The view from the monastery perched high above the town of Platanos on Leros island

Travelling 10nm south from our last anchorage we arrived in the secure harbour of Lakki on Leros Island. We we able to tie up to the wall of the inner harbour right in front of the main ' drag strip' of town. High powered motorbikes and hotted up cars seem to be popular with young Greek males-something to do with testosterone! Each evening they enjoy roaring up and down the main strip which is often the harbour front, showing off their powerful machines and dragging off their mates. It seems to be a popular summer evening activitiy as we have observed on many harbour fronts of the islands we have come through!
Leros has a very interesting history which we enjoyed learning about. The Italians had a strong presence here from 1912-1943 and established a naval and army base on the island. So a lot of the architecture is Italian influenced and quite a change from from the normal Greek style. Large yellow and cream painted art deco buildings are arranged around wide tree lined streets. Many of these buildings were subsequently used as mental hospitals after WWII and Leros had something of a reputation as a 'Devil's Island'.
Leros for the most part is quite a green, wooded island covered in pine and eucalypt trees. We enjoyed our ride over the hill to the main town of Platanos and visited the large castle / monastery and now museum that dominates the town. We had to leave our bikes at a much lower level and climb the many steps to the entrance. Aside from the beautiful Greek Orthodox chapel, the castle contains a museum containing many manuscripts, religious artworks and priests robes. The view out to sea from the windows was breathtaking. Back in Lakki we were able to visit the Army museum, located in underground tunnels, which had a comprehensive collection of memorabilia from the Italian and German presence there, as well as the German invasion in 1943, when a local Destroyer "the Olga' was blown up by the Germans in the harbour. Germany invaded and took control of Leros, Kalymnos and Kos during WWII because of these island's excellent strategic position in this part of the Med.