We have just spent 5 nights on our first Greek island, the lovely Tinos. It is famous for its dove cotes, mountain villages, one particular pilgrimage church and much more but more about those later.

Our accommodation here was very comfortable, if not a tad windy , but Tinos is famous for its winds! We have great views of the town centre called Chora and the port with its ferry activity.

We hired a car here on Tinos to travel to some of the mountain villages. Our first day we did just that and our first stop was the village of Agapi, one of the oldest villages on the island. It’s a traditional mountain village with the usual white buildings and very pretty.

Next stop was Volax, another gorgeous village surrounded by stunning rock formations that create a lunar type landscape.The old blue doors that you find throughout the village are inscribed with verses from Greek poets and are unique to Volax.

Of course by this time it was coffee time so found a nice to sit and ponder for a while.

Moving on, we stopped next at Palatados, yep, another mountain village. The Cathedral of St John stands in the centre and was built in 1901 however it was not open for us to see the marble interior.

Throughout this area of Tinos there are between 600 and 1000 Dove cotes which are unique to the island. The breeding of doves was introduced by the Venetians between 1204 and 1715. Initially the right to breed pigeons was reserved for the Venetians nobility and the more intricate the structure , the more superior the status of the owner.

By this time our stomachs were crying out for food so we stopped at Dio Choria. Not only did we have a great lunch, we had a great view to go with it. The moussaka and the pastichio were delicious.

Also poked our noses into the cute little Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, one of the hundreds of thousands of churches you see as you drive around the island but don’t worry you will not suffer with photos of every single one.

We then took 25 minutes to wind our way slowly down 4 kilometers to the port area of Tinos called Chora.Tinos is famous for the Church of Panagis Evangelistria. The church holds a famous Icon of the Virgin Mary and no we did not queue up to kiss it. Thousands of Orthodox Christians visit the church each year as a a pilgrimage. Many of these pilgrims crawl on their knees around 800 meters uphill from the port and then up the steps, via a red carpet to kiss the Icon and pay homage to the Virgin Mary. As you can probably guess, we did not do that either!

Even though we didn’t crawl, we were still tired out so needed refreshment.

Then we headed back to our abode to watch the sunset. Rather spectacular!

Next day was a bit of a rest day. Drove for a coffee in the morning and found another road on the other side of the port for a different view.

We decided we should check out one of the beaches so we drove to Agios Romanos and had a swim. It was a sandy beach and the water was exceptionally clear.

Next day was Sunday so of course we needed to find a Brunettis. We tried the Orange Cake ( doesn’t sound very Greek but apparently it’s famous on the island) and a piece of galaktoboureko, a custard filled pastry. Oth were rather good and the coffee wasn’t bad either.

Then it was back in the car for another trip around d some more mountain villages. First stop was Kardiani, known as one of the most beautiful villages on the island and built on the slopes of Mount Pateles.

White marble is prevent in the village’s architecture and we wandered the cobblestone alleyways, went up and down narrow flights of stairs and past the white washed houses.The Church of Panagiotis Kioura had a quaint 18th century fishy fountain and throughout the village there were photo displays of by gone times. We loved it, not touristy at all.

Our next stop was Isternia, another village known for its marble. In 1834 there were over 1000 residents in the village due to the marble quarries but today only about 150 people reside there. Another nice quiet spot to wander.

Onward to Pyrgos, the largest village on the island, and considered to be the most picturesque. Again its claim to fame is its marble. Maybe because it was Sunday and there were many people out and about doing lunch, it didn’t do much for us, we preferred the quieter other villages. The main square had a huge plane tree giving shade to the hordes of people having lunch! We wandered again through the cobbled streets with the bougainvilleas against the white washed walls making for lots of photo ops! Hope you are not sick already of white villages cause there will be lots more to come!

y this stage we were hu grey so we ventured down to the sea port of Pyrgos, a gorgeous little fishing village called Panormos. It was bombed in 1941 but 3 years later it was the first area of the Cyclades to be officially liberated.

Found a great spot for lunch. Even though the wine was not so great…..the food was fabulous. We started with a tomato and cucumber salad, followed by shrimp saganaki and blue whiting. Delicious!

Yesterday was our last day here on Tinos. We headed off to check out another beach although we decided not to have a swim, as we were headed out to lunch afterwards and nothing worse than sitting in wet bathers!

Back to Chora for lunch. The saganaki and the grilled peppers were great, especially as they were washed down with a couple of beers.

Later today we leave our island of Tinos and head to Paros for 5 nights.Beware probably more photos of white washed houses!😂

Yia Sou from Tinos

Until next time

Love Greg and Rhonda

xxxx

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