The village of Petra, a friendly neighbor with many faces...

It is a rather strange place this, Petra, (meaning The Big Rock, referring to a big rock in the middle of the village with a church on top). I have some kind of hate-love for it. It is so different from the village where I stay, in famous Molivos.  Petra is strange to me because, it is a mixture of art, tranqulity and rather simple, not to say too much of tacky tourist attractions. 

I will come back to this village again, for special purposes. 

I go here both now and then, to enjoy the charming Agora 

and behind any of its many street corners, meet tranquility in beautiful alleys,

 as well as ordinary family houses with the laundry hanging to dry. 

The gem of the village, at least to me, is the incredible church of Agios Nikolaos, one of the very oldest Byzantine churches on the island and certainly with the most incredible frescoes. But the church itself is not so big, but touches me deeply in its profound simplicity. I was recently here with a close friend of mine, who is an Interior Architect with restoration of buildings as specialty. She "happened" to meet the chief restoration architect, when we paid a visit to the church.And that was it! I had a nice and rather long rest while they were going through the work of the new cieling with special, very durable wood from another island and they even peeked in behind the thick paper that protected the frescoes from dust. Just look at the delicate hands and the faces of the saint! It will take another two years to restore the whole church in its old splendor again, but the work 

with the new cieling and the roof will soon be ready. 

I will certainly try be there at the inauguration. 

Knowing pople in this country a bit,

 this will certainly give the local Greeks the chance to celebrate and party...   

Cooling green Agora in 40 degrees

  

Silence

Official building

A lot of black in Greece, for sorrow and for joy

Photo taken by Architect Susanne H. Eklund of a frescoe in the church of Agios Nikolaos