Spots in Amani area Chios

We wandered around some places in Amani area, in NW region of Chios.
Volissos, the ancient city of Voliskos, is located 38 km north-west of Chios Town and is the capital of the Municipality of Amani. Volissos is built on the side of a hill and crowned by a Byzantine castle built by General Velissarius, the leading Byzantine general during the reign of Emperor Justinian I. The city was a center of commerce during the middle ages and after the fall of Constantinople many members of the Byzantine aristocracy moved here. The Byzantine castle had trapezoid shape with six circular towers. Inside there were several buildings, cisterns and churches. The town is a labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys paved with the pebbles from nearby beaches. According to tradition, Homer the poet of the Iliade and the Odyssey, lived here.
The ruins of the village of Palaia Potamia have become one with the surrounding environment creating exciting, breathtaking and scary scenery. This places was abandoned in 1970 by the inhabitants, who moved into the today's Nea Potamia, just 2 kilometers away. Palaia Potamia was established in a gorge in the foothills of the eastern flank of Mt Amani in the north-west of Chios, at the confluence of two seasonal streams, the “Apesos” and the “Karydatos”. This village was founded by the inhabitants of the medieval settlement of Agios Georgios near Pirama.
Agios Georgios was visible from the sea and was thus a prime target for pirates. Fed up with pirate raids, its inhabitants founded the village of Palaia Potamia c. 1600. They were drawn to this place thanks to the naturally defensible local terrain, which provided safety from the raids. Unfortunately, its isolated position meant that the village only had two hours of sunlight daily, fostering a rather unhealthy microclimate. The tuberculosis ravaged the inhabitants, who gradually began to abandon the settlement in the mid-20th century in favour of the new settlement at Nea Potamia, just 2 kilometres away.The village schoolmaster, Ioannis Michael Poulis, was instrumental to this resettlement. He drew up a petition decrying the unsanitary and isolated living conditions in the village and requesting resettlement, had it signed by the villagers, and on 23 April 1956 he delivered it to the Office of the Prefecture. The new village was inaugurated on 25 May 1964, and by 1970 all the inhabitants of the old village had resettled there. Every year, on the eve 16 January, the saint’s commemoration day, the residents of Nea Potamia visit the abandoned village to attend the evening liturgy and they light lanterns in the abandoned houses and the old schoolhouse to commemorate their ancestors.
Agio Galas village (69 km from the city) is built on the northwest part of the island, on top of a rocky mountain. Agio Galas literally means Holy Milk, and takes its name after the calcareous water dripping from the homonymous cave’s stalactites, that resembles milk. Unique caves extend below the village, with a group of at least three chambers, the largest of which is approximately 200 square meters. People settled in this cave during the Neolithic period (6000-5000 BC) and lived until 2700 BC. Pieces of clay objects indicate that the cave was also used as a sanctuary from Archaic to Roman times. From the Byzantine period until now has served as a Christian place of worship dedicated to the Virgin Agiogalousena.At the entrance of the cave is the church of the Holy Mother Agiogalousena, which was built in the 13th century. In the church are beautiful paintings (icons) and iconostasis. A little further there are two smaller churches, the church of Agia Anna and the Church of Agios Thaleleos built in the year 1711.
There is a legend about this cave. During the Byzantine period a king banished his own daughter here because she had leprosy. In the cave she was cared for by a woman in black clothes. Three years later, the king regretted his decision and wanted to retrieve his daughter. When he arrived at the cave, he saw that his daughter was completely healed by the miracle water which seeped into the cave. The king then, gave order to build a church near the cave to thank God for the healing of his daughter. However, the builders encountered problems every day: all their materials were found every morning at the entrance of the cave. That happened a few days in a row. The King saw this as a sign from God and gave order to build the church at the entrance of the cave. The church originally was called Agios Galas. Later, the village above was also called Agios Galas, but originally the village was named Agios Thaleleos.