a truly Greek village, with a splash of tourism: so easy to love.
I can see exactly why visitors fall in love with Petra. I did!
Petra is everything you love about the old days “back home”; relaxed, safe, friendly, colloquial. There is also the beautiful weather, the flat, cobbled, easy layout of the village. Please, don’t forget the stunning sunset, indeed, the best-kept secret of the Aegean.
Petra is just easy.
You find the square on the coastal road, near the small pier, and it is here that you can literally watch all aspects of life pass you by. The ideal pastime for a visitor: relaxing with a coffee, glass of wine, or ouzo with mezze, watching the comings and goings of local village life, from the fisherman passing through first thing in the morning to the evening hustle of coffee time for the locals and pre-dinner drinks for the tourist.
Simplicity, I believe, is something that really appeals to people coming to Greece. Western & northern Europe feels so controlled, manipulated and coaxed into a fixed routine, that when these nationalities are exposed to something different, relaxed and on the whole more ‘humane’ … shockingly allowing yourself to wind down for more than 5 minutes in your day, learning to appreciate sitting and talking with friends spanning generations; they yearn for it all the more. That’s certainly largely why I stayed, those 15 years ago….
Petra is a village that you can get to know in a day or two. This creates an immediate feeling of belonging, and due to the size, inevitably you will see the same local people every day, who will actually say hello!!!! This can be quite revolutionary for some visitors who may never speak to their neighbours back home.
To sit on the beach, in a taverna, watching the sunset, and listening to the sea lapping at the shore is something really magical, and even after 15 years, it is something that never loses its appeal.
Petra attracts repeat customers year in year out, so there is certainly a special charm to the place. I for one, am a convert who, I am delighted to say that aged 22 was brought to Petra by sheer chance, and within months moved to stay permanently. Now, I am married with a family to a local Petra man and count my blessings that my post-graduate London career did not swallow me whole and numb me to the possibility of a different existence.
I believe in fate. I believe I was meant to find Petra & fall in love, not only with my husband but the place itself.
