Vrontados () is a small coastal town located at the eastern part of the island of

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. With a population of about 5,300 the town hosts the seat of the municipal unit of Omiroupoli.

Information

The town has a strong tradition in merchant seafaring and is currently the home of various important Greek ship owners. Due to its proximity to the city of Chios (the island's capital), modern Vrontados is considered a sort of a suburb of the capital. Vrontados purportedly gets its name from the loud noise thunder (Vrontes - Βροντές) makes as it echoes from the nearby mountain, Aepos.

Customs

Vrontados is best-known for its unique

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

custom of the '' rouketopolemos'' ("rocket war"). Every Easter, the two

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

parishes of Saint Mark's and Panagia Erithiani, fire skyrockets at each other. Whoever hits the opposing church's bell tower first wins the war.

Historical references

The legendary Poet

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

was supposedly born or at least lived for a long time in

. On the north side of the Vrontados coast is the so-called "Homer's stone", a rather uncomfortable natural rock throne where according to the legend the poet sang and taught. According to tradition,

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

, visited Vrontados in order to study nautical charts and get information of experienced Vrondadian seamen who would help him to his great voyage for the discovery of America.

Notable natives and inhabitants

Stamatios Krimigis Stamatios (Tom) Mike Krimizis (; born September 10, 1938) is a Greek-American scientist in space exploration. He has contributed to many of the United States' unmanned space exploration programs of the Solar System and beyond. He has contributed ...

(1938) space scientist

Notes

External links