As we drove south from the lovely sand beach of Lithi on the west coast of the island of Chios we happened upon a tiny port that had a substantial jetty large enough to dock a ferry and obviously equally large transport ships.
Because sitting on the dock were six new wind turbines awaiting transport to their new home.
The components were manufactured by WTS - Wind Turbines Scotland.
Our apartment in the south of the island was at Emporious, home to a famous black volcanic stone beach. The accommodation and restaurants however, were here at the port.
The Mastic Villages of Chios have been listed by UNESCO as of cultural significance and the area hosts a beautiful new museum dedicated to the cultivation and production of mastic gum.
The museum is located on a hill top and includes several hectares of trees that are still being farmed for their precious sap.
The trees look like small, dense olive trees and are grown in close groups of 8 to 20 (depending on the terrain) but with largish spacings between the groups to allow ventilation. During harvest, the area under each tree is swept free of litter and covered with finely crushed white rock (like talcum powder or ground limestone). The trunks are pierced with a blade and the sap drips out. The resulting 'tears' must be collected before sunrise each day as the heat causes the mastic to set.
This is Mesta, the prettiest of the Mastic Villages of Chios.
Villages were more than houses, they included footpaths and outbuildings, farmlands and grazing grounds all supporting the cultivation of mastic.
Each mastic village organised itself a little differently according to its site and its natural resources.
But some things were common - the villages were built in flat, lowland areas with access to water. They were far from the sea, fearing attacks from pirates, usually in small valleys suitable for systemic cultivation and having grazing pasture on the surrounding hills.
The villages were enclosed by walls. Gates opened early in the morning and closed at dusk after the return of the villagers from the fields.
At the centre of the village was the tower, built for defence as was the largest and tallest building and final refuge in case of a pirate raid.
The streets linking the central square of the tower with the gates of the wall were few and narrow. From them branched out other streets, even narrower, leading to cul-de-sacs.
In every village, houses functioned as production units for the processing of the agricultural product, in this case mastic . As well they produced the subsistence needs of daily life. Public spaces and workshops were used to meet common needs, such as the communal oven, communal laundry, well, olive press, etc. In the photo above, the communal laundry is located in the wall next to one of the external gates.
Mesta has a substantial church built high against the original tower in the village centre.
Most Greek churches have varying amounts of blue paint often atop the dome. This one was particularly elegant.
Although the inside seemed a bit over done.
In the centre of the island is the most significant of Chios' heritage buildings, the monastery of Nea Moni with its exquisite Byzantine mosaics.
A beautiful copy in the monk's dining room.
Currently the floor of the main church is being restored - by hand with tweezers.
These workers have been on-site for 14 months and have 6 months to go.
Our final stop was Chios town. The harbour area had dozens of these beautiful windmills just left to crumble away. Only these three have been restored and you can see how perilous is their situation with sea level rise and the wake of more shipping without any perimeter protection.
So beautiful.
We had a full day to have a look around Athens but it was 38 degrees so this was as close as we got to the Acropolis - no climbing up the hill in the scorching sun for me.
Instead, we went to the new National Library and National Opera building and looked out over its vast green roof and water feature with the Acropolis framed in the cross wires.
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