The mountain area east of Molivos and Petra is known as Lepetimnos and it holds a treasure of wonderful little villages rarely visited by the beach loving tourists. The locals are especially friendly to visitors on bicycles. At 600 meters high, the air is refreshing and pure and the water spurting from the public fountains is clean and tasty.

Our route takes us through a string of little villages, Stipsi, Ipsilometopo, Pelopi and Kapi, each one worthy of a stop to buy some fresh bread, or drink a strong Greek coffee in those little doll-size cups, or sip an ouzo.

Eventually we meet the main north-south highway from Mytilini and travel on it for a short distance. This stretch has really stupendous views of green mountains, goat herds, the sea, and Turkey. The town of Sikaminia does not sit on the main road, so we'll leave our bikes momentarily to explore its charming homes and friendly inhabitants. In summer, pretty much the entire town retires to Skala Sikiminia on the sea which is where we're headed, too, via a thrilling descending road.

Skala Sikiminia is a heart throbber of a little village. The Mermaid Church built on top of a rock is so named because of the Virgin Mary is portrayed as a mermaid. We'll have lunch here in an inviting taverna right on the sea with octopus hanging all around us to dry. Everything about this village is simply lovely.

We'll want to linger longer in Skala Sikiminia, but we have more cycling left in our day and more surprises. We ride a beautiful, undeveloped dirt road hugging the coast. We're on the look-out for hot springs that ooze out of the sea. There's no building, no sign, nothing to indicate that there are any hot waters in this vicinity, until you spy steam rising from the sea like a gentle fog. We'll stop here for those wanting to bathe in healing waters.

We continue our return on this tranquil dirt road until it hits asphalt near Eftalou hot springs, and then we know we're almost finished with our fabulous bicycle ride in Lesvos.