30/03/2023
24. Chios National Geographic Adventure
https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2023/03/the-25-best-greek-islands-to-visit-in-2023
Greeks call the big, north-Aegean island of Chios ‘Myrovolos’ (‘fragrant’) for its citrus groves and wild herbs, but above all for the gum mastic trees that grow only here. Even on this island, they only flourish on the hills of the south; evergreen, with trunks that writhe like dancers at a bacchanalia. In summer, the trees undergo the ‘needling’ that will make the trees weep ‘tears’ — the sweet resin that dries and hardens and has been prized since antiquity, used to treat stomach ailments, to make cosmetics, sweets and the liqueur in a Greek mojito, and as a varnish for paintings.
Chios is made for touring. Don’t miss the Byzantine mosaics at 11th-century Nea Moni monastery (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the ghost town of Anavatos, abandoned since a massacre of the townsfolk by the Ottomans in 1822 (Eugène Delacroix’s famous painting of this, now in the Louvre Museum, rallied international support for the Greek War of Independence). ‘Craggy Chios’, as Homer called it, defines the north of the island — here, aim for the village of Volissos, with its medieval castle, high above beautiful Agia Markella Beach.
The lively capital, Chios Town, rebuilt after an earthquake in 1881, still has its Byzantine castle walls, as well as several museums and four seafront windmills. Just to the north, Vrontados is popular over Greek Easter, when rival churches bombard each other with homemade fireworks. DANA FACAROS
