Ouzo was born somewhere between these olive-covered hills and this sea, and Mytilene never lets anyone forget it. The capital of Lesbos, Greece's third-largest island, unfolds its waterfront around a lively harbour where ouzeries serve the national anise spirit with plates of small silver fish. The port call has substance: one of the largest citadels in the Mediterranean, endearing museums, olive groves as far as the eye can see and an island culture still proud of its traditions.

The Citadel Above the Harbour

On the hill that closes off the bay stands the Castle of Mytilene, a fortified complex of exceptional scale where Byzantine, Genoese and Ottoman eras are layered on top of one another. The climb is made on foot from the quays, through a pine wood echoing with cicadas, where the shade smells of resin. From the ramparts, the city spreads out below, the sea glitters all the way to the nearby Turkish coast, and you grasp at a glance the strategic position that made the island so coveted over the centuries. The enclosures can be explored freely, among towers, cisterns and postern gates overgrown with wild grasses where lizards dart.

Ouzo, Meze and the Waterfront

Back at sea level for a lesson in local good living. Along the harbour, cafés and ouzeries carry on a well-honed ritual: a glass of cool anise that water turns milky white, meze arriving in waves, grilled sardines, island cheeses, plump olives, capers and octopus. Lesbos produces some of Greece's most renowned ouzos, notably in Plomari, the capital of this distillation on the south coast, where a museum traces the history of the Barbayannis house. Even without crossing the island, bottles from local distilleries fill every shop in the centre, and shopkeepers gladly offer advice according to each person's taste.

Theophilos, the Barefoot Painter

Three and a half kilometres from the landing, in the suburb of Varia, a small museum moves visitors more than many major collections: that of the painter Theophilos, a native son, a naive artist who travelled across Greece painting tavernas and houses in exchange for a meal. The 86 canvases gathered here, created in the final years of his life, depict heroes of independence, rural scenes and village festivals in bold yet tender colours. Recognized after his death as a major figure of Greek folk art, Theophilos offers a valuable key to understanding the soul of the island, with its mingled pride and melancholy.

Nearby Beaches and Stone Villages

For swimming, the organized beach of Tsamakia is a short walk from the ship, deck chairs and cafés included. Longer port calls allow an excursion to Molyvos, about an hour's drive north: this village of stone houses with red roofs, tiered beneath a medieval castle, ranks among the most beautiful traditional ensembles in the Aegean, with its small fishing harbour surrounded by tamarisks. Along the way, olive groves follow one another endlessly, millions of trees that make Lesbos a land of oil as much as anise, and villages pass by with their men's cafés and domed churches.

At departure, the citadel fades behind the point and a light aniseed taste lingers on your lips, sweet and peppery at once. Mytilene doesn't resemble the white and blue islands of the south: it's bigger, greener, perhaps more serious. It's an island that works, distills and paints. You leave weighed down with a few bottles, feeling you've met a Greece with character, and with a clear desire to come back and explore everything the port call only skimmed.