Lesvos: Sigri

"Sigri is so misunderstood," said our Portuguese artist friend (who will remain un-named) one day at lunch. This brought forth an argument from everyone at the table, led by her husband Waldo, a retired plumber from Akron.
"What's to misunderstand? It's a typical town for mass tourism".
"But that's my point! It's not a tourist town. It just looks like one and there are hardly any tourists there and that's part of the problem"

That's the problem for our un-named friend, whose beautiful watercolors are sold in the small tourist shop in the town at the rate of one or two a month because there really are very few tourists in Sigri. But there should be. It's a beautiful town with a nice beach in a long semi sheltered cove that is perfectly suited to families with small children and some good restaurants with plenty of fresh fish, caught locally, and their specialty which is lobster. To make it even more special there is a big old Turkish castle that overlooks the whole village.

But the most important unknown fact about Sigri is the wind which keeps this part of Lesvos cool when the rest of the island is hot and makes the locals look at you as if you are crazy when you ask them if the room they are renting has air-conditioning. "Air-conditioning in Sigri? You need a blanket at night" our landlady told us in late July. What baffled me was "Why hadn't the wind-surfers discovered this place yet?" The bay is miles wide and winds come down from the Black Sea even when the sea is flat and still a few kilometers away. If the windsurfers ever discover Sigri you will see the town prosper. For now it is just a comfortable port town at the end of the road in northwest Lesvos.

Most people come to Sigri by car, taxi or bus. It's about an hour and a half from the port of Mytilini, through some of the most interesting and varied landscapes on the island. The village is sometimes connected to mainland Greece by ferry service. It was discontinued but in 2005 Saos line began running a ince a week ferry from Lavrion, near Athens.. If you are going to Eressos or staying on the western part of the island this is one way to do it though the late arrival time makes it slightly inconvenient. But you save three hours on the ferry and an hour and a half that it takes to drive from Mytilini to this end of the island.  

The Turkish Castle is probably the towns most impressive man-made feature. Built in 1746 by the Sultan Mehmet, this fortress protected the harbor where the Turks kept their fleet. The stones come from quarries in Sarmaisakh, Turkey, paid for by heavy taxes levied upon the Christian inhabitants of this part of the island. You can walk through the iron door and along the walls for an impressive view of the village and the surrounding sea. One morning during my stay I heard a strange noise like heavy breathing coming from the courtyard of the castle and I crept in quietly to see what it was. There were two owls doing some kind of courting dance and I watched them for 20 minutes in amazement.

The church of Agia Triada was originally built as a mosque. But unlike other mosques which face Mecca, the men who constructed it somehow were able to face it east. Perhaps in 1870 the Turks knew that the winds of change were in the air, or maybe the builders just pulled a fast one. Inside the church is a water cistern which supplied the ships of the Sultan or perhaps the hammam next door. The old hammam (Turkish bath) sits unused since the last Turks left the island in 1923. There are plans to reopen it again, though there seems to be some dispute with the current owner who for some reason is reluctant to see this happen. If the parties concerned can come to terms, a Turkish bath would be a wonderful addition to the village.

The island of Nissiopi which protects the harbor from the open sea has a large amount of petrified trees. The suspicious looking line of telephone poles and wires do not provide power to a secret submarine or missle base, but to the lighthouse that keeps ships from running aground. The summer of 2005 there was a sailing yacht that was laying on the rocks off the coast of Nissiopi, apparently not having headed the warning. Above the village of Sigri is the brand new Museum of Natural History which features many examples of the different kinds of trees found in the nearby petrified forest . Petrified wood is not limited to the forest, but can be found all over the southwestern portion of the island. The now completed museum is well worth the walk to the top of the village. For more information including history and hours click here.
 

In Sigri you have a town that is everything a good tourist town should be. Good food, clean beaches, nice hotels, great family run restaurants with fresh fish, stuff to do and even a tourist shop or two, and yet it is not over-run with tourists. Sigri is certainly at the very least worth a visit for lunch and a swim. The taverna at the town dock called Cavo di Oro (photo) is one of the best restaurants on the island. We had a number of our meals here and loved their barbouni (or maybe it was koutsomoures-they are almost the same but barbouni costs more). Anything we got that was fish was fresh and delicous. But the restaurant got really high-praise with the pikilea, the mezedes they served with ouzo which included, marinated octopus, sardeles pastes, red peppers stuffed with cheese, hot peppers, olives, tomatoes and looked so good I photographed it for a future ad for Ouzo-Matis. The lobster at Remezzo's Fish Taverna impressed me so much that I wrote an entire article about it the first time we came here, several years ago. I have not returned to the restaurant since and the way some of the restaurants advertise lobster these days I don't feel like I need to add to the chorus. I mean how many lobsters can there possible be in Sigri and how many will remain if everyone eats them.  But you can read my review of Remezzos and see a photo of the biggest lobster I have ever seen.   

The town beach is fine, especially for families with children, looking for other families with children and is shallow enough to let you relax if you are a parent.. (If you have a child you will know what I mean.) There is a taverna on the beach and a canteen that sells drinks and snacks. Like many beaches in Lesvos there is also a shower so you can rinse off and not have that salty-skin feeling we all know so well. The beaches to the north and south are simply breathtaking and depending on the time of day, you can have one all to yourself, even in August. The snorkling south of town off the rocks is good with plenty of fish and even an octopus or two. Just follow the dirt road to Eressos. The beach at Tsichlioda is at the end of a long valley that looks like the Alaskan Tundra. You can get close to the sea but it can be rough on your car so take it slow. Though not an officially designated nude beach, there is nobody there to stop you. The beach is about a half mile long and on the southeastern end (on the left if you face the water) is where the Tsichlioda river meets the sea. There are bits and pieces of petrified wood you can find among the sand and gravel on the river delta.

The river itself is facinating and who knows what kind of creatures live beneath the surface. The area is a haven for migrating birds and is featured in Richard Brook's excellent Birding in Lesvos . There are tall swamp grasses and the area is very green even in the summer. The rivers edge is a great place for a picnic and maybe some late afternoon fresh water fishing. You may even discover an unknown spieces that you can photograph, name it after yourself and then throw it back. If you continue on the dirt road that winds through the nearly treeless mountains and valleys you will eventually come out in the village of Eressos.

The beaches to the north of Sigri like my favorite, Faneromeni, are also beautiful and uncrowded. The waves can be big here when the wind blows from the north. Big enough for body-surfing at least. There is a small area that is sheltered by rocks that give you the best of both worlds. Waves for you and the teens and a safe harbor for the non-swimmers and youngsters. Faneromeni beach is seperated by a large rock that offers shade, and a place to dive off if you are one of those people who don't like sand. The Tapsas river does not quite make it to the sea, at least not in July, but if you bring bread you can probably coax some kind of creature to the surface, most likely a water turtle. At the end of the beach is the Zoedochos Church which is built into a rock. The whole valley is great for walking when the weather is not too hot. Bring water.

Sigri is destined for popularity. It's proximity to Rafina and the Cyclades (and to Lavrion which may one day be Greece's main port), combined with its natural beauty, great restaurants, friendly people and ample accommodations make it a dream destination for travelers who want to experience the Greek islands without all the bells and whistles of mass tourism. Within 2 years there will in all probability be a daily boat from Athens, perhaps even one of the new high-speed ferries that will make the trip from Rafina in three hours. I imagine that sooner or later some lucky wind-surfer will discover the place and spend a few solid weeks racing back and forth on the sea, waiting for the wind to let up so he can go elsewhere, finally giving up and going home to tell his friends and eventually Sigri will be to the North Aegean what Prasonisi, Rhodes is to the south.

But don't wait until then. Come now.

In terms of a bar-scene and nightlife most of the activity is in the restaurants and cafes but there are a couple in Sigri. But all you need in a town is one good bar to make it fun and if you have one good bar who cares how many others there are? Sigri has at least one good bar with live music and jazz.

Be sure to buy Sigri: Where the Road Ends, written and illustrated by Roy Lawrance. It is an excellent guide to the area, wildlife, history and society, that we used for reference during our visit. Take a look at my Sigri Photo Album from the summer of 2005 too.

For hotels and more information on spending your holidays in Sigri see  Lesvos Hotels . I recommend the Sigrion Villas and the Evangelina Apartments owned by a very nice Greek-American family from Mississippi! Their daughter Cindy runs Hyphenology, a cultural-educational program in English for highschool kids.