Chios, Greece
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| Mesta |
Despite
cruel winds, we managed a day touring two of Chios’s famed mastic
villages. Mastic, or a gum resin is
still refined from odd, scrubby trees that grow in the south. It’s most famous use was in the manufacture
of chewy sweets, and considered by the ladies of Istanbul’s harems something of
an aphrodisiac. When Chios withheld
supplies (and the ladies’ needs were strong apparently), the incensed Turks set upon the
Chiot. Numbers killed or enslaved were horrendous, many villages decimated
(1822). However a few rural, mastic
producing villages, mastichochora, were preserved.
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| One of the main gates into the complex village |
We bussed to
Mesta and took an hour to walk through this labyrinthine medieval and
well-fortified village. Cobbled streets,
under vaulted tunnels of two storey houses, lead to a leafy town square set out
with many eateries and a large Baroque style 18th c church, Megas
Taxarchis, said to be one of largest & wealthiest in Greece.
Sadly, church gates were locked, so we continued
following the robust village walls back to our bus stop. Not before investigating a small craft shop,
replete with loom. GS was treated to a
display of very fine weaving and allowed to wander through the cave-like
premises, presumably once a home.
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| Patron Saint perhaps? Mesta |
Next stop,
Pyrgi (peer gee). Here, village houses are covered in xysta, or a mesmerising mix of
geometric patterns cut into white plaster.
Inside the maze of these fascinatingly decorated houses, we stumbled on
the remnants of ancient village walls and just off from the village square, a
complete surprise, the tiny, fresco covered 12th c Ayii Apostoli (Church of the Holy Apostles). These 17th c frescoes, rendered in
Chios folk-art style, are said to be the work of a Cretan artist and are in
beautiful condition (no photos allowed).
To add further to the surprises held by this village, we discovered that
families here claim descent from Christopher Columbus. (Seafaring, now merchant navies, seems to be
a traditional island occupation.)
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| Pyrgi - note the ropes of drying tomatoes & garlic |
Bound by an
infrequent bus service, we did not have time to dally, however on the way home
through desolate rural landscapes, modest resorts and fabulous views across to
Turkey we pondered how such a small island could host one of history’s most
famous sons. Homer is said to have been born on the island (one of many such
claims by similar contenders it would seem) but the northern village of
Volissos appears the favoured site.
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| Hardly room to park a motorbike |
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| Xysta in perfect condition, everywhere |
