Visiting the beautiful island of Chios!

After Samos we sailed north to Chios. It was a beautiful sail and I could stay on front deck most of the trip. We anchored in Komi Bay, on the south east side of the island. The water was beautiful and warm and we took a swim in the evening.

In the morning we went ashore to do a hike up to Profiti Ilias on the mountain behind this building. Not very high and not very long. Perfect before breakfast.

After a couple a minuts a small dog started to follow us, just like what happend on Leros. He didn`t bark or anything, just followed us. After a short distance up in the hill along the main road, we found the sign for the path to Profiti Ilias.

It was easy to find the trail, but we could see it was not in daily use. The dog followed us all the way up to the church.

The view from the church to the south. There is also a nice bay for anchoring, but not for many boats.

And the view to the inland. many posibilities to have nice hikings here, but the weather starts to be warmer, so it is better to come here in spring and fall. (if you like hiking)

Sporty in the morning!

Nice selfie together with the polite dog.

Astor went outside the fense and the dog became obsessed because he couldn`t follow him. Watch the video under this photo!

This dog was so lovely and followed us all the way, up and down.

Not the most beautiful church we have seen… It was locked so we could not go inside.

so faithful

The view down to the bay were we are anchoring, we were two boats there.

On the way down to the beach.

It was a sad moment when we left the dog at the beach. He had a necklase so we were sure he had a owner. And of course he needed a bath after the hike. On the last kilometer he was playing with a stick that we throw to him.

After a nice morning hike we hoisted the anchor and sailed north to Chios town.

There is a marina in the city center, but we saw it was a harbour north of the city center which was free to use. We like that…

A lot of mountains to hike!

We found a nice spot in this marina. It was a lot of sailboats there.

Windmill of Chios. On the way to town from the marina.

We went to town to hire a car for a couple of days. It was 2 km to walk. The distance was okay, but the road was not made for walking, and it was a lot of traffic.

Close to the marina there is the supermarket “My Market”. One of the best supermarkets we have found for a while. Close to the airport, on the south side of town there was both My Market and Lidl, so after renting the car we went there. And actually, on My Market, I found Norwegian kaviar! I have found swedish kaviar many places but not the Norwegian. So I bought all of it… (4) (we use it on bread, specially together with boiled eggs. But I like it plain like this also.

Pyrgi

The next day we woke up early to explore Chios. We drove first to Pyrgi, known as the “painted village” on acoount of the decorations of the houses. This mostly consists of black and white decorative motifs in different shapes.

Pyrgi is one of the biggest villages in Chios, located in the south part of the island. It is the traditional seat of the Mastic Villages, a group of villages where the residents engage with mastic agriculture. Theese villages have been added in representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

We were there early in the morning and it was very quiet, not much people to see.

It was paintings everywhere.

I am not sure if it is tourists putting up theese signs or if it was the store around the corner…

Some shops was open.

Many narrow streets, and we could have been walking around here for hours.

Isn`t it amazing??

Pyrgi is possibly a medieval settlement, built before 10th century. It gathered population from different villages, whose residents settled in Pyrgi to avoid the pirates raids. The village didn`t suffer damage from the earthquake of 1881 and so it keeps the medieval style.

This clock tower is 18 meters high.

There were some restaurants, but they were closed in the morning.

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The church of the Wholy Apostles!

The church was beautiful inside, with all the paintings.

A lot of details.

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The cat was resting inside the church, in the shadow.

I had to kuddle..

It was possible to walk out in the backyard. Not much to see though..

Beautiful combination with flowers and paintings!

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What a job that have been done here!

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Olympi

Our next stop was Olympi, only 5 km away. Olympi was established in the 13th century and stands out for its remarkable architecture.

If we could do this with old buildings in Norway!

Of course with a lot of beautiful flowers!

Also in Olympi it was quiet, only some locals, and a few tourists.

Some decorated old windows.

Kalimera!

This guy has been to the supermarket…

Also some painted buildings in Olympi.

A huge bouganvilla!

More nice windows!

I love this street with all the plants outside the houses.

After Olympi it was about noon and it was time to relax on a beach with lunch and a swim.

Mesta

After some hours lunch break we went to Mesta. The village was most probably build in the 12th century. The architecture of the settlement with its narrow street and perimetric fortification served to repel pirate raids. The street plan of the village is pentagonical and its many narrow roads inside the fortifications give the impression of a labyrinth.

Cozy, narrow streets.

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And beautiful flowers!

A square with restaurants and bars. We had an icecream here.

Later you can pick grapes here!

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Me and my icecream!

Some decorations we saw!

Beautiful streets.

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After Mesta it was time to drive back to Chios town to deliver the car. We saw some nice villages on our way.

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The view from the road towards Chios town.

A video from todays exploring!

We had a plan to check out Chios town and the shopping street. The problem was that all the shops had siesta!! So they didn`t opened again until 17-18…