One of the loveliest walking and bird-watching destinations in the Mediterranen, Lesvos offers a stunning combination of natural and man-made landscapes to enjoy on foot or by car. It is a treasure house of very early ancient remains dating from the 7th century BC and boasts one of the finest natural monuments in Europe, the Petrified Forest, created 20 million years ago. Cloaked with forests of chestnut and oak, the island is a riot of flowers in spring, especially wild orchids. Of course Lesvos is also famous as the birthplace of the poetess Sappho and the father of botany, Theophrastus.