The Other Aegean Trails

The island of Lesvos is an attractive alternative tourist destination. With countless areas rich in flora and fauna, it is one of the most important regions globally for biodiversity. This is a fascinating area with varied scenery and an abundance of cultural elements. Lesvos is a destination with a unique identity. The area of Molivos and Petra will reward all visiting walkers. The app ‘Hiking on Lesvos – The Οther Aegean Trails’ is an innovative digital guide for hiking and exploring the walking trails of this beautiful island. It allows hikers to search for key elements of the natural and cultural environment, informing them about their importance as well as how they can contribute to its protection. The app provides the navigation, description, points of interest, technical characteristics and photos of nine hiking trails categorised into six groups. Eight of the trails are circular and one straight. The total length of all the trails is 112.9 km (70.2 miles). Using filters, hikers can choose the most appropriate route for their needs. The app provides offline detailed maps and useful information about the island of Lesvos such as geography, geology, cultural heritage and hiking routes. In the field, the app shows the closest hiking trail and allows live navigation alerting users enroute with messages for points of significant interest close by. The app also has a search facility. In order to build the app and ensure the most accurate data, all the trails in the Molivos-Petra area were explored by qualified scientists and experienced hikers during autumn 2021 and spring 2022. To facilitate the fine tuning of the app, the local community was consulted including members of civil society. Their help was critical in providing local knowledge as well as highlighting the target areas for the development of the app. The current digital app is part of a project coordinated by the Molyvos Tourism Association in cooperation with the Centre for Environmental Policy and Management Group of the Department of Environment, University of the Aegean. The project is funded by ‘Green Funds’ through the program ‘Innovative Actions for Citizens – ‘Natural Environment & Innovative Measures 2020.’