On a sunny Saturday we went on another trip to the south of the island, this time to the capital of the mastic region: Mesta. The castle-village is located 4 km from the sea where it has a big port and has been added to the representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO. In my opinion a decision that is absolutely justified. Mesta is a charming extremely well preserved medieval village from the Byzantine era and time simply flies by when walking through the labyrinth like streets and discovering cosy corners, hidden old churches, inviting cafes, or little gardens.
Since the village is a castle, the stone houses are built one directly next to the others to form a protective wall with only 5 entrances. After getting lost in the narrow streets, we made it to the centre of Mesta with the main square where you can find a few cafes, as well as the biggest church of the whole island: the Taxiarchis church, or church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel. Our trip fell on the day of the celebration of the death of the Virgin Mary, but because of the Corona crisis, the main square was rather empty and no panigiri (celebration in honour of a saint) was taking place. Only at the church it was a bit busier and bread was handed out. We were lucky enough to meet an old man who gave as a tour through the church explaining the history of the many icons which were donated by different other churches from several countries. Two of the most impressive icons were the silver ones of the archangels Michael and Gabriel after whom the church has been named.
After the information loaded tour through the church, we decided to enjoy some Lukumades and rest in the shade before finding our way back trough the confusing street system of Mesta to one of the villages entrance gates at the Militas well, which was the spring used and protected by the military unless the village was under attack of pirates so that all villagers had to use the well protected spring. Nowadays, it is a very clam place where we enjoyed to sit down for a while to relax and enjoy this beautiful trip.
In the evening it was time to leave this truly charming village, so that we took the bus passing at the port and going back to Chios city.
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