The castle of Chios

The Castle of Chios extends to the north of the center of the city of Chios and is its walled core from the Genoese era onwards. The entrance is through the main gate (Porta Maggiore) at its southern end, built by the Venetians in 1694, and through the now destroyed “Upper Porta” (Portello) at its NW side.

The walls of the Castle are divided into land and sea, forming an irregular pentagon where strong bastions dominate along the walls, eight of which are preserved, some in very good condition and others not.

Chios… a secret kept in the heart of the Aegean

The island of Homer, of Ionia, of Byzantium, of Genovese Splendour.  Here nature and man, light and colour verify its uniqueness in a multifaceted juxtaposition of aspects and contradictions. 

The island with the cool villages and the blue sea. Scents and colours… mastic drops, salt and incense, citrus and rosemary, mandarin and Seville oranges…fragrant Chios.

Arcades and alleys and churches and people and scents feel the  backbone of the island and give their print to this land. Unique images, a unique architecture that stands out with its richness and diversity, in every corner of the island.

Neoclassical and eclectic mansions, with covered balconies with the typical grey-pink marble of Chios, elegant Genovese mansions built with the local “thimianousiki” stone, with pebbled yards, cisterns, fountains and blossomed gardens full of citrus trees, but also byzantine churches with imposing belfries every other corner in the city of Chios – and numerous picturesque chapels in the villages. Pirgi, the painted village, with the black-and-white geometrical shapes and themes, the “etchings” outlining the facades of the houses bringing out this unique folkloric abundance.
The beautiful medieval castle-villages, the Mastic villages, the “living villages of yesterday”, with the narrow streets and dense layout,  the arches, the bows, the mantels.
The place that has linked its precious history to the fate of the island, the place that is world renowned for its unique, precious product, mastic.

Ineffable joy, rich history, big breath... this is Chios