Shopping in Lesvos

Lesvos is generally not known as a shopper's paradise, but there is still some great shopping to be had on this beautiful island. From branded outfits to salted sardines, all kinds of things are available here. Modern boutiques, traditional shops, make-shift shacks on the beach side, and mobile markets in the villages all offer a unique and varied set of wares, making the shopping experience very interesting.

Lesvos caters to the needs of a relatively large and diverse population, as well as the constant flow of tourists. Hence you can find all sorts of items in the shopping districts!

Use this Lesvos shopping guide for tips on where to shop and what to buy. Whilst shopping, tasting the local cuisine on Lesvos is a must. Our Greece shopping guide provides some great sourvenir ideas to look out for during your holiday in Greece.

Lesvos Shopping Guide

Souvenirs bring back memorable moments from your travel experiences. There are quite a few signature items to remember Lesvos by. The most sought after are the national drink ouzo and olive oil. You can also go in for caps and t-shirts emblazoned with the flag, which have become a craze since 2004, when the Greeks became European football champions.

All the main villages like Mytilene, Kalloni and Plomari have their own shopping areas. Popular tourist spots also have their share of shops.

Beach side resorts also have a whole lot of souvenir shops lining the shore from where you can pick up all kinds of goods ranging from olive oil, soaps, fabrics, ceramics, to leather products.

Shopping in Mytilene

In the capital, Mytilene you can find an array of shops that deal in art, clothes, jewellery and, of course, souvenirs.

The main shopping hub is Ermou Street in Mytilene, with many small streets branching off the main pedestrian zone. From designer boutiques and souvenir shops to fish stalls displaying the catch of the day, you can find all kinds of shops lining these streets. The place is locally referred to as the ‘market place' though it is much more than that.

Local Handicrafts

The Greeks are also well known for their artistic taste and craftsmanship, such that master pieces are created from almost all basic media. Be it gold jewellery or pottery, you can find the best pieces here. Molyvos is popular for its antiques and jewellers.

Greece is well known for exquisitely designed gold jewellery that is priced quite competitively. Through the ages Greek craftsmen have mastered the art of creating both modern and antique designs. Jewellery shops abound in Lesvos.

The island is quite famous for ceramics, pottery and embroidered fabric. Visit Mantamados and Agiassos where you can watch the potters' wheel in action as each new creation gets shaped. Traditional pottery is at its best in Lesvos.

Lesvos is also renowned for handcrafted furniture and carvings made from wood. Craftsmen use chestnut, walnut and olive wood to turn out beautiful works of art!

Opening Hours

Shops in the main tourist locations are open from 9 in the morning to 10 at night, throughout the week. In other places, shops remain open between 9 am and 1 pm on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays, and from 9 am to 1pm and then 6-8:30 pm on Thursdays and Tuesdays.

Also note that outside the tourist areas, Greeks follow a tradition of an afternoon siesta, so note the timings while you are out shopping. Most shops remain closed from 2 to 5 pm in the day. However, restaurants and the tourist area shops are open all day.

Village Shops

There are no shopping options in the remote villages. In the main village square, you can find the ‘periptero' selling essentials like sweets, crisps, matches, gum and cigarettes. It is either housed in an independent building or could be part of a complex.

Shopping experiences in the villages are quite interesting as you can get quite an assortment of articles ranging from houseplants to furniture and fabric. Makeshift shops operate from trucks and are mostly run by gypsies who travel across the villages and even across islands. These mobile shops stock all necessary items.

Shopping for Food Items

While on Lesvos you can taste the specialities of this region and here are a few local favourites that you can shop for:

Olive Oil

Produced locally from native olive trees, the virgin olive oil is of very high quality. It is highly nutritious and has a fluid consistency. There are about eleven million trees in this region yielding tons of gold coloured olive oil. Oil producers from Lesvos have won many accolades in the global food arena for the uniquely flavoured, superior product.

Cheese

Lesvos is also famous for a variety of cheese. The island is self sufficient in terms of dairy products and turns out some tasty variants of cheese like the Ladotvri, Kaseri and Feta. The products differ in their taste, texture and ingredients. Kaseri is a yellow coloured, hard cheese that has a strong flavour, while Feta, made from ewe's milk and white in colour, has a salty taste and is very soft. The Ladotvri or oil cheese is actually marinated for three months in olive oil. As a result, the cheese inherits a spicy taste from the oil. It is often relished as an appetiser.

Sardines

Fresh sardines are the most popular seafood at the local restaurants. Salt cured fried sardines too are absolutely irresistible. Kalloni is the sardine capital of Lesvos.

Wines and Ouzo

There are quite a few varieties of drinks to choose from. Local wines and variants of the national drink, ouzo, itself offer the tourist a unique wining experience. The drinks are brewed locally and flavoured using aniseed that is available in abundance in and around the island. Ouzo is quite popular and is exported to quite a few places around the world.

The forests of Lesvos are home to a variety of trees and plants that yield honey. Kalloni is famous for its pine forests, where you can get to taste honey from blossom and pine. Honey extracted from pine, thyme and blossom are native to this island.

Women too actively participate in income generating entrepreneurial ventures. Co-operatives run by women produce exquisite embroidery and also a variety of traditional food items like pasta, cakes, sweets, jams and pies. Kalloni has the distinction of establishing an organic farm in 1990, the first such farm in the region.

Miraculous Utensils

You'll be surprised to find many novel, indigenous kitchen accessories like zucchini hollow-outers, cheese pie makers, and grape leaf stuffers in Lesvos!