Easter on Chios Rouketopolemos – The Rocket Wars

When we left Chios for Izmir 3 days ago we still didn’t know if Rouketopolemos (also known as the Rocket Wars) would go ahead. The event consists of the rival parishes of St. Mark’s and Panaghia Ereithiani firing thousands of homemade rockets at the church towers of the opposition. This isn’t without its casualties. Nearby properties and trees are inadvertently damaged much to the disgruntlement of local residents who every year have to go through the rigmarole of boarding up their properties.

Every year the Mayor’s office deliberates over whether to give the event the stamp of approval (or not). At breakfast in the garden cafe we ask the staff if they’ve heard anything. Nobody has. After breakfast (which was great by the way) we walked to the Tourist Information Office where the ladies were always very helpful. To our delight, they inform us that they have heard the event will go ahead. Thank heavens! This has been on my bucket list for several years. I asked if there would be any organised transport and she advised us to ask at the bus station.

Firstly we call in at the Green bus station. They signpost us to the Blue bus station. Here they tell us that they will be running a bus service. However, the bus doesn’t depart from Chios Town. The instructions were to go Zefyros Cafe in Vrontados for 19.30 and from there the bus would take us up to the viewing point on Mount Epos. The service is free. Zefyros Cafe is a fair distance from town so we will need to enquire about a taxi. Hopefully they haven’t all been booked.

For now, we are satisfied that one way or another we will get there so we get on with our day. Our first stop is the Byzantine Museum. Its minaret is a significant landmark in the town.

We spend the rest of the afternoon moseying around the town admiring the architecture and the interesting sights that Chios Town has to offer.

Later that afternoon we returned to the hotel. On the way to our room, we stop to speak with Panagiota on Reception. We told her about our endeavours to find organised transport up to the viewing point this evening. We’re thrilled when she tells us that Kanaris Travel will be running trips from the town. As soon as we hear this we hot-foot it down to Kanares Travel with the hope that tickets haven’t sold out.

There is a bit of a queue but we don’t have to wait too long before we reach the desk. I asked if she had any tickets left for the transport to the viewing point. She sounded doubtful but asked me to wait while she counted the number of tickets sold so far. I begin to prepare myself for the worst. There still was our original plan if this one didn’t work out. The young lady looked up from her paperwork and told us that there were just 2 places left! What a stroke of luck! We thank her profusely and make our way back to the hotel to get ready for this evening’s spectacle.

Later, we gather at the meeting point outside Kanaris Travel. The bus parked outside is much too small to accommodate everyone here. Soon after another bus arrives and we are directed onto one or the other. We take the road out of the town, climbing the hair pin bends until we are on the slopes of Mount Epos. The bus can only take the road so far and we are dropped at the Church of St George. This is the meeting place for the trip back after the church service at midnight.

There were several different viewing points on Mount Epos and we tried several different ones throughout the evening. No matter where we went, it was difficult to get the perfect viewing position but we were happy with what we could see. Once the rockets began I was immediately struck by how quiet they were. I’d expected the loud bangs and explosions as with traditional fireworks. These rockets despite there being thousands of them make nothing more than a low hissing noise as they streamed across the sky. Nonetheless, it was quite a spectacular sight. The bright lights along the Turkish coastline seem such a short distance away. We do see a couple of trees catch fire but the emergency services are on standby even up here where we are high above the display.

As the rockets began to die out we take the road back down to the church. We are just in time to catch the tale end of the service.

I realised when writing this post that I hadn’t taken many photographs of the Rocket Wars. The ones that I had taken were just awful – very blurry. Hopefully the videos are a little better – though I’m no videographer!