Well we are throwing ourselves into exploring the area and have now picked up our hire car, I say picked up, it was delivered to our accommodation and will be collected when we have finished our tour of the island in 12 days time. The car is from Vassilikis Car Hire and they are very nice people. Non of this credit card stuff, we paid cash with 'pay when we deliver it or when we collect, up to you'!! It's bright green so at least I won't lose it when I park it somewhere.
Monday we headed for Pyrgi and the Mastic Museum. Pyrgi is unique on the island for being a town of 'painted' houses. These are actually designs scratched out of the coating they put on the houses and are all black and white. It is an art that has almost died out as it is incredibly costly and time consuming and apparently the prettier your house, the more tax you will pay...crazy! These towns rely on the tourists coming to see the different aspects of the villages and if their identity is removed, the tourists won't come....useless Greek bureaucracy (a shop keepers words, not mine). We bought a carved plaque that was hand made by his brother and he has written his name (Manos) and address on it and has demanded a photo of our house with his plaque. He was very proud of his heritage and was especially pleased that we were interested in the history rather than just the ouzo/mastic.
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| The designs underneath are 'stars' for luck |
We had a coffee in the main square overlooked by their beautiful church and look what found us :)
After visiting the town we headed for the Mastic museum. This is a fairly new initiative built by the Cultural Foundation funded by Piraeus Bank. We were lucky as that day, they were letting people in for free! It tells you all about the history of mastic and of the island itself having been under various rulers including the Genoese and the Ottaman empire. It was effectively annexed from the rest of Greece until it liberated and became part of the country again. The trees are 'bled' every autumn by cutting the bark of the tree. They then produce a resin to heal their wounds. This resin forms blobs which are collected by hand and then processed which grades the purity. It is then used to make everything from Mastic liquer to face cream.
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| Where's Wally....sorry, I mean Paul :) |
It was a beautiful day so we head to the coast and to the famous Mavro Volia beach which is made entirely of black stones created by a volcanic explosion. I had intended to go for a dip but only made it as far as my ankles.....blimey that water was cold!!!
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| Mavro Volia beach |
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| Me on a rock at the beach |
Chios certainly sounds much more typically Greek than other places, you must be glad you've found it.
ReplyDeleteChios certainly sounds much more typically Greek than other places, you must be glad you've found it.
ReplyDelete