By Lilika Kais, July 2008Welcome to Meditarranean fairy tale village - Sigri. It's a tiny, with a population of 300, settlement on the north-west coast of Greek island of Lesvos. The island in general, also Sigri, is quite untouched from mass tourism, which makes the place even more appealing for the real Greek experience seeker. Being a part of the group of tourist for couple of days in Sigri, I became to wonder why people come and what makes them stay in this secluded part of the world?Apparently for a tourists the answer is easy – the sun and the blue sea with nice secluded beaches, laidback lifestyle, friendly people, good food, cosy housing, picturesque village architecture with a castle on the shore and unique petrified forest nearby. The sunsets are amazing especially from the restaurant onthe shore when looking the fishing boats coming to the tiny home port, and the most important thing – there aren't many other annoying tourists. Very appealing is that instead of being lost in enormous hypermarkets you can do your groceries at a little shop, tiny bakery or stop a vegetable car for fresh fruits.But as a tourist, is it worth coming back here again? I would say definatley! Two female American tourists agree with me and mention that it is such a romantic and calm place that they would certainly wanna come back here to spend a relaxing holiday with a boyfriend or husband and one of them says she definetly wants to bring her mom here. Both of them dream that it would be so nice to bring their future families to this picturesque and safe place. Now that they have tried out Sigri on their own, it is a safe bet to recommend the place to their close friends.Trickier question is why stay here for good? It is easy to assume that people would rather leave small rural villages. When talking to some local people I find out that Sigri is the place they want be. Local jeweller, whose shop sells unique artwork, says that instead of careless city rush, the village provides quality of life where the real values are prevailing. „This life is fair“ he says, continuing that people are not suffering, they are engaged in different activities, for example owning small businesses like bakery or a shop, letting rooms, selling vegtables, keeping restaurants, or working as a fisherman, sheperd or a construction worker. The 8 year old son of a beach restaurant owner, who is also a charming little waiter for us, likes living in Sigri. With a sunshine in his eyes he says „I like everything about it, the sun and the sea... whats here not to like“. And he says he would't mind living here in the future.
A pub owner from the corner found a way back to his childhood home after having spent several years in Athens. He got fed up from the fuzz and stress of the big citiy where everybody is in constant rush and people do not have time even to get to know their neighbours. „It all depends on what your purpose in life is,“ he says, emphasizing that the life here is simple and real, you are in touch with the nature and the whole community; you have time to enjoy the moon and the sunshine.“You feel the sadness of the neighbour here“, he goes on explaining that someone's grief is everybodies grief and and someones joy is everybodys joy. On the question what the village is missing his eyes start glowing and he says „more ACTION!... theatre, celebrations, ping-pong, a bit more tourists.... “ continuing with a cunning smile that he has some interesting plans how to revive the everyday life of the village. By the end of our talk he asks us to write down the phrase „It is worth to reach the end of the road“ in our own language to be printed in the local newspaper. I write proudly as the first Estonian „Tee lυppu on vδδrt jυuda!“. I couldn't agree more, Sigri is really worth every single minute spent here!
A pub owner from the corner found a way back to his childhood home after having spent several years in Athens. He got fed up from the fuzz and stress of the big citiy where everybody is in constant rush and people do not have time even to get to know their neighbours. „It all depends on what your purpose in life is,“ he says, emphasizing that the life here is simple and real, you are in touch with the nature and the whole community; you have time to enjoy the moon and the sunshine.“You feel the sadness of the neighbour here“, he goes on explaining that someone's grief is everybodies grief and and someones joy is everybodys joy. On the question what the village is missing his eyes start glowing and he says „more ACTION!... theatre, celebrations, ping-pong, a bit more tourists.... “ continuing with a cunning smile that he has some interesting plans how to revive the everyday life of the village. By the end of our talk he asks us to write down the phrase „It is worth to reach the end of the road“ in our own language to be printed in the local newspaper. I write proudly as the first Estonian „Tee lυppu on vδδrt jυuda!“. I couldn't agree more, Sigri is really worth every single minute spent here!
