Petra is a beautiful seaside village turned upmarket holiday resort on the northern shore of the attractive Greek Aegean island of Lesvos. The village gets its name 'Petra' (meaning 'rock') from the huge rock that is found in the centre of the village, on which the 18th century church of Panagia Glykofiloussa still stands.
My first encounter with Petra was in the summer of 2007, when I was travelling by ferry from one Greek island to the next. Before then, I had never heard of this village, and had only the faintest idea about what to see and to do on the island of Lesvos. But as soon as I set my eyes on Petra's cute little village streets and its nice sandy beach, I know this will not be the my last visit to this beautiful seaside paradise. It has nice sea views, a sweet village street scene, nice pastel-coloured houses which are the kind of 'dream house' I have always wanted for myself, and several little cafes and bars right on the beach that offers both exceptional views of the Aegean sea and really delicious local cuisines at affordable prices.
One of the best things about Petra is its size. The whole village centre is compact enough to walk from one side to the other within less than 20 minutes. And it takes more or less the same time to walk along the paved two-lane traffic road next to the fine sandy beach from one side of the sea to another. Almost each and every street of this village is full of photogenic houses with nice courtyards and colourful portals, all of which are motifs which easily capture the imagination of tourists like me, looking for a nice, picturesque and colourful 'prototype' Greek village to spend a few leisurely days in the summer.
The Church of Panagia Glykofiloussa, situated on a huge piece of rock at the centre of the village, offers a great vantage point for some great panaromic views of the sea, the bay and the whole village of Petra. I did not go up to the church, however, during my first visit to Petra due to lack of time. It was not until the summer of 2010, when I returned to Petra once more and stay almost one week in this charming little village, that I finally ascended the rock-cut steps leading up to the gate of the church. The views of the red tile roof of the houses in the centre of the village reminds me of the hilltop villages in rural Provence, except that here in Petra, the landscape has both the mountains and the sea, which makes it all the more attractive and sensual.
A single-lane road connects Petra with the next village, Anaxos. One could walk from one end of Petra to the other end along this road in about 15-20 minutes. Along the way one finds some of the best sandy beaches on the island of Lesvos, together with one of the best sunsets one could ever hope to see in the whole of Greece. There are more sandy beaches in the village of Anaxos, but as Anaxos itself is not as lovely as Petra, most visitors to Lesvos still favour to stay in Petra instead of in Anaxos.
In the winter, Petra is a very quiet village with less than one thousand round-the-year residents; many of the cafes and hotels in Petra are run by those who have their permanent residence in Mytilini or even Athens. In the summer, however, the number of residents swell to some tenfolds of its winter size, and things really come alive in Petra, especially in the evenings, with live music played out aloud by traditional musicians in the traditional village taverns and bars that centre around the village's main street and the little square. People were invited to dance on the streets, under the grapevines, to the cheers and clappings of the onlookers. For those who prefer to share a romantic evening out dining with their loved ones, there are plenty of taverns with seaside dining seatings right next to Petra's sandy beach, where delicious Greek fares and the best ouzos are served against the backdrop of some of the most scenic and unfortgettable views amongst the Greek islands. It is a place that really makes one relax and learn to enjoy the finer things in life.
Regular intercity buses connect Mytilini with Petra and Molivos several times a day. The bus stop is about 400m outside of Petra's village centre, on the main road between Mytilini-Petra-Molivos. Another bus connects Molivos with Petra and the neighbouring village of Anaxos. According to some local reports, it is said that negotiations are underway to open a new ferry route between Ayvalik in Turkey with Petra, a news which is welcomed by the locals as this would greatly improve the volume of tourist traffics to Petra and Molivos, but until now, no official confirmation of this new route has been received yet. Let's wait and see if this proposed link really materialised in 2012.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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