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Who would have known that our Mayor Pelekas Monastery is the setting of an incredible love story? A love story so touching, and so emotive, you’ll look at the the rocks very differently on your next visit.
 

It has been relayed down from one generation to the next, from the lips of seamen to their grandchildren’s ears, whispers of a long lost love story that has been anchored at sea for centuries now. One hundred meters from the gorgeous sandy beach of Kontogialos bay, across Pelekas Monastery, local folklore speaks of a wedding, a pirate ship and a curse.
 

You may have wondered about the alluring strangeness of these rocky formations that protrude from the sea’s surface.

According to local folklore, ages and ages ago, it was said, that a beautiful maiden was being married on the shore. A pirate ship happened to be sailing by past the cove during the ceremony, and wondered what all the commotion was about. Approaching the beach, it quickly became apparent that a joyous event was taking place, as the crude pirates became witness to a joyous, romantic moment between two common souls.
 

Envying the maiden’s and her groom-to-be’s imminent happiness, the pirates snatched the beautiful bride, ruining all her chances for a wonderful life with her loving husband. The bride’s mother released a cry that foretold of the anguish she felt inside, as she watched her innocent daughter become abducted by the thieves of the sea.
 

She damned the pirates, calling upon all the gods, goddesses and deities she could remember in her distress. She belted out yelping cries of sorrow and despair, as her eyes never leaving the pirate ship, that slowly gained distance from the shore. She soon realised all was lost. Her daughter was already on board a pirate ship, never to be seen or heard of again. In those final moments of mourning, the grieving mother made a wish; that her daughter would be turned to stone and remain in the Ionian sea, caressed by the waves for all eternity, rather than at the hands of the pirates. And so it was.
 

Immediately, her wish was granted. Her daughter, the pirate crew and pirate ship began to harden, to solidify and transformed into the rocks visible 100m from Kontogialos beach today. These rocks have been there ever since, for centuries, silently bearing the secret of such a tragic past.
 

There you have it. A tragic love story that is steeped in legend, yet its remnants are very much a reality.