The waterfront comes alive with traffic by 8am and stays that way until just after 1 pm, when the stores close and everyone goes home for lunch and siesta. By early evening the city is alive again with activity. This is not your typical quiet Greek island village but it is certainly a very entertaining place. The main street is lined with cafes that seem to be full year round. For the rest of the island Mytilini is the big city.
Smaller villages send their children here for high-school.
People come from all over the island to do their shopping, since there are super-markets in the true sense of the word, with aisle after aisle of imported and domestic products. There are cultural activities, concerts of all styles of music, basketball tournaments, an indoor swimming pool and of course the city is the center of island Government, not only for Lesvos but for Lemnos too. The marketplace is one of the most active in Greece with shops of every variety, closed to automobile traffic while the stores are open. There is ample evidence of the plentiful fish in Lesvos' waters, and prices are low. There is a line of fish tavernas on the far side of the harbour and of these, the last one, called Stavros, is particularly good.