Rouketopolemos: Greek Easter in Chios, Rockets Included

For those of you folks cunningly trying to finagle an extended weekend to “celebrate” Easter on account of being “foreign and kinda Christian and stuff, ” DO IT! Don’t be the sympathetic colleague who gifts that time off to another yabancı at the office, because this year Greek Orthodox Easter falls on the same day as er…non-Greek Easter, April 20. And the more you keep reminding yourself that you’re taking off for Greek Easter, the more you’ll reinforce the idea that you just have to go to Greece. Specifically, the island of Chios off the coast of Çeşme in Izmir.

Why Chios, an island many Greeks treat with some serious side-eye? Because rockets. Rockets, rockets, ROUKETOPOLEMOS.

That ridiculously real name — literally meaning Rocket War — has been given to the Greek Orthodox Easter celebration that takes place on Chios every year. There, you’ve got all your traditional ways of celebrating a Greek Easter — lambs roasting in front yards, the midnight Service of the Resurrection, feta cheese, women in church wearing tight dresses, grandpas yelling “Opa!” something about someone dying for your sins and, only in Chios, two churches sitting on opposite hilltops firing rockets at each other’s bells until 1 a.m. on Easter Sunday morn.

Bad travel writer that I am, words cannot explain what it’s like to be standing on a hillside watching volleys of bright orange rockets fly overhead and hit a church. On Easter. Here’s a video. If you can’t access it, I’m sorry. I guess that means RTE doesn’t want you to go:

Granted, the two churches, Agios Markos and Panagia Erithiani, are covered in wire mesh. But I can personally attest that some of those rockets get inside. I attended Easter vigil in the church that looked like it was winning the rocket war, (it hit the other church’s bell, double points) and one of those rockets broke a window.

It’s surreal. It’s exhilarating. It’s terrifying (and pretty much definitely bad for the environment). It’s so nutso that I’m amazed Vice magazine has yet to write about it.

Here’s one story as to why this annual event ever started happening in the first place: Back in the days of Ottoman rule, the Greeks wanted to celebrate Easter. So, the members of the two churches came up with the obvious solution of staging a fake battle to keep the Turks away. When the Turks hid from all the homemade rockets going off, everyone snuck into the churches for the Easter vigil. Other rumors have it that the occupying Turks, worried about a rebellion, confiscated the Greeks’ canons, so homemade rockets were used in a sparkly offensive strike.

Now that you’ve decided to go, here’s the nitty gritty.

Getting there: First, get to Izmir. By plane, by bus, by car, whatever floats your boat – as long as you’re prepared to get on a boat. You’ll be taking a ferry from Çeşme. The simplest way to get to Çeşme is to get on a bus from the main otogar in Izmir (10ish TL, about 1 hr). Once you’re in Çeşme, locate the ferry operator’s ticket office and buy your roundtrip ticket (open return, about 40 euro) to Chios. If you’re the book-in-advance type, which may be warranted given the holiday, you can get tickets at Erturk’s website. Be sure to get to the port early; you have to go through passport control.

Where to stay: Last-minute cheap accommodation could prove to be tricky, but there are some adorable places in the Chios marina. As the island-hopping season has yet to begin, you can get some good deals on all-inclusive resorts a little outside the center of Chios (like in Karfas), especially if you travel with a group (Erytha Resort, 67 euro/night, 4 people). Maybe the backpacker in you cringes at the thought of such things, but let me tell you in the most overused American expression I can think of: It’s awesome. In fact, this whole trip will be awesome.

Getting around: There is decent public transportation on the island (so I hear), but having a roommate who took the initiative to rent a car was the best decision I never had to make. It cost about 50 euro for a three-day weekend, which we split. (If you have an international driver’s license you can get free insurance, otherwise you just get third-party.)

Rouketopolemos details: The actual rocket launching festivities begin around 8 pm in the village of Vrontados. Get there before sunset, find a good vantage point up in the hills and watch the sun go down while you mentally prepare for an explosive night. Bring snacks and the beverage of your choice. The rocket volleys are staggered throughout the night until about 1 am. There are two cease-fire breaks for people to get inside the churches for the Easter vigil service or have a 100% safe chance of getting back to their car (other crazies risk doing this while the rockets are mid-flight). The villagers of Vrontados will probably all be watching or shaking their heads from their gorgeous balconies. Bat some eyelashes/flex some muscles/share some liquor and maybe you can get yourself invited to one of their rocketwar parties.

Other sights on the island: Nea Moni Monastery rests on a high hilltop with stunning views of the Aegean and the flora and fauna of Chios. The Istanbul expat will already be familiar with the Byzantine mosaics inside, but they’ll have an even greater sense of familiarity with the history-writing techniques that seem to be oh-so-common on either side of the Aegean. Chios is also allegedly the birthplace of Homer. Check out the Sanctuary to Cybele and Homer’s Rock, where he supposedly sat and taught poetry (though my friends refused to believe that this was even a legend).

Eat: Roasted lamb is the Easter dish and ohmygoddddd is it amazing. You can get prix fixe Easter meals all over the city, though it’s a good idea to make a reservation. Or you can try and join a big fat Greek Easter lamb barbeque. Mastic (sakız) is a big export of Chios as well. Please don’t forget to gorge yourself on Greek salads and souvlaki.

Tas Anjarwalla is a contributor to Yabangee