Almost Complete Chios

Chios is the fifth largest island in Greece, about 30 miles from north to south and almost 20 across, shaped like a kidney.  The main town, also called Chios, is on the East side, facing Turkey, and contains the island's main port and also an airport.  The centre of island is mountainous and there are a number of beaches dotted around.

Chios town is quite built up and busy, with narrow streets fenced in by tall stone walls.  Here's the view from the ferry on Sunday

It's also under the flightpath when take-off is to the north, and my impression was that noise reduction procedures weren't required here - the occasional sound of a jet passing over was deafening and quite exciting for a plane-spotter like me!  In general, though, the island seems quiet and calm.  There are tourists, certainly, but they seem the discreet sort.  In other words, there are no British yobs about.

I had the whole of Monday to explore the island before getting an overnight ferry to Athens.  Here is the room in Agia Fotia which I was lucky to find for Sunday night

and the village itself.

I began the day with a visit to the tourist office in Chios and asking for ideas for a one-day motorbike itinerary, followed by breakfast in a very quiet square just behind the port.

I crossed the mountains at the centre of the island and visited Anavatos, a fortified village deserted in the slaughter of 1822 (more on that later) and untouched since.

Then it was over to the west coast where there are some very quiet beaches, such as this one at Elinda

and down to the southern part of the island to see Mesta and Pyrgi, 2 of the medieval villages in the Mastichochoria region in which mastic gum is produced, then on to Emporio which is known for its black beach.  It didn't look very black to me, though.

Saving the best for last, I returned to the centre of the island to see Nea Moni, a Byzantine monastery, built in the 11th century by Constantine IX.  According to legend it marks the site where 3 monks discovered an icon of the Virgin Mary hanging from a branch of myrtle.  The icon hangs just to the right of the sanctuary

On Good Friday of 1822, 600 monks and 3,200 women and children were taking refuge from the Ottomans in the grounds of the monastery.  They were all slaughtered, and some of the bones of the victims are on display in the Chapel of the Holy Cross

Of a total population of 118,000 on the island before the massacre, only 1,800 remained afterwards, the rest having been killed or taken to the slave marks of Cairo and Smyrna.  I wondered whether to remove the Turkish flag from my panniers after discovering this.  Here are some photos of the main part of the monastery

I returned to one of the quiet beaches in the west to relax until sunset, then crossed back to Chios town for supper in a taverna overlooking the port, waiting for the ferry to arrive and take me to Athens at half past midnight.