Plain of Chios

South of her city Chios and along the east coast of the island extends a fertile plain, known as Plain, overgrown with citrus orchards.

Ο Plain of Chios is a unique example of harmonious coexistence of housing, agriculture and complementary functions and has rightly been characterized "Historic place" and "Traditional settlement" from the Ministry of Culture.

Ο settlement of Kampos consists of two hundred large estates-orchards surrounded by high walls, which protect crops from wind, dust and theft. Inside the estates stand the mansions of unique beauty, with all the features of the local architecture. Majestic buildings, with monumental external stairs, large terraces, spacious and bright rooms with fireplaces and painted ceilings. In the gardens near the mansion, ornate pebble courtyards, marble cisterns connected to the manganese wells and a wide network of canals with which the orchards are irrigated with citrus, why Kampos has a lot of groundwater and the most fertile soil of Chios.

Ο Plain of Chios began to be inhabited in the 14th century by Maona, a Genoese trading company, which had undertaken the monopoly of mastic, trade, but also the protection of the island from enemies. 18th and 19th century travelers have described the beauty of this place in detail.

Its conquest Chios by the Turks, in 1566, did not change the data in the area of ​​Kampos and until the 19th century, Kampos, like the whole island in general, flourished more and more - the city of Chios was considered the Venice of the East.

The terrible massacre of 1822 literally destroyed people, buildings and estates. Around 1860-62 a decisive change took place in the crops, when the Chian family of Choremides brought mandarins from the Indian, cultivated them in their own lands and then their cultivation spread throughout the plain. That was it mandarin of Chios which later became known for its taste and intoxicating aroma.

In the 20th century many estates pass into the hands of caretakers, some with usufruct and others with purchase, while at the same time the estates of the bourgeoisie that flourished in the Diaspora but maintaining ties with the place of birth, return and repair their mansions and new owners appear in fringes of the Plain. Today in Kampos, between the walks we will do, it is worth visiting hotel Argentina like the Citrus sweets workshop.