On the 11th of June we, the volunteers, had the opportunity to do an excursion in the small village Pyrgi which is located in the central south of Chios. As soon as we arrived in Pyrgi, all of us were fascinated by the architecture of the houses because the village is also well-known as name “the painted village”. Most of the houses are covered with black-white geometric patterns and are called “Xistà”.
But before discovering more about the medieval village, we stopped at a touristic shop where we could have a try on the mastic juice. There were two minds about the juice, some of us volunteers liked it, some of us not apparently. But it was still a nice experience because the place is also pretty famous for the large traditional amount of mastic producing in Pyrgi as well as in the surrounding.
First of all, we went to one of the old, small churches in Pyrgi, the octagonal church called “Agios Apostoles”.Inside of the church, our eyes were immediately admired of the walls which are covered with many old painted frescos showing different saints. Some of us even had a look of the outside of the church and could see how the church was built.
Afterwards, we went further to the small narrow alleys surrounded by the painted black and white geometric painted facades on the walls of the houses. Walking through the winding streets, we discovered many cats hidden under cars or just relaxing on some windowsills of the houses. But we didn´t enjoyed the cats only, there were many bright red tomatoes hanging from the walls in order to dry them on the sun. Moreover, it makes a great contrast of the patterns. While walking through the streets we noticed some little arches connecting the houses and there were even bigger ones as a protection from invaders.
Later on, we made our way back to the “Platia”. Basically, it is the main square of Pyrgi and contains many small café´s as well as a church which can be also recognized by its huge tower. Therefore, we explored the outside of the church and enjoyed the view to the decorated facades of the many houses from almost the top of the church.
We really enjoyed exploring the unique village and learned more about the history of this place.
To see all of our pictures, go to the gallery!
