4 Best Sights in Sigri, The Northern Aegean Islands

Every day in summer, a glass-bottomed boat sails from Sigri port across to Nissiopi island, Greece's first marine fossil park. Once home to dinosaurs and giant forests, guides from the Natural History Museum explain how huge, fossilized trunks came to be buried in layers of ash. The fascinating trip finds tree stumps petrified beneath the waves and describes the birth of the Aegean Sea millions of years ago.

Ancient trees fossilized by volcanic ash up to 20 million years ago stand stark on a hillside above Sigri. If you're expecting a thick woods, you might be taken aback by this seemingly barren site that at first appears as a collection of stumps leaning every which way among shrubs and rock. However, a walk along well-organized trails reveals delicate colors and a haunting, strange beauty. You can also study the specimens at Ipsilou, a large monastery on the highest peak in this wild, moonscape-like volcanic landscape, overlooking western Lesvos and Asia Minor across the Aegean.

An end-of-the-world atmosphere prevails at this lovely stretch of sand at the far west of the island just north of Sigri, punctuated by a rocky outcropping and fronting a green river valley, where you're likely to see waterfowl and turtles. Amenities: parking (no fee). Best for: nudists; solitude; sunset; swimming; walking; windsurfing.

Discover how the nearby Petrified Forest was created in this interesting museum whose exhibits are scrupulously labeled and clearly laid out. The museum's own patch of the forest transports viewers 20 million years back in time to violent volcanic eruptions. Alongside the giant sequoia trunks there are also unique fossils of animals like the Deinotherium, an early ancestor of the elephant, and tiny vegetation remnants preserved on volcanic rock that resembles delicate Zen art.