Chios Island
Photo Gallery
Welcome in Chios Island, the homeland of Homer, the island known like „Paradise of the East" during Giustiniani Genoese family, the island where Christopher Columbus payed a visit around 1474, the island depicted by French painter Delacroix in his famous painting „The Massacre of Chios", exhibited at Louvre Museum, the island of mastic and wine and the island of sailors. A blessed place with a continuous history of 8.000 years, the island is nowadays a summer destination, with 66 picturesque villages, a favourite destination both for Greeks and for foreign tourists, especially from Germany, Holland, Norway, Switzerland, Coreea, Italy, France, Turkey. The island can be visited by ferryboat, from Piraeus (5-8,5 hours) and Northern Greek harbours (Tessaloniki and Kavala). Close to Chios Town there is an airport. There are plane connections from Athens, Thessaloniki, Myconos, Lesvos, Santorini, Kos, Rhodes, and Samos. Weekly charter flights are scheduled directly from Dusseldorf, Brussels, Zurich, Amsterdam, Oslo, Vienna and Cardiff. Also, there are daily connections with the Turkish coastline by ferry. Around the island there are some other small islets, two of them - Inousses and Psara - daily connected by ship with Chios. There are hotels, traditional hostels, appartments, rooms and traditional houses to let.
Chios is an island with a huge touristical potential, because its excellent climate, it's relief - a mixture of sea and mountains (the highest mountain - Mt. Pelinaios, 1,297 m) -, its sandy or pebbles beaches - some of them deserted, some of them very cosmopolite, with facilities for nautical sports. There are some Blue Flag beaches on the island - for example Vrontados (5 km north of Chios Town) or Nagos. Very close to Chios Town, there is other beautiful beach, Daskalopetra, situated at the foot ot Mount Epos, rich in vegetation and watersprings. Here one can see Homer's rock, where, according the legend, Homer stood to teach his students. Chios has a very fertile soil. It's know like the island of mastic, jasmine, of orchards and orange and olive groves.
Because its great location, on the commercial route to the Black Sea and the East, near both the coast of Asia Minor and the Ionians, Chios knew lots of invasions and wars. Nowadays keep lots of traces of its great history and rich civilisation.
Chios's inhabitants kept their customs, their language and their religion unaltered, even during the period of the Turkish occupation - when the island had self-administration. That are different here from the rest of Greece, on this island there are many churches and monasteries built with very different architectural characteristics. Some of the churches are small reproduction of the famous Nea Moni, a monastery situated in the center of the island at Provateio mountain - one of the most important monuments of all Christian Orthodoxy, but lots of other churches and monasteries are interesting because their uniqueness.
The arts, architecture and hagiography have made major advances in Chios. Chios developed a personal architectural style. There are three main units of architectural activity: Chios town and Kambos, the Mastichochoria and the villages built in the north of the island. It's interesting to see and understand the differences.
Chios it's a very verdant island. The wildflowers of Chios can be enjoyed by visitors throughout the year. The houses have lots of trees and flowers. In Kambos - 3 km south of Chios Town, along the east coast - for example, there is the residential part of the island and one of the most beautiful area of the island, full of orchards and citrus groves. In 14th century, the Genoese built here their mansions and nowadays here are the summer mansions of the old aristocratic families of Chios. Arched doors and windows, arcades with small marble pillars, balconies held up by small arches, interior and exterior stairs, huge entrance gates with coats-of-arms and various reliefs, elaborate cisterns decorated with marble reliefs, pebbled courtyards and frescoed ceilings, gardens of flowers offer a uniqueness in the architectural style of the area. Lots of the old mansions was restored and nowadays are used like lovely traditional inns.
The Chios's residents have kept the old tradition of pottery, manufacturing decorative and useful ceramic items and embroideries. The tourists can find these "wonders" in small shops in many villages.