By Eriola Bocaj
The next time you decide to visit the Island of Lesvos take a longer trip of about an hour and a half from the port of Mytilini, and visit one of the most interesting and beautiful villages in the western part, Sigri. Even though it’s not considered to be typical city for mass tourism, you will be amazed by the rare landscape architecture and historical relicts that have succeeded to remain in time. The latest trend in Sigri as in the whole island is a shift from mass tourism to more environmentally friendly and sustainable forms of tourism. It is a great village to visit where you can easily adapt to different forms of sustainable tourism, such as cultural, conference, religious, maritime, gastronomic, and nature tourism. These forms of tourism together with the great Mediterranean hospitality of local people may be even more economically viable or environmentally friendly or both. Not only local communities but also tourists can benefit from tourism, both economically and culturally by establishing new links between people and nature. Taking into consideration the unique natural and cultural resources of the city, one can be amazed by the beautiful sandy beaches in a long semi sheltered cove, nice restaurants with delicious fresh traditional food and the rare historical delights of nature, the petrified forests. It is one of the most important villages of the island, that was able to remain untouched and still virgin from the mass investments, urbanization and destructions of the natural environment so that it could still preserve its historical values and importance.On the way to Sigri, through one of the most interesting and varied landscape you could still notice some fossils of petrified trunks, which gives it the unique values of a rare natural museum in the whole island. Located on a picturesque hill on top of the village the new Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest functions as a Protected Natural Monument used to study, research, promote, preserve and conserve the uniqueness of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos.Its development is one of the goals of the whole community in Sigri. Be sure not to lose the chance to taste the great restaurants along the beaches, the nightlife with live music and the perfect Mediterranean climate. Don’t wait. Try the real meaning of relaxing and cultural holidays.
