Zia is a village situated about 14 km. west of Kos town, amongst the mountains. You enjoy a panoramic view of the northern coast of Kos and Western shore of Asia Minor. The white line that you see near the sea in the photo above is the former salt farm (alykes) of Tigaki (not functioning).
Far from the image we have from the words "mountain village", Zia is highly touristic spot impressively full of restaurants and souvenir shops. Most of the villagers must live on tourism. One of the souvenir shop owners told us, in fact, that all the tourist buses of Kos pass this place.
Zia is also the beginning of trekking route to the Omerodon mountains.
The highest peak of the Omerodon, Mt. Dikaios (pronounced "Dhikeos", meaning right or righteous) is 847m. tall. At the top of the Dikaios, there is the monastery of Christ the Savior, also called Christ the Righteous, founded in the 11th century. According to a villager we met here, it took about two hours to arrive there from Zia (1 hour according the guidebook of Barber). The day we visited there was very windy, and he told us not to take risks. If you are planning the trekking, you'd better consider the weather condition; there are very windy days at the end of summer in Aegean islands.
We had coffee and a galaktoboureko (Greek custard pie) in one of the tavernas, called Oromedon. It was around 11 o'clock and everyone were just enjoying drinks. The price was normal, and they did not charge for the table (they do for meals).
If you visit here in the evening, you can have dinner watching the sunset.
Zia is one of the four villages of Asfendiou; other villages are Evangestria, Lagoudi, Asomati. The fifth, Ag. Dimitrios, is now abandonned.
This is the church of Evangelismos in Evangestria. It was closed as it was noon.
