Chios tours are host-led trips on Chios, a North Aegean island known for mastic. The sections look at the southern mastic villages and the Monastery of Agios Minas. They also cover the xysta walls of Pyrgi and Genoese trade. Further topics are the memory of 1822 and the walled village of Mesta. Related pages cover Greek souvenirs and Greece and Turkey tours. More regions appear on the Greece tours page.
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What are Chios tours?
Chios tours, led by a host, centre on an island nicknamed the Mastic Island. Mastic is a tree resin, a gum that seeps out through the bark. In the south, seven villages have controlled mastic production on Chios since the Roman period.
The seven mastic villages behind Chios tours are Elata, Lithi, Vessa, Olympi, Kalamoti, Mesta and Pyrgi. In Byzantine times, the emperor held the mastic trade as a monopoly. A monopoly gives one party the sole right to sell a product. Historic villages such as Armolia, Myrmighi and Kalimassia lie between Chios Town and the mastic villages.
Kataraktis and, further south, Nenita are fishing villages on the east coast. For the growers of the island behind Chios tours, producing mastic resin is a year-round task. The harvest itself goes by the name kentos. Nine people sit on the board of the growers’ association; three hold permanent seats and six win elections.
To start the harvest, growers clear the ground around each tree and sprinkle it with calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is a white mineral powder, the substance of chalk and limestone. The mastic villages of the island behind Chios tours look like fortresses, hidden from the sea. High walls ring them, and no doors open at street level.
- Wealth: Under Ottoman rule, the mastic crop was the mainstay of the famous wealth of Chios.
- Treasury: Chios paid substantial sums into the imperial treasury while taxes on islanders stayed light.
- Province: The Ottoman government placed Chios in the top rank of its valuable provinces.
Merchant shippers of the island behind Chios tours carry mastic, olives, figs, wine, mandarins and cherries. A merchant shipper is a trader who moves goods by sea. A mandarin is a small citrus fruit, close to the orange.
Which story does the Agios Minas Monastery give Chios tours?
Chios tours share an island with the Monastery of Agios Minas. It overlooks the village of Neochori from a nearby hill. Agios Minas is Greek for Saint Menas. Monks or nuns share a life of prayer in a monastery.
Father Neofitos Koumanos and his son, Father Menas, built the monastery between 1572 and 1595. The work fell in the time of Patriarch Jeremiah II. A patriarch is a senior leader of the Orthodox Church. At first the house held monks, but in 1932 it became a nunnery, a home for nuns.
Under Ottoman rule, the monastery on the island of Chios tours kept a school and a noteworthy library. During the massacre of 1822, crowds of islanders died inside its chapel and courtyard. Bloodstained stone floors in the chapel still bear witness to the victims. A courtyard is an open space ringed by walls or buildings.
The Mausoleum of the 40 Martyrs, in the courtyard, keeps the bones of victims. A mausoleum is a tomb building; martyrs are people killed for their faith. Once, 35 nuns lived there, busy with crafts and the sewing of church robes. Today only 11 nuns live in the monastery behind Chios tours.
- Distance: Neochori lies about 9 kilometres from Chios town, which locals call Chora.
- Parish church: The main church of Neochori honours the Virgin Mary and shows 19th-century local building style.
- Old records: Medieval manuscripts mention Neochori, but no trace of its Middle Ages survives.
Neochori is part of the municipality of Agios Minas on Chios. Voters there choose the councillors who run that municipality. The people of Neochori, on the island of Chios tours, are mainly farmers. Farmers grow crops or raise animals for a living.
What do travellers ask about Chios tours, and what are the answers?
Chios tours concern an island that the Greek Navy reached in November 1912. After a series of clashes, the navy took control of Chios. A navy is the sea-going armed force of a country. Chios then became part of the free Greek state.
Before Chios tours, what is the xysta craft of Pyrgi?
Xysta is the local name for sgraffito, still practised in the village of Pyrgi. Sgraffito means scratching through a top coat to show another colour beneath. Rows of fine geometric patterns cover the bulk of the houses and public buildings there. Local craftsmen first made them to show their range of patterns and skill.
For Chios tours, how did the Genoese run the mastic trade?
The Genoese held Chios for profit rather than conquest. They ran its trade posts and warehouses, chiefly for mastic, alum, salt and pitch. Alum is a mineral salt that fixes dye. Grain, wine, oil and cloth were traded jointly with local people. The Latin rulers stayed largely in the town and allowed religious freedom.
Near Chios tours, how is the massacre of 1822 remembered?
In 2021 the Holy Synod declared Metropolitan Plato of Chios, a senior bishop, a saint. The act also named 43 others, martyred in 1822, as saints. Their memory is kept each year on the Sunday of the Paralytic. A student’s draft of a Delacroix painting of the massacre hangs in the Athens War Museum.
Before Chios tours, how old is the mastic village of Mesta?
Scholars place the founding of Mesta in the 12th century, in the Byzantine era. The Genoese strengthened its walls between 1346 and 1566. In the village centre, the church of the Older Taxiarchi dates from 1794. From Chios town, Mesta stands 35 km away to the south-west, with the coast 4 km off.
Featured photo: Eva-tzi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (File:Pyrgi village photo 1.jpg).