Last Saturday, the volunteers of Vrontados had the chance to visit the biggest village in the north-west part of the island: Volissos. But it was not only the village, the whole way to go there was a big adventure.
The first stop we made was on the way up the mountain, where we could see Vrontados, Chios-city and even Cesme from the top.
Further, we saw the ‘Pyramids of the old women’. There are about 100 of those stone pyramids, and the legend says that there is a treasure in the first and the last pyramid. But as they are not built in one line, nobody knows which pyramid is the first and the last and the treasures are still not found.
The next sight we got to see on our way to the west coast were the oak trees of Homer. He used to sit under those trees and was thinking about his stories.
As we continued our drive, we also saw the ancient street of the island. It was the only street from the west coast to the east coast in the past. If people wanted to go to the city, they needed 3 days. One day to go there, one day to do the shopping and one day to go back. That was also the reason why a lot of people have never been to the city, even though it is a small island. Some parts of the ancient street are still in good condition and can be visited.
Our next stop was the longest beach of Chios island: Managros. It is a beautiful sand beach at the west coast with almost no tourists. As we wanted to reach our final destination, the village Volissos, we continued the drive and started to explore the castle of Volissos.
The Byzantine castle was built in medieval times. It is more a ruin today and we had a lot of fun climbing one of the six circular towers, even though it was very windy. After that, we walked around the village. Volissos is situated about 1.5 km away from the seaside and as it is built on a hill, we enjoyed the beautiful view. Even though Volissos is still the biggest village in the north-west, a lot of people migrated to the city or the south of the island because of job reasons. Therefore, a lot of houses are abandoned.
Also, the bakery of Volissos is claimed to be one of the best of the island as they use original seeds from the mountains which are not genetically modified. We tried the local bread and approved as it was very tasty.
On the way back, we also saw the port of Volissos named ‘Limnia’ which connects Chios with the island of Psara.
We really enjoyed our trip to the beautiful village of Volissos.
To see all pictures, got to our gallery!
