Around Afroz - Eressos & Lesvos

Afroz is located in the calm valley of Eressos on beautiful Lesvos. Being surrounded by wild nature, you will find that besides staying inside the center, many beautiful spots can and should discovered. Being formed by volcanic activity, Lesvos is a fascinating mix of stoney areas with little greenlife and on the other side extremely fruitful areas full of forests and olive trees. Wild animals can be found across the whole island and following the empty roads with a scooter you might spot them.

The center is roughly 6km away from the Aegean Sea, located in the valley of Eressos and its sea village Skala Eressos. During winter, the citizen move up to the inland village, while throughout the summer the sea side village is full of life. You can go for ice cream, drinks and food, while enjoying a dip in the ocean. Following the shoreline, you will reach the empty beach where most of the friends spend their time in the afternoon.

Below you will find some more information about Lesvos, Eressos and what can be done besides staying inside the OSHO Afroz center.

If you have any questions, get in touch with the office to find out more. 

Sightseeing and activities on the island

On Lesvos, there’re many amazing places to go besides OSHO Afroz 

Lesvos is the third biggest island in the Aegean (after Crete and Evia). Indeed, it is the natural abundance that primarily draws visitors. Hiking the idyllic southern olive groves, the “lava paths” and volcanic geotopes as well as bird-watching – the island is the transit point and home to over 279 species of birds ranging from raptors to waders – are both very popular. Lesvos’ long coastline, hardly touched by package tourism, is dotted with therapeutic hot springs, virtually untouched coastal fishing villages and pristine beaches which range from golden, black or red sand to pebbles of blazing white quartz; lush mountain river valleys around Aghiasos which is surrounded by chestnut groves; traditional villages and brilliant beaches at Drota, Melinda & Eresos. more about Lesvos ….

Culturally, too, Lesvos has gone above and beyond. From the musical composer Terpander and poet Arion of the 7th century BC, to 20th-century figures like Nobel Prize–winning poet Odysseus Elytis and primitive painter Theofilos, the island has given birth to artists of genius. Under the great ancient philosophers Aristotle and Epicurus, an exceptional philosophical academy flourished on the island. Most famous, however, is Sappho, one of ancient Greece’s greatest poets. Her sensuous, passionate poetry, apparently created for a select group of female devotees, has fuelled a modern-day cult that draws lesbians from around the world to pay homage to the poet in Skala Eresou, the west Lesvos beach village where she was born around 630 BC.

Appropriately enough, the stark natural beauty that inspired all these artists and thinkers itself derived from a great event: a massive prehistoric volcanic eruption that buried and transformed its surroundings, making western Lesvos into a treasury of prehistoric fossils and gems, and the unique petrified forest. Do not miss to visit The Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest at Sigri.

After Petrified Forest also the entire Lesvos Island joined In Global Geoparks Network of UNESCO. The inclusion decision was confirmed during the session of UNESCO’s Geoparks Bureau under the 11th European Geoparks Conference held in Arouca, Portugal, from 19 to 21 September 2012.

Geoparks in Lesvos

The astonishing landscape of Lesvos island 

Hot Springs: Intense volcanic activity long ago has resulted in the formation of several hot springs throughout the island of Lesvos, more…

The Lava Paths: These paths link various geotopes along the courses carved out by the burning rivers of lava and pyroclastic material from the lips of the volcanic craters down to the Petrified Forest 20 million years ago. more…

Volcanic Centers: The Petrified Forest of Lesvos is a unique testament to the ecosystem that once existed in the Aegean region during the Miocene Epoch and Unesco names it as one of the most important natural heritage monuments in the world!

Volcanic Geotopes: Lesvos is covered to a large extent by volcanic rocks, the result of intense volcanic activity in the central Aegean during the Lower Miocene epoch, 16  – 21,5 million years ago. The result of this volcanic activity was the creation of impressive volcanic geotopes.

Volcanic structures (veins and domes) of Eressos: The region of Eressos is also an astonishing landscape covered with a wide variety of volcanic structures. Impressive volcanic domes visibly protrude through the layers of pyroclastic flows that have almost covered the entire region. Features of a particular beauty are the alternations of volcanic layers, remnants of other times that today remind the visitor of the level of destruction caused by the intense volcanic activity that occurred in the region. Throughout the area, layers of pyroclastic flows alternate distinctly, while through them emerge lava which is more resistant to erosion. The crystalline limestones of the region also appear particularly impressive, since they have been penetrated and displaced by the lava. more…

Eressos

The beautiful, alternative village next to our meditation center

Beyond Antissa the landscape becomes lunar, with bare mountains and strange rock formations. You drive through the harsh landscape between mountains until you come to a huge green valley with a beautiful village at the top, Eressos. At the end of a long, narrow, straight road is Skala Eressos, an alternative beach town with great restaurants, cafes, shops, bars, meditation, yoga, bodywork and many things you would not expect to find in a remote Greek island village.

Eresos is an international place and many people around the world and from other Greek places they choose to live here, mostly in the area called Kambos (stretches from the inland village of Eressos up to the outer edges of the beach town of Skala Eressos).

There is also one of the best beaches in Greece, a mile or two of sand that stretches along the bottom of this lush fertile valley from mountain range to mountain range, dissected by a river full of turtles that has water even in the summer when it hasn’t rained in months