Submitted by: Lili Ilieva
At the most western part of the island of Lesvos, after a 3 hours travelling by bus from Mytilini, on the hilly and curly narrow roads, a small fishing village called Sigri is situated. Surrounded by picturesque nature and gorgeous beaches, this unique place has several small and cosy family restaurants serving delicious food. The village is not a typical touristic hotspot and although the Museum of Petrified Forest attracts the tourist attention, few of them stay overnight. This might be considered as a problem from the locals, because some of them depend on the tourism for their income, but the fact that Sigri is not overcrowded by tourists from all around the world makes it so charming.
During my stay at Sigri, I had the chance to explore the surroundings and discovered several small rocky beaches. My adventure however didn’t finish without problems and I was wounded on my way back through the bushes. My first stop in Sigri was the doctor (whose name will remain anonymous) and I was lucky to find her there. After a small chat with her, it turned out that we can talk in Bulgarian with her (my mother tongue). I was feeling for a second at home, speaking my language and being understood. This is when my childhood fear from doctor’s cabinets disappeared. The doctor has studied medicine in Bulgaria and spoke fluent Bulgarian, which amazed me and gave me confidence to discuss different topics with her. Although she is not from Lesvos, she finds Sigri a nice and quite place for working in the summer; however she was missing the atmosphere of her home city and confirmed that winters in Sigri are not that pleasant.
After our conversation in Bulgarian, both of us were happy to have met each other and exchanged thoughts. We both travelled in the past with our memories for Bulgaria and I felt so understood being several hundred kilometres away from home in a not so different culture. Here is where my adventurous experience of the island of Lesvos finished, in the most appropriate place with the most unexpected conversation.
