On Saturday the 11th of November we went all the volunteers together on a small trip over the island.
With our director as our guide it happened to be a really nice and educative excursion.
Our first stop was in Nea Moni.
Nea Moni is an old monastery build in the 11th century. It is located in the middle of Chios, being surrounded by mountains.
The myth says that the monastery is build at the place where the golden Maria, the protector of the church was found. It is said that three monks took the icon away from the tree it was found, but it went back there every night and so with the support of a King from Constantinople they build this glorious little monastery, which is today a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1990.
The main church has wonderful mosaics which are in a big part made out of gold and the walls are made of marble which the Holy Father said were not only from Chios but also from the whole area of Byzants.
But this place does not only have nice memories, in the past it was also a shelter for people fleeing from attackers such as pirates but there was as well a massacre by the Turks in the year 1822. From this massacre there are left in one building of the monastery the scalps of the murdered ones.
From far the monastery looks like a green point in a burned area, the impact of the fires which were on Chios but this does not take anything of its beauty, it is only sad and remembers us how much care we should take of our environment.
To see all the pictures go into our gallery!
