There was once a king of the island who decided to distribute it to
his two sons. So he decided that the best would be if each of his two sons started
to walk from the two extreme points of the island, Myrina
and Plaka. The point where
they would meet would be the center and would become the border of each one's
possession. Curiously they met where the village of Aghios Demetrios is built
today. The one walking form Plaka
had started much earlier than the other one. So the other one called him "lera",
which in Greek means deceit. Since then the village was named Lera. It was one
of the few villages on the island with Turkish population before 1912. After the
population exchanges, 556 refugees from Reis Dere of Asia
Minor settled in the village and named it Aghios Demetrios. Aghios Demterios
was their patron Saint at Reis Dere. They used to cultivate vineyards and produce
most of the Limnian vine. Most of them are excellent musicians.
This text (extract) is cited May 2003 from the Lemnos
Provincial Government tourist pamphlet (1997).
