A Geological Phenomenon
Just half an hour away from Thessaloniki, you can admire a rare geological phenomenon up close and visit the geological park in Nymphopetra.
The geological park in Nymphopetra has been declared a natural monument.
These geological formations are due to the rock that gives the impression of a stone “forest”. The rock is called travertine and belongs to the sedimentary category. Travertine is formed by the suspension or dissolution of materials in a liquid.
The Legend
These strange formations have given rise to various folk myths, the most prevalent being that of a bridal procession that turned into stones.
As residents narrate, in the very old days there was a wedding in the villages of Halkidiki. When the wedding was over, the groom, who came from the basin of Langadas, took the bride with her dowry, and with a large escort they set out to go to the groom’s village. Suddenly the bride, who had taken almost all the things from her mother’s house, remembered that she had forgotten to take the spindle with the flywheel and called for it to be brought to her. When the mother heard her daughter’s order, she became angry about her greed and cursed her, causing the bride with all her entourage to petrify.
Another legend has it that a group of hunters encountered a group of forest nymphs bathing in the crystal-clear waters of a spring. The men were left staring at them in ecstasy but the goddess Artemis, who took notice of them, became angry with their disrespect and petrified them where they stood.
However the scientific explanation of a phenomenon of rocky formations rather interesting and is result of the big geological activity in area during geological evolution, and substratum adjournment. The formed rocks concerns sedimentary breeds which are formed as a result of adjournment of the deposits dissolved in the liquid environment and their subsequent connection.