Listed 13 sub titles with search on: Sights for wider area of: "MASTICHOCHORIA Municipality CHIOS" .
ARMOLIA (Village) CHIOS
The Castle is is large and striking. It is built at the hilltop and
maintains an altitude of 220meters; this is one of the highest altitudes evident
in the southern region of Chios.
Its position is such that one can visually inspect the Kalamoti
and Armolia plains as well as the Komi
seashores.
The Apolichnon Castle is one of the most well-preserved castles on
the island whilst its size and numerous interior rooms cannot help but be impressive.
A Genoan, Nicholas Ioustiniani, built the oblong shaped Castle in
1440. The walls were twice as thick and they had small defense towers. Its interior
exhibited water dams and 62 rooms.
As we stroll through the Castle, we can see the remaining ruins of
the rooms, remnants of the defense towers with the loopholes found on the east
and west sides. They also appear within a large area of the well-maintained south
wall that is also relatively high.
There is a defense wall, shorter in height, located outside the interior
wall at a relatively large distance. It was obviously constructed to impede invaders,
since they were afforded easy access from the flat slope and the absence of this
wall.
The north side, on the other hand, is much more difficult to access
due to the rocky cliff. There are large arch-shaped windows on the northeast tower,
which may have been utilized for entry with rope ladders, as was common practice
in those days.
(text: Giannis Makridakis)
This text is cited December 2003 from the Prefecture
of Chios tourist pamphlet (2003).
MESTA (Village) CHIOS
The visitor should leave his own transport at the circus outside the village.
The road in the east part of the village makes the Ring-Road of the castle. If
one follows it he will reach the point from which he started. The houses on the
right side of the surrounding wall are modern. The outer wall on its left side
makes the Wall of the castle. The doors and windows of the houses of this side
have been opened rather recently. During the Genoan and Turkish occupations the
entrances of those houses that formed the wall used to be only at the inner part
of the castle. The loopholes were the only openings on the wall and it is them
which have been turned into windows later on. The two openings to the inner part
of the village have been constructed more recently for the residents' facility.
The surrounding wall of this side ends to the tower.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Promoting Tourism Prefectural Committee of Chios URL below, which contains images.
The Gateway of the castle is named by the natives as "door of
the captain", that means the door of the governor (it derives from the Italian
word "capitano"). The monoliths of which it consists are remarkable as well as
the iron door that remains in an excellent condition. The door during the Genoan
occupation was opened in the morning at sunrise and closed in at sunset. That
did not happen only when there was a danger of a raid but on a daily basis. It
is because the village was the place of the natives' dwelling but at the same
time it used to exist as a camp for the conquerors. This gate was the only one
on the castle so that the conquerors could easily check the entry of the products,
especially of mastic. All that was due to defence and the facilitation of the
conquerors, since it was according to the products that taxes were imposed.
The house over and next to the door gate must have been the governor's-captain's
residence (that is why it has been named after him). The small window through
which the guards used to observe the residents' entry-exit is noticed at the inner
part of the gate. On the way into the castle two of the most ancient churches
of the village are located. The first one is that of Aghios Georgios and the second
one is that of Aghia Paraskevi, the latter of which is more significant.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Chios Prefecture Tourism Committee URL below, which contains images.
MESTA (Village) CHIOS
The road on the left of Aghia Paraskevi leads to the village square. The villagers
call it "Livadi". The square is a resort after an exhausting day. There
is a particular reason that a daily stroll in the square is considered necessary.
As it is obvious the house of the village and especially those which form the
castle do not provide any open space or gardens since they are built in a way
that unites them all. There are cases when the boundaries of two neighbouring
houses can be hardly distinguished. As such the square is the only open area of
the castle. It is where friends meet, where news are heard, where the villagers
have their morning coffee or their afternoon ouzo. Although it is a calm and quiet
place on a daily basis, it turns to a centre of bacchic festivities the days the
villagers have a feast. Island songs are played by the villagers' musicians and
all ages men and women dance until the morning and drink wine and souma of their
own production.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Promoting Tourism Prefectural Committee of Chios URL below, which contains images.
KALAMOTI (Small town) CHIOS
North of Kalamoti, there is a medieval tower called Zyvos which was destroyed
by the earthquake of 1881. General meetings of the "Public of Mastic Villages"
were held in this tower in which the representatives' election took place. Near
the tower's remains, there is the Byzantine church of Panaghia of Sikelia that
possesses exquisite ceramic decor and is dated to the 13th century.
MESTA (Village) CHIOS
The Tower is one of the four towers the castle used to have on the
four corners of its rectangular part. It is circular and consists of two floors
which communicate through a spiral staircase. Only three of the towers are redeemed
nowadays (unfortunately, the one located at the corner where the parking area
is these days has been destroyed). One of the three existing ones is now a residence,
a very unique one since it has circular rooms. The towers used to be in direct
contact with each other through a tunnel parallel to the outer road.
The loopholes of the tower can be still noticed. From outside they
look as narrow openings although from inside they look like tunnels. From the
tower by taking the ring road one reaches the entrance of the village-castle.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Promoting Tourism Prefectural Committee of Chios URL below, which contains images.
The main road from the proskynima leads to the Northwest side of the
castle, the so called "tower of Militas". It derives from the Italian word militare
which means army. The tower can be seen more clearly from the square outside the
castle and nowadays it has become a residence. The reason it was named after this
word is because it was reinforced by a military force since it is located facing
the sea from where all raids were expected.
In order to conceive the significance of the tower in terms of the
defence of the castle, as well as the effective of the entire system of defence
of the village it is worth to mention the following:
The castle was a quadrilateral with a triangular peak on the Northwest
side that ended to the "Tower of Militas". This was the front line of defence.
Inside, as it shows in the village plan, two roads which started from the square
and converged just before the tower of Militas formed a castle inside the main
castle. That was the second line of defence. The main tower where the church of
Big Taxiarchis is located made the third line of defence. The central tower received
all visual messages sent from Merovigli (=the watch tower of the daytime), the
highest mountain of the area, and motivated the whole system of defence. As such
if the enemies took the castle they would have to fight hard again so as to seize
a second castle almost identical to the former. If they took that too, they should
have much more troops in order to conquer the heart of the castle, the central
tower.
Anyway, the tower of Militas played the most significant role in the
repulse of the raiders because of its position; it also protected the most important
good for the besieged, the water. The well is located under the tower in a shed
in the inner part of the castle. The ruts on the mouth of the well are very typical;
they have been made by the ropes which have been going up and down for centuries
so as to draw water out. Since the slabs showed signs of wear some new were placed
over the old ones but they were also worn. An underground tunnel used to link
the well with the central tower of the castle, so if the enemies conquered the
village but not the tower, the besieged people would have water supplies. The
gate which is located in the tower of Militas is more recent. Perhaps there was
an emergency gate of the castle at that point. On the way back, the road from
the tower of Militas leads to the triangle which is formed by the two inner roads
of the castle. At the house which is in the corner of the two roads, remains of
another tower can be seen; its existence confirms the idea that a second line
of defence existed indeed.
This text is cited Febr 2004 from the Chios Prefecture Tourism Committee URL below, which contains images.
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