local finds from tombs in the ancient cemetery.

The fresco-embellished 12th-century church Agioi Apostoloi is a very small replica of the katholikon, or major church, at the Nea Moni Monastery. Cretan artist Antonios Domestichos created the 17th-century frescoes that completely cover the interior, and they have a distinct folk-art leaning.

The beach strip just east of Plomari is backed by low-key hotels and tavernas. Though the setting is hardly remote, the sea washing onto the long stretch of golden sand is crystal clear. A bonus for swimmers and snorkelers is the bountiful sea life that flourishes on the rocky shelf just below the surface of the sparkling waters. Amenities: food and drink; parking (no fee); water sports. Best for: snorkeling; swimming; walking.

This vestige of ancient Mytilini is within a pine grove and easily accessed. One of the largest theaters in ancient Greece, it is from the Hellenistic period and seated an estimated audience of 10,000. Plutarch, in Pompeius, tells us that the Roman general admired it so much that he copied it for his theater in Rome. Though the marbles are gone, the shape, carved into the mountain, remains beautifully intact.

In the quaint 17th-century settlement just above the port, wood-and-plaster houses with pastel facades and red-tile roofs are clustered together, their balconies protruding over narrow cobbled paths. From here you can savor a beautiful view of the gulf.

This remote spot, at the end of a well-marked road that leads southeast toward the coast from Mesta, is one of the nicer beaches on Chios. The clear waters lap against the sand and pebbles that make up this small stretch of coast in the wind-protected bay. A canteen looks down upon the unspoiled beach. Amenities: food and drink; parking (no fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: snorkeling; sunset; swimming; walking; windsurfing.

Superseding the previous Neoclassical mansion that housed the old museum, Mytilini's new archaeological museum contains the permanent collection "Lesvos from Hellenistic to Roman Times" featuring finds from prehistoric Thermi, enchanting mosaics from Hellenistic houses, gold funeral offerings, and reliefs of comic scenes from the 3rd-century Roman house of Menander, as well as temporary exhibits.

In a purpose-built modern building, next to the site of the ancient town of Samos, this impressive collection shows off over 3,000 local finds, including headless statues, grave markers with epigrams to the dead, and human and animal figurines, in addition to some notably beautiful portrait busts of the Roman emperors Claudius, Caesar, and Augustus.

In the small mastic village of Armolia, 5 km (3 miles) north of Pirgi, pottery is a specialty. In fact, the Greek word armolousis ("man from Armola") is synonymous with potter. To the west, above the village, there is an impressive Byzantine castle that was built in 1446, and to the east is the wonderful 18th-century baroque-style Vrettou Monastery. Many potters display their wares along the crossroads to the villages of the south.

The only intact mosque in this part of the Aegean, complete with a slender minaret, dates from the 19th century and houses the Byzantine Museum. The main room has artifacts from the early Christian, Byzantine, and Genoese periods, while the porch and courtyard are dotted with richly inscribed Jewish, Turkish, and Armenian gravestones, including one depicting St. George slaying the dragon. Also on display are column capitals unearthed across the island and some delightful 18th-century Byzantine murals in which three sleeping girls await the miracle of St. Nicholas.

The capital is home to over half the island's population, and the heart of Chios life lies in the narrow lanes just behind the port. In the morning, merchants hawk everything from car windscreen wipers and skimpy underwear to kitchen utensils in the streets around the central vegetable market.

Livanos, Karas, Chandris, Onassis: many of the world-famous shipping families were based or born on Chios. Exquisite ship models and portraits of vessels that have belonged to Chios owners over time celebrate the sea-based heritage of the island. One exhibit highlights the Liberty ships and others constructed during World War II that contributed to Greece's booming postwar shipping industry.

The Kambos district is famed as one of the most fertile orchard regions of Greece—orange and lemon groves set behind stone walls are almost given the status of museums and landmarks. It is only fitting that the owners of the Perleas Mansion hotel have opened this especially fragrant estate to showcase the history of citrus products on the island and entice visitors with a shop and delightful café selling citrus-inspired sweets. The estate buildings are handsome, centered on a farm where English-language placards explain the layout and workings of a historic citrus estate, and sturdy stone barns and houses are set with putty-green window shutters. The bucolic grounds are replete with a folkloric-painted watermill, grazing animals, and a picturesque arbor.

This rocky outcropping, where Homer is said to have taught his pupils, stands just above the port of Vrontados, 4 km (2½ miles) north of Chios Town. Archaeologists think an ancient altar to Cybele once stood on the rock, while below is a small, pebbled beach with shallow, warm waters ideal for musing about how the blind storyteller might have spoken here of the fall of Troy in The Iliad.

Just to the east of Molyvos is this empty stretch of coastline, blessed not just with a beach but with thermal mineral baths. You can soak in the enclosed tubs for a small fee or find a spot just below the old baths where the hot water bubbles into the sea. An easy walk east from there takes you past a pleasant beachside taverna, the Xrisi Akti (Golden Beach), to a long expanse of sand and pebbles, remote enough in parts to attract nudists, especially on the eastern side after the dividing headland. Amenities: food and drink; parking (no fee). Best for: nudists; solitude; swimming; walking.