Eresos and its twin beach village
Skala Eressou-Overview:The word Skala can be translated as "beach". The village has two access roads, one from the north and one from the west. Both lead towards the central square, which is paved with flagstones, but due to the one-way system, vehicle access is restricted...
are located in the southwest part of the Greek island of Lesbos. They are villages visited by considerable number of tourists. Eressos and the village Antissa constitute the municipality
Eresos-AntissaEresos-Antissa is a municipality on the island of Lesbos, in the Lesbos Prefecture, Greece. It is located in the westernmost part of the island, and is the largest in land area in the prefecture at 290.947 km². Its population was 5,530 at the 2001 census. The seat of the municipality is in...
.
The municipality of Eresos–Antissa contains five other villages: Messotopos, Vatoussa,
ChidiraChidira is a village on the Greek island of Lesvos , located at its western part and belonging to the municipality of Eresos-Antissa...
, Sigri and Pterounda located in the west and most barren part of the island.
Eresos and its twin beach village
Skala Eressou-Overview:The word Skala can be translated as "beach". The village has two access roads, one from the north and one from the west. Both lead towards the central square, which is paved with flagstones, but due to the one-way system, vehicle access is restricted...
are located in the southwest part of the Greek island of Lesbos. They are villages visited by considerable number of tourists. Eressos and the village Antissa constitute the municipality
Eresos-AntissaEresos-Antissa is a municipality on the island of Lesbos, in the Lesbos Prefecture, Greece. It is located in the westernmost part of the island, and is the largest in land area in the prefecture at 290.947 km². Its population was 5,530 at the 2001 census. The seat of the municipality is in...
.
Geography
The municipality of Eresos–Antissa contains five other villages: Messotopos, Vatoussa,
ChidiraChidira is a village on the Greek island of Lesvos , located at its western part and belonging to the municipality of Eresos-Antissa...
, Sigri and Pterounda located in the west and most barren part of the island. Bare rocky hills, derived from ancient volcanic activity, dominate the area.
Skala Eressou-Overview:The word Skala can be translated as "beach". The village has two access roads, one from the north and one from the west. Both lead towards the central square, which is paved with flagstones, but due to the one-way system, vehicle access is restricted...
is a centre for international tourism and is a favorite spot of Greek families, young people as well as gay women. With its long beautiful beach with dark volcanic sand and its crystal-clear unpolluted water, Skala Eressou was awarded
Blue FlagThe Blue Flag is an award that is given to beaches and marinas that have met stringent standards. The exclusive ‘eco-label’ is awarded on an annual basis to beaches and marinas around the world....
status by the Foundation for Environmental Education.
History
Its history goes back to ancient times.
SapphoSappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
, the great lyric poetess was born there (c. 630 BC), as was
PhaniasPhanias of Eresus was a Greek philosopher from Lesbos, important as an immediate follower of and commentator on Aristotle. He came to Athens about 332 BCE, and joined his compatriot, Theophrastus, in the Peripatetic school. His writings on logic and science appear to have been commentaries or...
the historian, and
TheophrastusTheophrastus , a Greek native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. His interests were wide-ranging, extending from biology and physics to ethics and metaphysics. His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an...
, the successor of
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
and Father of
BotanyBotany, plant science, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of biology and is the scientific study of plant life and development...
in the 4th century BC. It was Sappho's work that made the word "
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
" synonymous with female homosexuality.
Demographics
| Year | Population | Change | Municipal population | Change |
|---|
| 1981 |
1,494 |
- |
- |
- |
| 1991 |
1,247 |
- |
247/16.53% |
- |
In literature
Eressos makes a brief appearance in the novel
Sure of YouSure of You is the sixth book in the Tales of the City series by San Francisco novelist Armistead Maupin.Though the first five books in the series were originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle or the San Francisco Examiner, Sure of You and its follow-up, Michael Tolliver Lives, were...
, the sixth volume in the series
Tales of the CityThis article is about the novel series; see also Tales of the City and Tales of the City Tales of the City is a series of seven novels written by San Francisco author Armistead Maupin. Tales of the City is also the name of the first book in the series...
by
Armistead MaupinArmistead Jones Maupin Jr. is an American writer best known for his Tales of the City series of novels based in San Francisco.-Biography:...
. In the chapter entitled "The Third Whale", Skala Eressou is described as a seaside town with concrete buildings and a beach of coarse gray sand. Some places in the town are described. These include the shop on the square where Mona found the key rings inscribed with the name "
SapphoSappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
", the hotel called "Sappho the Eressian" where Mona stays in a spare, clean room with a single bed and a lone lamp, the big gray bluff at the end of the beach where more nude bathers were gathered, and the famous tents put up by the women who were part of Sappho's tribe.
External links