Greece - Korina Miller [492]
POTAMI BEACH
Hippies Beach Bar ( 22730 33796; Potami Beach; 9am-9pm) This appropriately exotic open cafe-bar on Potami Beach combines Greek and South Seas decor with subdued style.
Return to beginning of chapter
CHIOS ΧΙΟΣ
pop 53,820 / area 859 sq km
Likeable Chios (hee-os) is one of Greece’s bigger islands, and is significant in national history as the ancestral home of shipping barons. Since many seafaring Chians went abroad to seek their fortunes, the diaspora presence is more conspicuous here than on most Greek islands during summer. Yet Chios is a truly fascinating place even for ‘unaffiliated’ travellers. Its varied terrain ranges from lonesome mountain crags in the north to the citrus-grove estates of Kampos, near the island’s port capital in the centre, to the fertile Mastihohoria in the south – the only place in the world where mastic (a kind of gum) trees are productive. And the island’s coasts are ringed by pristine beaches.
Chians tend to be very kind, and you’ll find great hospitality here. Since Chios sees fewer visitors than better-known Greek island getaways, there’s more genuine friendliness from the locals, who take great pride in their history, traditions and livelihood. For the visitor, all this translates into excellent opportunities for hands-on interaction with Chian culture, ranging from art and history to hiking and eco activities.
Chios enjoys good regular boat connections throughout the northeastern Aegean Islands, plus an airport. Between them, the ports of Chios Town in the east and Mesta in the southwest offer regular ferries to the intriguing, little-visited satellite islands of Psara and Inousses, which share Chios’ legacy of maritime greatness, and to the lively Turkish coastal resorts just across the water.
Chios’ large size, proximity to Turkey and shipping interests mean that a modicum of life remains in the capital, Chios Town, in winter. However, outside of high season, its dependencies of Psara and Inousses are almost completely empty.
History
As with Samos and Lesvos, geographic closeness to Turkey (the Karaburun peninsula lies just 8km away, across the Chios Strait) brought Chios both great commercial success before the 1821 revolution and great tragedy during it. Many of Greece’s grand old shipping dynasties hail from Chios and its dependencies, Inousses and Psara. Under the Ottomans, Chios’ monopolistic production of mastic – the sultan’s favourite gum – brought Chians wealth and special privileges.
However, during the 1821–29 War of Independence, thousands of Chians were slaughtered by Ottoman troops. A century later, the Megali Idea (‘Great Idea’) for the liberation of Greek-majority cities in Anatolia unfolded with a naval assault from Chios – and ended, disastrously, with the Greek armies being driven back into the sea, as waves of refugees from Asia Minor flooded Chios and neighbouring islands.
Getting There & Away
For information on flight and ferry access from Chios, Island Hopping.
AIR
The airport is 4km from Chios Town. There’s no shuttle bus; an airport taxi to/from the town costs €6. Travel agencies, like Hatzelenis Tours, are in Chios Town.
BOAT
For information on trips to Turkey, boxed text, Turkish Connections.
Buy tickets from travel agencies like Hatzelenis Tours, opposite the port, or from the ferry companies, like NEL Lines ( 22710 23971; Leoforos Egeou 16) in Chios Town and Miniotis Lines ( 22710 24670; www.miniotis.gr; Neorion 23). Sunrise Tours ( 22710 41390; Kanari 28) sells tickets, including to Turkey.
The little local boat Oinoussai III serves Inousses (€4 one way, 1¼ hours, daily). It mainly leaves Chios in the afternoon and Inousses in the morning, necessitating an overnight stay. Purchase tickets on board. Sunrise Tours in Chios Town runs summertime day trips to Inousses (€20) twice weekly. Daily water taxis go between Langada and Inousses (€40, shared between the passengers).
Getting Around
BUS
From the long-distance bus station ( 22710 27507; www.ktelchios.gr; Leoforos