Greek Heritage Tourism Highlights Lesbos Petrified Forest and Asterousia Salt Harvest

The Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesbos will launch a high‑specification "Petrified Forest Exploration and Conservation Experience" in 2026. Small groups of up to ten visitors will be guided by geologists along a route that showcases newly created fossil parks, the maintenance of a giant petrified trunk, and the volcanic history that created the western Lesbos fossil forest, a site listed among the world’s 100 most important geological monuments and part of the UNESCO Global Geopark of Lesbos.

In the Asterousia region of Crete, locals continue a centuries‑old tradition of harvesting sea salt from natural rock‑pools. Families descend to the steep coastal pools each summer, carefully collect the evaporated salt, rinse the pools with seawater, and repeat the cycle. The practice, described as a ritual, links present‑day residents to the ancient Minoan inhabitants who first exploited the area’s salt resources.