The road from Chios Town to Nea Moni winds up through dense pine forest, passing through the quiet village of Karyes before arriving at the monastery gates. Most visitors stop only for the monastery and drive straight back. This is a shame, because the hillside around Karyes — cool even in summer, fragrant with pine resin and wild thyme, dotted with old stone churches — deserves more time than it typically receives.
Karyes itself is a small, traditional mountain village with a cluster of Byzantine chapels and an old-fashioned square shaded by plane trees. The altitude means temperatures several degrees cooler than Chios Town, making it a genuine refuge from the summer heat. The forest around the village was badly damaged by fires in 2012, but recovery is underway and the surviving trees are magnificent.
From Karyes it is a short drive to Nea Moni, the 11th-century Byzantine monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the greatest repositories of Byzantine mosaic art in existence. The combination of the cool forested drive, the village square, and the monastery makes for one of the best half-day excursions from Chios Town.
What to See Nearby
- Nea Moni Monastery (UNESCO) — 2km from Karyes
- Monastery of Agios Markos
- The forested ridge road with views across central Chios
- Anavatos (15km) — the ghost village on the cliff
Location on Chios
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