Tower and Settlement of Markou

The Tower and Settlement of Markou, also known as "Ta Markou" or Tamarkou, stands as a deserted medieval village in the southern part of Chios, near the settlement of Pispilounda. The name suggests it once belonged to a local Genoese lord called Markos, and the central tower dates from the 15th century, when the Genoese held the island. The surrounding village houses are thought to be older than the tower itself. Today, the site is uninhabited, and the tower survives only in part: its ground floor and a fragment of the upper storey remain. The rest has fallen away, leaving a shell of what was once the village's principal building. The setting is attractive, with the ruins set in a landscape that still carries a sense of the island's medieval past, though the condition of the structure is not good. It is one of several similar abandoned villages on Chios, each with its own quiet story of decline.