Excursion to Hephaestia

Department our excursion at 09:00 to visit the Bournia gulf one can see a few seeds belonging to fishermen and the church of Zoodochos Pigi. These are whatever remained of an important Byzantine city called Kotsinas. In 1478, the Turks tried to capture and destroy the “Kastro” of Kotsinas and they almost succeded. At last moment when a local young woman named “Maroula”saw
Her father, dead, had grabbed his sword and attack revived the morale and courage of her compatriots who then fought violently against the enemy.

Finally the enemy left the island. Maroula become a legend in all the island and a sympol off Freedom. The staue of Maroula is found in Kotsinas on the place where the “Kastro” used to be. The statue shows Maroula holding a sword, in her raised hand. Next to the statue, there is the church there is a catabomb, fifty seven stoned steps lead down to a spring, that was suppluing water to the Kastro in the ancient times. Now it is believed that the water is holy.

Next destination is the archaeological place of Hephaistia, the first excavations at the ancient city were undertaken by the Italian arcaiologist Della Seta from 1926 to 1936. The result was, to reveal the ruins of the biggest and most ancient city of Lemnos (1000 B.C. – 1200 A.C.). The God of Fire, Hephaestus, was the patron of the city. Hephaestia was the ancient religious center of the island.

The excavations revealed a Temple dedicated to the Great Goddess of Lemnos, necropolis and Baths. This is a huge construction – palace, that most likely was the lavyrinth of Lemnos. Other earlier constructions (churches and houses) reveal how important Hephaestia had been during the Byzantine years.

Next visit is the beautiful Moudros, one of the biggest, natural bays in Greece. It is also a great ecological importance. Going from Moudros we can find on our way the British Cemetery. This WWI Monument was built for the Allies casualties in the war against the Turks in Callipoli. We visit then the village of Nea Koutali, it’s a new village, built by Greeks, who came from the village Koutali in Propontida in Asia Minor around 1920 when the exchange of the population of Greece and Turkey took place.
 Continuing on, the next village is Kontias, an old beautiful village with windmills and chapels on its hills, and then we arrived to the one of the most beautiful beachs on the island, named Nevgatis. There we stay also for having lunch.