North Aegean

North Aegean

Start your Chios Greece travel plan with a drive through the unique Mastic Villages in North Aegean. The road takes you to **Pyrgi** where the houses are covered in hand carved black and white patterns. It feels like driving through a giant geometric puzzle. The scent of mastic resin is thick and sweet in the air as you pass the orchards. These medieval villages were built like fortresses to hide from the pirates of the sea. You can walk the stone tunnels that connect the houses above the streets. The island of **Lesvos** offers long, scenic drives through volcanic hills and salt pans. You find petrified forests and natural hot springs right near the shore. The roads are quiet and the pace of life is easy and slow. You find yourself stopping for local ouzo and fresh sardines in every tiny port you pass. The silver olive trees cover the hills like a soft blanket. It is the perfect place to turn off the GPS and just wander. Lemnos is the land of rolling sand dunes and wild deer. You can actually drive your car across a small desert in the middle of the **Aegean Sea**. The beaches are wide and the wind is perfect for watching the colorful kitesurfers. It is a hidden gem for any road explorer looking to get away from the crowds and find peace. You will feel like you have the whole island to yourself on many of these roads.

North Aegean highlights

Part of these road trips

Follow the routes that cross this destination

The Scenic Route
The Heritage Drive
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History of North Aegean

The island of **Chios** held a world monopoly on mastic resin for over a thousand years. Your Chios Greece travel takes you to the Mastichochoria, which are twenty-four fortified villages built in the 14th century to protect the crop. These villages were designed as mazes with no windows on the ground floor to prevent pirates from climbing inside. Mastic was so valuable that the Ottoman Sultan gave the islanders special tax exemptions and local autonomy. The island of **Samos** was a center of ancient engineering and the birthplace of the mathematician Pythagoras. In the 6th century BC, the engineer **Eupalinos** dug a one-kilometer tunnel through a mountain to provide water to the city. This was the first tunnel in history to be started from both ends and meet accurately in the middle. Samos was also home to the Heraion, which was the largest temple in the Greek world during its time. Lesvos was the home of the poet **Sappho** and the philosopher **Theophrastus**, who is considered the father of botany. The island was ruled by the Genoese Gattilusi family from 1355 to 1462, who built the massive castle of Molyvos on the site of an ancient acropolis. In 1822, the Chios Massacre during the Greek Revolution led to a global outcry that helped turn European opinion in favor of Greek freedom. The province is a land of secret resins, ancient math and medieval naval power.
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