The Village of Mantamados in Lesbos

The Village of Mandamados is a traditional settlement and religious center of the island of Lesbos. Mandamados is located 36 kilometers northwest of Mytilene and has a tradition in ceramics and wood carving.

It is worth visiting the monastery of Taxiarchis, where the relief icon of the Saint is kept, which according to local legend was created by a monk – the only survivor of an attack by the Agarines – from clay and blood.

Mandamados was created by the merger of several coastal settlements in the area, which due to the continuous raids of pirates during the Middle Ages, the inhabitants abandoned these exquisite coastal areas and settled around the holy and known since then miraculous pilgrimage of Taxiarchis.

In the church, which was built in 1700 and rebuilt in 1879, ecclesiastical relics are kept, among them the high-priestly sack of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Gregory the Eth, while the icons (16th century) are real works of art.

Also, you must visit the church of Agios Vassiliou (1750), in the center of the village, with a masterpiece wood-carved iconostasis, the renovated oil mill (19th century), which functions as a Spiritual Center, the ruins of the medieval castle (8 km outside the village) and the Byzantine fortress, at Paleokastro, in Klio.

You will swim at the beaches of Agios Stefanos, Aspropotamos and Tsonia where you will go by bus. In the village there is a local troupe that presents remarkable theatrical performances throughout the year.

It is also worth attending the great religious celebration of Taxiarchis, Myroforos Sunday. At the festival, the custom of animal sacrifice is revived and the traditional “keskeki” is offered.

You will find a few rooms for rent in boarding houses and in the municipal hostel, while it is worth trying the dairy products of Mandamados and especially its yogurt, made in the authentic way.