Plaka, Lemnos

Plaka (Greek: Πλάκα) is a village in the northeasternmost part of the island of Lemnos, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Moudros. In 2011 its population was 310 people. The island of Imbros in Turkey is just 24 km northeast. It is situated somewhere in the middle of the straight line between Troy and Mount Athos. Some believe that it is the Ermaion lepas of the ancient, through which was transmitted with fire the news of the sack of Troy to Argos and Mycenae. Although the edge has an elevation of just 70 m, the cape comes deep into the sea and it is easily seen from those two areas. Therefore, in 1912 a 30 m high rotating lighthouse was built with a luminous range of 20 nautical miles (37 km).

Plaka takes its name from the nearby cape Plaka, the northeasternmost point of Lemnos. The cape was mentioned by older travellers under different names: Palaqa burnu (Piri Reis 1521), Blava (Belon 1548, Dapper 1688, Choiseul-Gouffier 1788, Lacroix 1858) and Plaka (Conze 1858, Tozer 1859, De Launay 1894, Hauttecoeur 1903, Fredrich 1904).

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