Chios - the land of mastic

Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, five miles off the Turkish coast, across Izmir. Mastic is a unique agricultural product produced in a small area in the south part of Chios. The mastic tree found in many parts of the world but it is only on the island of Chios that the trunk and the branches of the tree "shed tears" of resin when incised, trying to heal the wound, offers the raw material from which the aromatic gum is made, as known since antiquity for its healing properties. The southern region of the island, which has many exceptionally well-preserved, fortified villages built during the Genoese rule, is devoted to the cultivation of mastic. The Mastichochoria as they are called, are rare examples of medieval architecture and a cross-section of the day life in the 14th century.

for Travel+Leisure Magazine 2009.