These two villages are both medieval walled villages that are very picturesque with small alleyways and central squares. Of the two, Mesta is the more famous for it's mastic production but Olympi was the prettier of them for us. We decided to be energetic and took the hour long trail between the two villages. It was extremely rocky and not terribly well marked but it gave fabulous views across the valley to each place. We stopped for a coffee in Mesta and Paul tried the local brew, Souma. It is made each October from figs and we were expecting a dark liquer. It is not! It is clear and basically like Raki or Tsipouro but with more fire :)
We then carried on our explorations of the village and walked back to Olympi. We thought we would have a light lunch so found the local taverna, Amethystos. We ordered some baked feta and some giant beans and they brought the usual bread and a bottle of water. This was followed by Hummus on the house, then when the food came a large plate of vegetables with carrots, potatoes and artichokes, on the house! We were stuffed after all this but when the table was cleared a plate of galaktoboreko and ice cream followed....lovely gesture and I'm very glad we'd already completed our walking for the day!
A local artist has been painting some of the doors around the village so it was lovely to come across them to add a splash of colour to the alleyways.
We ended our time in this part of the island with a follow up trip to Chios town and enjoyed a wander around the back streets and a visit to the Maritime Museum. Tomorrow we are off to Vessa in the middle of the island to explore that region and to visit the 12th century monastary of Neo Moni.
It all looks wonderful, those door paintings are fabulous! Make sure you don't trip on stony paths xx
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