Vatera is an 7-kilometer long sandy beach in the southern part of Lesbos island. The name (Βατερά) comes from βάτα (vata): prickly bushes that blocked the old mule-drive access. It is 55Km in total from Mytilini. The 7Km long, sandy beach here, backed by vegetated hills and looking out to Hios and Psara, offers some of the warmest, cleanest swimming on Lesvos. Several family hotels and taverns with traditional tastes are across the biggest beach on the island. 3Km west you can gaze out to the cape of Agios Fokas, where foundations and columns stubs remain of the temple of Dionysos and an early Christian basilica.