2000 Greece - Chios Erik and I travelled to the Greek island of Chios just outside the coast of Turkey from 29 April to 6 May, 2000.
|
 |
|
 |
| |
 |
 |
We arrived at the Greek island of Chios on Saturday, April 29, 2000. We stayed at a small "hotel" called Blue Sun Studios, with only a few rooms. It was located at the beach in a small village, Agia Fotini, a few kilometres south of Chios city.
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
This picture shows the city of Chios, and on the other side of the sea is Turkey, where we spent one day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
This is me on the beach in Agia Fotini...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
On May 1, we rented a car and drove off to see the sights of Chios. At one place we had to stop because the road was full of goats. They eventually disappeared up the steep hills, and we went on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
There were many towers like this across the island. We never received a convincing story about why they were there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Our first longer stop of the day was in the city of Pirgi, which is famous for its "sgraffito" - geometric patterns in white and gray painted on nearly all houses.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
We managed to follow a group of German tourists and a guide inside Agioi Apostoloi, a beautiful church from the 12th century.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
This is some of the vegetation on the island. If you look closely you might also see a bee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Here I am in one of the dark streets of Mesta. Walking through the streets of Mesta feels like walking through some underground tunnels.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
In Mesta we found this Ceramics workshop. Of course, we had to buy some souvenirs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
This is Erik at a hilltop overlooking an idyllic bay on the western coast of Chios island.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Over to something not quite as pleasant. In 1822 the Turks massacred more than 25 000 people from Chios, made another 50 000 slaves and scared off most of the others. The population went from 120 000 to 30 000 during this year. Some of the evidence of this massacre is kept at the monastary Nea Moni.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Both young and old people were killed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Nea Moni was founded in 1042 by Emperor Konstantin Monomachos. Before 1822 there were over 600 munks at Nea Moni - now only a handful remains.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
We found this church at a hilltop not far from Chios city. There were no signs indicating that there was a church there, but Erik just had to drive up that road to see what was on the top.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
You might be tired of pictures of churches by now, but what else could we see??
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
Well... we also went swimming and worked on our tans. After driving around an entire day, we found this deserted beach. The water was not as warm as it might look like on this picture.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
And then, finally, a picture from the everyday live in the tiny room at Blue Sun Studios.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
