The Greek island of Lesbos, a quiet Aegean isle known for its olive oil and ouzo, has seen a drastic transformation as thousands of Syrian refugees arrive along its rocky shore.

An average of 40 dinghies arrive on beaches each day carrying migrants fleeing Syria via Turkey. Weather permitting, the boat count can reach 100, and the average daily number of arrivals ranges between 2,000 and 4,000, according to recent reports.

It鈥檚 a daunting figure for Lesbos, which has around 85,000 residents and is typically untouched by international tourism. These days its shorelines are littered with deflated black dinghies and abandoned life vests.

For many refugees, Lesbos is their first stop in Europe as they begin long journeys north. The mass migration often means that local buses are teeming with riders, forcing some migrants to walk about 50 kilometres to the nearby port. Once there, ferries take them to mainland Greece.

Some still bear the scars of war-ravaged Syria. Migrants with prosthetic legs, walkers and missing limbs are not an uncommon sight on the island.

Volunteers from around the world have arrived in Lesbos to help guide the rubber boats to safety, often paying out of pocket to help direct the dinghies to safety.

The coming months are expected to bring choppier seas, which may mean a drop in the number of migrants willing to make the journey. For now, the influx of Syrian refugees appears to remain steady.

Lesbos is just one of many small European areas affected by the moving migrants. In a rural German town, a local pizzeria was into a temporary home for at least two dozen refugees as tourists took over the streets of Munich for Oktoberfest.

With files from CTV鈥檚 Daniele Hamamdjian in Lesbos, Greece