Tinos, Greece

Greece Days Five and Six (I think)

We arrived in Tinos by ferry yesterday around 5pm.  You have probably never heard of Tinos.  We chose it because it is not popular for foreign tourists, but all the guide books said it was nonetheless charming.  Actually, it has significant religious importance for Greeks because of the church of Panayia Evangelistria.  Legend has it that in 1822, the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to a nun named Pelagia, telling here where she could uncover a sacred icon with healing properties.  The icon was found and the church was built on the spot.  People from all over Greece come to Tinos to worship at the church and petition the Virgin Mary for healing.  It is the Lourdes of Greece.  More about the church a little letter.

There were only seven of us to get off the ferry in Tinos, quite unlike our experience in Santorini where several hundred got off.  Anyway.  We were picked up by a prearranged taxi and driven to our hotel near the village of Triandaros.  On the way, we noticed Tino's many farms and dovecotes, or pigeon houses.  At the hotel, we were greeted by Maria who welcomed us with orange juice.  Actually, Maria was kind of mysterious.  She showed us to the pool, sat us down, and then disappeared.  Then she came with the OJ and disappeared again.  "I'll be back."  It was kind of like a James Bond movie where a beautiful woman escorts James to his meeting with the bad guy.  What made it a little creepy was that there was no one else here.  So if she killed us, no one would have known.  Fortunately, she did not kill us.  Our hotel is really several cottages spread over a very well landscaped property on the side of a hill.  Our room overlooks the pool and the harbor a coule of miles below.  The hotel is only a year old and it is obvious that someone put a lot of money into it.

After getting settled we walked down the road to the village tavern where we had dinner.  Maria happened to be there and translated for us.  This was one of those family run restaurants that one often finds in Europe where everything on the menu is not always available.  I took this as a sign of a good restaurant.  We each had lamb meatballs as well as some appetizers.  Everyone was very friendly and we were almost the only ones there.

This morning after breakfast, one of the staff, Diana, offered to drive us into town so that we could see the church and rent a car.  We had thought of walking but she said it was not a good idea as there weren't sidewalks and this was snake season in Tinos.  The church sits at the top of the town a little less than a mile from the port.  The traditional way of petitioning for healing is for a pilgrim to get off of a boat in the port and then walk on their hands and knees up the hill to the church.  There is a carpeted area marked off by orange cones on the road from the port to the church.  We were hoping to see someone doing this and we did as we stopped in a little park.  She was such that we could see her but she could not see us so we didn't feel exploitive taking a picture.  Actually, she was rather young and I wonder what she was seeking healing for and felt bad for her, because no one would do that unless they were desparate for help.  The church, like the couple of orthodox churches I've gotten to see was small and square.  By small, I mean compared to the Catholic cathedrals I am more familiar with.  We saw the icon and walked around the church.  The church was extremely ornate: all the walls were covered with pictures of various saints and scenes from the Bible.  Overhead were at least one hundred incense burners, each with a symbol of some sort hanging from it, such as a guitar, a house, and a wrench.  We wondered if it had to do with trade guilds or something.  We saw the icon, or what we could of it, since it is covered in jewelry and virtually hidden.  Just before we left a service started and the priests began chanting the liturgy.  The chanting continued as we left and wandered around in the courtyard.  It was broadcast outside and I had a lovely moment when over the  chanting and the birds chirping came the clanging of the church bells.  Another lovely authentic Greece experience with no other English speakers around.

After exploring the church, we walked back towards the port, stopping at various souvenir shops.  I finally bought some worried beads and asked the shop owner to show me how to use them.  Back near the port we rented a car, a very small Fiat, which we have until 4pm tomorrow.  It was only 40 Euros for a stick shift.  Fortunately, Tom knows how to drive one because Kirk and I do not.  We decided to rent a car when we heard how cheap it was and about several places on the island that were too far to walk.  The rental company recommended a tavern in the village of Aetofolia, several miles away.  The road took us over and past several valleys and small all white villages.  Every village has at least one church and there are many churches and shrines just all by themselves.  I think there are 50 or so villages but there must be hundreds of churches.  Another feature of Tinos is the 1000 dovecotes, or pigeon houses that line the countryside.  These were originally built to house doves, both for food and for their manure to use as fertilizer.  There seem to many numerous small farms on terraced land and most of the dovecotes are on these farms.  On our ride to the village we saw numerous goats and even cows (in fact, two large Holsteins seemed to be charging us at one point, but they just passed on by). Most villages have a small parking area and then you can walk up into the village which we did.  The tavern was small and family owned and had only one person working.  He told us what he thought the best dishes were and what had been made recently.  We had a kind of vegetable pie with feta on top, goat meat with fries, and roasted pork with fries.  Delicious.  None of us had ever had goat.  I was surprised that it was not very gamey, like lamb, although it was pretty though.   We were told to eat it with our hands and not to be afraid of getting juice on ourselves.

After lunch, we walked up through the village and ended up eventually on top of a hill where we took a lot of pictures of the surrounding countryside and villages.  We eventually made it back to the car and headed to the beach at Kolimbithra.  The beach was at the end of small cove and had crystal clear water and a slightly pebbled beach.  This was the Greek beach we had been looking for in Santorini.  We all got in the water and I can now say that I have swum in the Mediterranean, although I guess technically it's the Aegean.  Tom and Kirk laid out in the sun while I walked around a bit.  I explored the rocks at one end of the beach and then later went to a cafe at the other end.  Tom and Kirk eventually joined me and had a local beer called Nisos, while we watched the sun go down behind the hill overlooking the beach.  We then took a winding way back to our hotel crossing the width of the island.  As we got higher and higher the sun kept coming up and so we got several pictures of "sunsets." One area where we stopped for photos was a giant valley littered with rocks.  There is another legend I think about how the rocks got there, such as one of the gods dropping them from the sky, but I'm not sure.  Now I am back at the hotel taking it easy.  When we returned we told Maria where we had been and she said we went to the best beach on the island.  So it looks like we made a good decision to come to Tinos.  We are here most of tomorrow before our ferry leaves, so I look forward to exploring some more.  For now, it is just wonderful to be off the beaten path and seeing some of rural life in Greece and the beautiful scenery.