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 End
-of- Year Trip to the fragrant island of Chios: |
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A travelogue by Barbara Varsama
“Beautiful island! The tradition for TESOL Greece to finish off the school year with a trip to an island or beauty spot continues with the same thrill and interest and is now in its ninth year! This year, twenty members took a challenge and visited the island of Chios. Chios is the island of mastic, jasmine and intoxicating fragrances; the island of orchards and orange grove, the noble island with its stone mansions and their pebbled courtyards, with its unique medieval villages and their towers. It is an island with an extremely old history which became a crossroads of the great civilizations, as it was one of the most important commercial depots during the Middle Ages and the Turkish occupation. It was also a great centre of Hellenic spirit and intellect, the homeland of great teachers and authors including Homer, Adamandios Korais, Neaphytos Vamvas, Yannis Psycharis, Alexandros Mavrokordatos, G. Theotoka, Emmanuel Roidis and Lambros Porfyras. Ancient sovereigns envied it, the Genoese fell in love with it and the Europeans were charmed by it from the beginning as were even the Turks, and so were we when landed on Friday afternoon the 19th of June ready to get to know it, enjoy it and open ourselves to the unique atmosphere with which it is imbued. We were comfortably settled in Chandris Hotel. Some of us enjoyed the cool water of the pool and the rest went for a walk in the harbour and the market of Chora. We all gathered together in the evening for dinner. It was a good chance to get to know each other and Spyros Kavouras, a Chiot teacher, joined us and offered to be our guide the next day. On the following day, Saturday, we started our day with a delicious and filling breakfast. Then, some were ready to explore the south part of the town in which spreads out the fertile plain of Chios and is known by the name of Kambos. An idyllic area, unique in the Aegean, it is dense with orchards and citrus groves. Kambos has a great deal of underground water and the most fertile soil on Chios. It is full of fields and the magnificent summer homes of the old aristocratic families of Chios. Going down the countless narrow and winding lanes of Kambos we were impressed by its two and three storey mansions. Built by and large out of the superb stone of Thymiana with its impressive reddish earther colour, they are surrounded by high stone walls with impossing courtyard gates which with their arched entrances have a grandeur all their own. Several of them have been made over into lovely traditional inns. The best preserved building is that of Philippos Argentis. It has been restored since 1937 and gives you the clearest picture of how the old mansions of Chios looked. The southern part of Chios presents the traveller with pictures of unique beauty. Rolling hills extend far and wide hugging the sea. They are covered with the green colour of mastic trees, these unusual bushes that bear the valuable transparent resin. The roads snaking around the slopes reveal the area’s little mastic villages, the picturesque village-fortresses with roots in the Middle Ages. Even though only a few of them survive as in the old, they all retain those characteristics that make them unique. The high walls of the houses in the periphery formed a fortress that protected the mastic-cultivating residents from pillage-minded pirates. There is a central tower and vaulted narrow passageways paved with tiles. When we wandered through the labyrinthine alleys of Pirgi and Mesta, it was like going centuries back to a secretive era full of seduction. Today from 27 mastic villages 24 are still intact. Pirgi is a painterly village with traditional motifs scratched on the facade of buildings, rare and difficult art which survived the passage of centuries. Mesta is one of the best preserved medieval villages and has an external wall rehabilitated little stone houses and dim lighted alleys. The main square “the prairie” as the locals call it, is the only open space in this whole fort-village, which still has its beautiful old colour, bustling with life especially in the summer months. There are also Olympi, another important medieval village with the appearance of a fort, Kalamoti, Komi, Emborio, Kallimasia, Nenita, Vessa and Armolia, villages with great byzantine monuments and scattered ruins from the ancient Greek history. Our tour ended in Emporio. To the left of the harbour rises the presently extinguished volcano Psaronas that once covered with lava everything around it. That explains the existence of the pitch black pebbles found in two beaches nearby, namely Mavros Gialos (Mavra Volia) and Foki where we had a nice swim. It is important to say that some members of the group did the tour of the central Chios – the same day and the next day – which was impressive as well. The ascent on the central range of Provation Mountain (Mt. Sheep) that rises up to a thousand metres offers an excellent view of Chios and of Asia Minor coast opposite. On the way there is Nea Moni (New Abbey) the imposing monastery that stands there for ten centuries, guarding Orthodoxy and Hellenism, capturing the imagination of every visitor. Even the most unsuspecting becomes impressed by the Church of Theotokos and its huge cupola; from the windows high up, the light bathes the sacred space exciting the emotions and inspiring awe for the Holly Greatness. Next the road takes the visitor through a thick pine forest to Avgonima a 11th century little village built on a plateau with an excellent view to west shores. A little further to the north clambered on the steep rocks and hard to be seen lies Anavatos the Aegean’s Mystras, the village that has no rival! Unassailable from any direction this medieval village-fort with the abandoned stone houses and a citadel on the edge of the abyss, is a living ghost town adding more greatness to its wild landscape. Those of the group who decided to stay in Chora visited different important museums and other sights in the town. Before and during the Turkish occupation Chora was referred to as a wealthy and pleasant town bustling with activity and three-storey stone houses that were reminiscent of Genoa. Then there came the slaughter of 1822 and the earthquake of 1881. The town was almost completely destroyed. The more recent town acquired a different character. Large churches and neoclassical houses with influences from Smyrna opposite gave in a new flavour. Today despite constant demolition of buildings the town is endeavouring to preserve its refined architectural environment, which is what made it unique. The older elements coexist with the new such as in Vounakion Square, a few metres from the centre of the harbour, which is framed by new administrative buildings, cafes and old mosque with its tall minaret. It is there that the Byzantine Museum is housed today. From the early Christian and Byzantine period have survived a collection of architectural members and pottery, of great importance of Chios, as well as rare sculpture from the early Italian Renaissance. The town’s Castle (Kastro) played an important role, both in medieval and more recent times. It was the centre of the political and military administration. It covers approximately 400 square metres and was originally built by the Byzantines for the fortification of the town around the end of the 10th century. The walls that survive today have undergone many changes and attempts at reinforcement by both the Genoese and the Turks. The Giustiniani used the Castle as their base of operations and the Catholic Bishop lived there, as well as the Greek nobles. Unfortunately the towers, the palaces and the churches which all the travellers of that period mentioned greatly impressed have not survived. Today the Castle contains the old Ottoman Settlement, with small houses and narrow alleyways where once only Turks and Jews lived. Lately there has been an attempt to salvage and restore it. Also the Chios Maritime Museum is the realization of a dream by its founders – all being among those who make up the Maritime wonder of Chios. It was their wish to establish a residence-museum in one of the largest shipping centres, the island of Chios, which would represent the contemporary Greek maritime spirit. It is located in the centre of the city, housed in a mansion belonging to the late Anastassios and Marouko Pateras. Its style is the traditional island architecture of Chios with a neo-classic design and beautifully painted ceilings. One of the main features of the Museum is a small but significant, collection of the Progressive Cultural Union of Vrontados which consists of models, parts and instruments of ships and most significantly of portraits of sailing ship and steamships belonging to owners of Chios painted by the famous native marine artist Aristeides Glykas (Vrontados, 1870-1940). Last but not least, I should mention the imposing neoclassical building that houses the Korais Library one of largest and most noteworthy in Greece with more than 135,000 volumes. The library’s old building was a part of the School of Chios. After the bombardment of 1822 it was rebuilt and contained the private library of Adamantios Korais (3,500 books), many of which contained his own hand-written notes. Among them are priceless editions from the Campaign of Napoleon in Egypt. The Argentis Ethnological and Folklore Museum is housed in the specially fashioned second floor of the Korais library. It contains and exceptionally representative collection of local costumes and many embroideries from every village of Chios. Weavings, copperplates, very old carved wooden implements and tools as well as historical paintings and portraits of notables from the private collection of Argentis family, took us back to the atmosphere of that period! After such an exciting but tiring day (I hope I didn’t make you feel tired) we all got a rest ready to experience on Sunday the challenge of knowledge and other adventures. Although the sun, sea and sights of Chios were beckoning so temptingly we attended the workshop of Misty Antoniou who shared her knowledge with us of how Anyone can write a story! She gave us seven practical strategies for teaching narrative writing, for example story cards, vocabulary building, exploring characters through hot-seating (which we really enjoyed!), transformations, Modelled and Patterned writing; all can be easily applied in class. We had also the chance to meet teachers from Chios who shared with us of how it is to live in such a blessing island! On Sunday afternoon and Monday morning shopping trips! seemed a good idea. You can buy from designer labels to local embroideries in the stores along Aplotaria Street, whilst the roads around the waterfront have many souvenir and gift shops. Of course, we did not forget to try and buy the famous Chiot desserts, spoon sweets, bergamot and rose flavourings lemon blossom, not to mention the local products made with mastic. As the day began to darken, the nightlife Chios offered us was really appealing. We all had dinner in a nice taverna and exchanged our memories and views from the day passed. The point that we all agreed and really impressed us was that Chios inhabitants have remained uncorrupted, optimistic and light-hearted. They welcomed us and offered what they had with an open heart. You would say they had been endowed by the natural beauty of Chios itself with an incredible desire to struggle on but also to look at life from its good side. It is true that four days were not enough to learn everything about these people and the countless customs and traditions that they have developed. We all promised ourselves to come back one day and ferret out all old traditions and a good deal more Chios can offer. Finally, I hope that next year’s excursion will attract more members and live similar exciting moments! |
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages, Greece 
