Lovely Lesbos is a lush, jade gem hidden in plain site — 10km (6 mi) from the Turkish coast — yet far from the maddening crowds. Life moves resplendently slow here and history hovers in millenniums. Step ashore and ponder where the poet and muse Sappho loved and sang; where Odysseus paused; and Homer’s Iliad stormed. Follow Mytilene’s cosy cobbled lanes to its fortified castle that presides like a sentinel over all. An island of fishermen, forests (some petrified) and a bevvy of birds singing praises to Orpheus, this Greek isle’s culture leans closer to Antonia and tilters on utter enjoyment.