Photos of Leros and tips to reveal the secrets of Leros.

Also available in: Ελληνικά

Leros, the unknown of the Dodecanese for many, takes its time to reveal its secrets to you, some of which we will share with you in the following photo journey. Along with Leros we will also get a very small taste of Lipsi and Aspronissia with their crystal clear and turquoise waters.

Flying to Leros

We visited Leros in early August 2014, flying from Athens with Olympic Airlines. The flight over the Aegean Sea takes about 50 minutes to the small airport of Leros (at Partheni), which is within walking distance of the coastal settlements of Alinda and Agia Marina.

You can see at the end of the article the video I took during our take off from the small airport of Leros.

find it quickly:

Accommodation
Photos
Map

In addition, in the photo gallery, also towards the end of the article, you can see how Naxos, Paros and Kythnos look from the plane as we were returning from Leros to Eleftherios Venizelos.

From Alinda with a view of the full moon rising above the Castle and Agia Marina.

Arriving in the afternoon in Alinda we enjoyed the natural landscape of the large bay, in the middle of which is a settlement, with the imposing hill of the castle and the white houses on the slopes on our right. Of course the first thing we did was to drop our bags and head straight to the sea, which was a few metres from the hotel entrance.

Beaches in Leros

Generally we were not impressed, it does not have the long sandy beaches that you will find on most Greek islands. Most of them are either small bays that didn’t excite us when we visited most of them or relatively long but very narrow like almost all the beaches in the Gulf of Alidon.

Dio Liskaria, beach in Leros

Perhaps one of the best places for swimming is on the left side of the bay, specifically at Dio Liskaria where you will find the café beach bar Zefyros (the name may have changed) and a taverna at the end of the road.

In Dio Liskaria and the fanky Zephyr

In Zefyro you will also hear very good music all day long. Summer sounds of catchy reggae as well as soul, funky, rock and jazz will soon pass in the pleasant surprise for our daily swim and for evening in the most relaxed with a table above the small beach overlooking the beautiful castle of Leros and the lights from the settlement of Agia Marina (capital of the island). Nice for swimming is also in Panteli, on the other side of the castle.

It is worth climbing up to the castle as the view of the bay and the Aegean Sea is stunning. We also caught a jazz concert!

And while the beaches may not be of the standard we are used to on the Greek islands, the sea of Leros is crystal clear and very rich. Personally, I had purchased a mask and snorkel and sat for at least 1.5 half hours straight to observe and “play” with the various fish that even near the beach are abundant in numbers!

Food in Leros

Related to the above and the fish of Leros is of course the food in the seaside tavernas that you will find all over the island. Generally, most tavernas have tables right on the beach. There is nothing like eating and getting your feet wet from the Aegean Sea and the quality of the food is very good. It takes a little searching with the prices but in general you will eat well. In most of the tavernas we ate at Alinda we were quite satisfied while perhaps the best food, fish and side dishes, we ate at Panteli, and specifically at “Tzouma’s Cafe” (photos with the full moon, fishing boats and night bathers!)

Even though it was full, the two waiters did their best to serve us and several times they tried to protect us from ordering things that we might not be able to eat because we would have simply burst with everything before (they didn’t seem to know how much we normally eat since we don’t seem to be good and polyphagous :) )

In Panteli you should know that until sunset the beach is occupied by sunbeds and in the evening by the tables of the several fish taverns of the village.

In Panteli of Leros, on a table by the sea, waiting with agony and an empty stomach for the delicious seafood.

The great temptation of Leros

However, the biggest “problem” we encountered was with the island’s sweets, which we didn’t have any resistance to even when it was 1 past midnight. The best place to try them (all of them) is the “Traditional” in Agia Marina. Start with the Viennese Zaher with honey, continue with Patsavourada, Ekmek Kadaifi, Milk Bureko, Cheese Cake and whatever else your appetite pulls you in. Swim a lot on the island and see if you can hide your nightly indulgence in sweet sins at the beachside tables of Agia Marina.

In Agia Marina it is worth walking to the lighthouse, where you will find a restaurant and the homonymous bar which is literally built into the rocks of the lighthouse. We sat for about 20 minutes just outside the lighthouse to listen to the sound of the sea as it hit the rocks and to smell the iodine. The music during the time we sat was very good and well worth trying to have a drink over there.

Alinda, Leros. Tavern on the sea

Excursions in Leros

We stayed in Leros for a total of 6 days and rented a car for half of them. We did it at the last minute so we paid a high price (40 euros/day). We mostly used it to go from Alinda to Dio Liskaria (for swimming and coffee), Agia Marina and the Castle and to Panteli, usually after visiting the Castle for lunch. The first day we took it we decided to see the rest of the island and found that this could be done in less than the one day we decided to “spend”.

From Alinda with a view of the full moon rising above the Castle and Agia Marina.

We started going towards the airport and Partheni to find the beach of Agia Kioura with the church whose murals were painted by political prisoners from the dictatorship period.

Arriving in the northern part of the island we followed the road to the left of the airport. We found two or three beaches with narrow sand and few people, so if you want relative privacy you might want to head this way.

In the southern part of Leros

In the southern part of the island you will find the large settlement of Lakki and below it Xirokambos. In Xirokambos you will find 2-3 seaside tavernas by the sea and a small beach, while it is worth going to the chapel of Panagia of Kavouradena (I have never heard a stranger name for Panagia) to see the authentic image and relax outside the chapel by the sea and under the pine trees.

Leros War Museum – Merikia Tunnel

In the southern part of the island, near the settlement of Lakki you will find the famous war museum of the island which is housed in a restored tunnel built by Italian soldiers in the 1930s with the main mission then and during World War II to store ammunition.

The visit is really worth it as you will understand a lot about the battles and the conditions that prevailed in Leros at that time and especially about the great three-day battle that took place there in the last attempt of the Germans to occupy the Dodecanese in 1943.

In the museum you will see many authentic exhibits from the armies that fought on the island and the free guided tour, depending of course on the number of people, was informative and accompanied by audiovisual material that in the corridors of the tunnels of the museum makes more intense the feeling that one can have of what it may have been like to fear the relentless bombing of the German planes in their attempt to occupy the island from the British and Italian soldiers. The five-minute special on ERT is probably worth watching.

Another small excursion is to the church of Agios Isidoros which is built on an island that is connected to the mainland by a narrow corridor offering a very picturesque and characteristic image of Leros. The chapel is located near the area of Kokkali which is at the same height as Alinda but on the western side of the island.

Agia Marina, going towards Panteli

Castle Panteli

We left the visit to Panteli Castle for the end as it is the best excursion in Leros. The castle is built on a hill two hundred meters high and offers the best view of the Aegean Sea and the bay of Agia Marina.

From there you will see the six beautiful white and white mills, if you didn’t see them as you go up, since you can reach them from Agia Marina and from Panteli in the parking lot of the castle. Whichever way you go the sunset view is all the money. If you are lucky you may even catch a concert so it would be a good idea to ask your hotel if there is an event on the days you are there.

At the Castle of Panteli, Leros

Going down to Panteli, in the last of the 6 mills there is a restaurant and cafeteria with a wonderful view. We were a bit unlucky on the day we went up as it was very windy and the windward parts were already caught. The 17th century church of Panagia is also located in the castle.