Anavatos and Nea Moni

The Kathimerini (a Greek newpaper with an English edition sold here with the International Herald Tribune) reported Tuesday that this month is set to be the hottest June ever recorded in Greece. Athens reached 43 C (109 F) again, and all government offices in Greece were ordered closed at midday Tuesday and Wednesday to reduce energy consumption.

While this didn't directly apply to the lab, we behaved accordingly. After another meeting Tuesday morning, we set out to see Nea Moni, a 1000-year-old monastery in the center of the island, up in the Chios mountains. The road there was full of extraordinary views and hairpin turns. The mountains are grey and rocky, mostly covered in pine trees, though some areas not as high have olive trees.

We found out that Nea Moni was not open until 4 PM, so we detoured to Anavatos, an old abandoned village with stone houses on the top of a mountain. In 1822, when the Turks invaded Chios, they killed thousands and enslaved many more, and almost everyone else fled the island (for more, see the article; see also the painting by Delacroix). To avoid capture, the residents of Anavatos jumped to their deaths from the cliff on which the town is built. The place is semi-ruined, though under restoration.

It was time for lunch so we drove all the way down to Lethi beach on the west coast of Chios. The beach is sandy and in a small cove; the water was as calm as a lake. We ate at Tria Adelphi (Three Brothers), one of the restaurants facing the main road and the beach. Along with the cheese and bread and other appetizers, I had fresh sardines, and dessert was watermelon!

Back into the mountains to Nea Moni, which was also devastated in 1822. Here, the invaders set the buildings on fire and massacred the resident monks and many others who had taken shelter there. Its Chapel of the Holy Cross contains a case displaying the skulls and some bones of some of the monks. The main church is famous for its Byzantine architecture and mosaics, but it was closed for renovation. Their icons were relocated to another chapel, which we visited. Apparently just a couple of people live there; I also saw a chicken in a small yard behind the chapel, and two peacocks were in a large cage under some trees. As we were getting ready to leave, an elderly lady dressed in black appeared with some fruit rinds for the birds, and she and the students talked for awhile. She has lived there for 50 years.

Nea Moni is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a distinction shared by sites such as Stonehenge, the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon - and the city of Durham, England, according to a post by Mike Warner, who has seen enough such sites to call them "ubiquitous"! :-)

On the way back I saw little structures occasionally next to the road. Each was about 4 feet high. The top part looked like a little church with a cross on top and a front window through which I could glimpse a candle or an icon. The students explained that each one was a marker to someone killed at that location. That is, they are like the roadside markers that we have at home, though ours are handmade crosses or temporary displays of flowers; here they are professionally made permanent monuments.