The petrified forest in Lesvos

The village of Sigri is located approximately 90 kilometres from Mytilini and about 55 kilometres from Molyvos. As far west as you can get on Lesvos. A few kilometres before reaching Sigri, one can make a detour to one of the most overrated attractions I have visited - the petrified forest. The road leading to the petrified forest goes through an extremely barren landscape, it looks like on the planet of Mars, not particularly beautiful in other words, but quite cool.

The petrified forest is unique in Europe, the fact is that there is only one other similar place on our planet and it is located in Arizona, USA. For many years ago there were active volcanoes on Lesvos, it is believed that it was one of these volcanoes' eruption that created the petrified forest. At that time, all kinds of trees grew here, including palm trees, plane trees and pine trees.

After one of the volcanic eruptions, the area was covered with lava, some kind of chemical reaction caused the trees to fossilize under the lava. Eventually, some of the trees were discovered and these are the ones you can study now. There are lots of trees left that have not yet been digged out. The age of the petrified forest is estimated at approximately 20 million years.

To walk around in the burning sun (there is no shadow) and look at petrified trees is - in my opinion - not worth the trip here. And it is definitely not a forest, rather stumps, and if I were to decide, I would have renamed the place to the petrified desert.

If you want to visit the stumps, it's open between 08.30-16.30 every day. Entrance costs about 2 €. Bring a lot of water! If you are very interested in the subject, I can recommend a visit to the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest located in Sigri.

The petrified forest in Lesvos.

This so-called sight is not much to see. Instead, continue to the pleasant village of Sigri and visit the museum.

READ MORE ABOUT LESVOS