Petrota must have been at some point in recent history one of the most beautiful settlements in the greater Evros region. Stonemasons that used to live there mostly descended from Epirus, although some claim to have come all the way from Malta. They used to place their well crafted and sculpted stones not only on house walls, but in wells and other construction work. Their wooden pavilion style balconies called “hayatia” seemed to hover in the air. Metaxades up to today still retain the architecture of combining wood and stone to decorate the houses and keep a traditional color all over the village.