Chios

It was a couple of years ago, when Chios first became a tourist attraction. Well, actually it hadn’t become that yet, but we were one of the first tourist groups to “test” the island. :) It was in fact my first trip outside Scandinavia. We were short on money, and decided to live in a cheap hotel/motel. That was a bad decision! The rooms had cracks in the walls, probably because of bad maintenance and water-damage, and cockroaches crawled around on the floors.

That same day we took upon us to find another hotel, with a little more class over it. ;) It took us about a half an hour of walking to find a very nice hotel with swimming pool(not functioning at the time) and big rooms. We discovered that my grandparents found this hotel half a day before we did, and they had already settled in. We haggled with the hotel-manager, and we actually managed to lower the price by 50%! Anyway, this hotel was located right by a village, and in that village there was a small shop.

I am mentioning this because of the name of the shop: Rema 10. Maybe it’s not weird to you, but for me and many other Norwegians it’s funny. Let me explain; There is a convenience-store in Norway that’s called “Rema 1000”, and it’s a lot bigger than Rema 10, hence the greater number. :D At least that’s what I thought, but greek people might have a better explanation. :) Maybe “Rema” means something over there. (In Norway nobody knows what it means.)

Either way, I had a great vacation and would recommend it for anyone.

from:
http://www.greekmosaics.com/NeaMoni.htm

Nea Moni is one of the most important Byzantine monuments in Greece situated in Chios island .
It is a royal edifice – as many imperial chrysobullus have proved – which was founded in 1042 A.D. by the Emperor Constantine the Duellist (Monomachus)Its construction lasted 12 years (1042 – 1056 A.D.)The church has a “simple” octaconch style.Mosaics of Nea Moni compose a representative proof of the austere Byzantine Art.