The village of Agios Efstratios in its valley above the bay and harbour

Agios Efstratios · Towns & villages

Towns & villages of Agios Efstratios

Harbour towns, mountain hamlets and the places where island life still follows its own rhythm.

The village & the harbour

Agios Efstratios village

The only village on Ai Stratis: one harbour, one beach, two tavernas and a museum of exile

Everyone on Ai Stratis lives here: about 257 people in 2021, in the one village of the island, set in a valley between two streams that open onto the harbour bay on the west coast. Above the quay, on the rocky hill, are the older houses that survived the earthquake of 1968. Below them, filling the valley where the orchards used to be, is the new village the military government built after it, in straight rows of concrete prefabricated houses. Around them is the island's whole public life: the quay where the ferry from Lemnos ties up, a beach of grey volcanic sand with municipal umbrellas, a handful of tavernas and cafes, the churches, and the Museum of Democracy in the old school that served as the exiles' infirmary.

The Museum of Democracy, in the island's first school
Sunset over the harbour from the village beach
The older houses on the hill above the quay
Fish and the island's lamb on the waterfront
Watching the morning boat leave for Lemnos at six

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The village & the harbour

The old village

What the 1968 earthquake and the bulldozers left on the hill above the harbour

Until 1968 Ai Stratis lived on the hill above the harbour, in some 500 stone houses of two and three storeys with wooden porches. After the earthquake of February 1968 the military government declared the village unfit to live in and moved everyone to the new village in the valley. Most of the old houses were pulled down; the ones that survived still stand above the quay among the ruins and the paths cleared around 2009. Here too stood the church of the Five Martyrs and Agios Efstratios, demolished after the quake: when the site was dug, it turned out to stand on an ancient temple, with column bases, an altar made of two Corinthian capitals and traces of mosaic, and it has not been rebuilt.

The surviving old houses on the hill above the quay
The site of the church of the Five Martyrs, over an ancient temple
The view over the harbour and the grid of the new village

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Alonitsi & the east coast

Alonitsi

The long beach facing Lemnos, wind-carved rocks and the cave of the exiled saint

Alonitsi is the long beach of the east coast, about 2 km of sand and pebbles looking out to Lemnos. Its cliffs of pale sandstone have been carved by wind and salt into honeycombs, and the coast around it breaks into rocky coves and islets. Tradition says that Saint Eustratios, an abbot from Bithynia exiled here in the 9th century during the quarrel over icons, lived in a cave at Alonitsi. The cave was damaged in the earthquake of 1968. The island's oak woods run down to the shore between Avlakia in the north and Alonitsi, and the clay of Alonitsi was once used to seal the flat roofs of the village.

Two kilometres of sand and pebbles facing Lemnos
Honeycomb rocks carved by the wind
The cave where the saint is said to have lived
Empty coves along the shore to the south

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The south coast

Agios Dimitrios

Sea lilies in the sand, shade trees and the island's great sunsets

Agios Dimitrios is a beach of sand and fine black volcanic pebbles about 5 km from the village down a dirt road, with trees for shade at the back of the shore. In late summer sea lilies flower in the sand. The beach is wild, with nothing on it but the trees and the birds, and the sun sets over the open sea.

Sea lilies flowering in the sand
Shade under the trees
Sunset over the open sea
Black volcanic pebbles

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The south coast

Lidario & the far south

The beaches at the end of the island, reached on foot, by track or by caique

The far side of Ai Stratis is a country of stone walls, rocky hills and the odd lone tree, with no village and almost no one in it. Its beaches are reached by long dirt tracks, by caique from the harbour or on foot: Lidario, about 9 km away, a beach of sand and black pebbles with natural shade, about an hour and a half's walk; and Ftelio and Fragkou further on, of the same sand and pebbles. This is where people camp on the beach in summer.

Lidario, about 1½ hours' walk from the village
Ftelio and Fragkou, the furthest beaches
Stone-walled fields and lone trees on the way
A caique ride along the coast

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The wild coves

Trygari

A cove of fine pebbles a five-minute walk below the end of the track

Trygari is a small beach of fine dark pebbles and black rocks below a hillside dotted with trees. You drive as far as the track goes and walk the last five minutes down through the shrubs. There is nothing here but the beach, the rocks and clear water.

Fine dark pebbles and black rocks
A short walk down through the shrubs
Clear water for snorkelling

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Regions

Where to base yourself in Agios Efstratios

The village & the harbour

The island's only village, in its valley above the harbour bay on the west coast, with the old houses on the hill, the Museum of Democracy, the village beach and Arkari.

Alonitsi & the east coast

The long beach facing Lemnos, its wind-carved cliffs and coves, the cave of the exiled saint, and the oak woods that run down to the sea.

The south coast

Agios Dimitrios with its sea lilies and sunsets, and the far beaches of Lidario, Ftelio and Fragkou, at the end of long dirt tracks.

The wild coves

Small beaches of fine pebbles reached by track, a walk from a farm or a caique: Trygari, Tripiti, Agios Antonios, Gournia and Agios Nikolaos.

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Last updated 12 November 2026