Informational Talk, Exploration, and Sunset Gaze

Saturday 16th July, 2022, 6 pm

#WALKTHEFOREST

The visitors of Lesvos’s Petrified Forest are welcome and invited to a beautiful afternoon exploration and talk at the park of Plaka on Saturday July 16th at 6pm. 

The event will commence with a presentation and informational talk in the Museum followed by an explorative encounter with important fossil bearing areas and geomorphs on the coastline.

The Plaka Park is located 800 metres south of the village of Sigri and its soil bears fruit of the past, valuable fossils. The park is divided into two sections: the western coastal area and the eastern inland area. Research conducted by the Natural History Museum of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos has brought to light plant fossils of great historic importance. More than fifty standing and downed tree trunks of coniferous and angiosperm trees and root networks lie as beacons of beauty and history in this geotope.

Among the fossils, the trunk of a cinnamon tree stands proudly; it is the biggest in diameter petrified trunk in the world. Its perimeter is 13.5 meters and it has an impressively complex root network. This is a cinnamon tree of gigantic size and informs us about the forest’s ecosystem from that time.

In the coastal section, visitors can see the trunk of a decumbent poplin tree with an impressive length of 14 meters.

Visitors will also have the chance to encounter the pine trees of the park as well as a vast variety of fruit-bearing plants (angiosperms). This wide array of plants which filled Lesvos’ s landscapes 20 million years ago, has not been observed in other lands before. Plants fossils from pine, cinnamon, plane, palm, and poplar trees as well as laurels will inform the visitors about a different zone of forest vegetation. The numerous petrified trunks, the richly diverse flora and fauna, the volcanic and coastal geomorphs that gave shape to our past and present make the Plaka Park a landmark for geological insight. The smoothness of the ground allows for a peaceful and effortless hike. Adults and children are both welcome!

The afternoon exploration and talk consists of two parts:

1. Museum (18:00-18:20)

• Screening and presentation about the park, the fossils, and the coastal geomorphs.

2. Exploration of Plaka Park

• Departure from the museum and walk up to the Plaka Park.
• Informational talk about the rare specimens in the fossil-bearing areas of the park.
• Sunset gaze 

For some information or to report interest in joining us that afternoon, call at this number: 22530-54434.

You can book a ticket online through the website www.lesvosmuseum.gr  or at the museum before the start of the event.

(Minimum attendance for event to take place: 5 people)