Where is the ‘pocket-sized’ Greek sahara desert?

A unique natural landscape for Greece in the northern Aegean Sea

Lemnos is one of those Greek islands whose beauties are being discovered slowly by an increasing number of Greeks and foreign visitors.

Justifiably so, as anyone who comes here knows that they will enjoy stunning beaches, can do water sports, admire archaeological sites and beautiful traditional architecture, try excellent dishes and cheeses and drink wines that are now internationally acclaimed. But in the end, what made the biggest impression on us when we visited Lemnos had nothing to do with the beaches, nor with gastronomy, nor is it a man-made creation.

We must admit that when we embarked on this little excursion to the sand dunes of Lemnos – since the locals in Myrina, where we were staying, insisted that we “must” visit the “Thick Sands”, as they call them – we were a little sceptical about whether it was worth it. We thought the dunes are one of those places that are impressive in photos, but in person they are nothing special. Well, we were wrong. Lemnos is generally a barren island, but even the most indifferent visitor is struck by such a landscape. As we watched others climbing up the large dunes, we thought of mythical caravans in the Sahara. The fact that around the huge areas of land on which the dunes are spread, one can see a quite rich vegetation with wild olive trees, wild pear trees, oleanders and other plants contributes even more to the uniqueness of this extraordinary landscape, quite unusual for the Greek terrain. Of course you’ll take pictures, lots of pictures, that’s what we do. But the highlight of our visit – which we highly recommend – was taking off our shoes and rolling in the sand.

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