The Gera Bay – Mount Olympus (Natura Protected Area)

Gera Bay is located in the southeast part of Lesvos, with an area measuring 42 sq.km. The bay’s mouth is really narrow, but not straight so that anyone sailing into it has the impression that he has just entered into a lake. Its bottom is covered with seaweed and a great accumulation of plankton. It is really famous for its famous shellfish like its ark clams and cockles. At its western side we see Mount Olympus (alt. 968 m) fully covered with Calabrian pine and chestnut forests, except for its limestone summit zone. This is a habitat for very special fauna, specifically birds such as purple herons, white storks, Rüppell’s warbler and ruddy shelducks, reptiles and amphibians, such as the grass snake (persa), the common grass (water) snake, two species of river tortoises, or invertebrates such as the false Apollo butterfly, or forest mammals such as the Lesvian squirrel, the greater mouse-eared bat, Blasius’ horseshoe bat and a number of rare otters. The flora is very important here too and presents a rich botanical interest with plants like the Alyssum lesbiacum, orchids, reeds, broadleaf cattail, willows, mamnash and elms and many more.