Tinos

Hello from the island of Tinos in the Cyclades. We're sun baked and sleepy. Currently sitting in the shade of a large plane tree in a stone courtyard at a taverna with a very friendly owner, in a village called Two Villages. This post is the intro to Tinos.

I chose Tinos when planning the travel. There are many Greek Islands--I chose this one as being much cheaper and under the radar than others. It's true--dramatically so.

Very authentic in its small villages, very quiet, very austere and rocky. Willa Marie says it reminds her of Mexico. Although when first walking through the tunnels and tiny alleys of the village we are staying in, she said she felt like she could be in the Zombie apocalypse any second.

So--the land is bare and rocky. The sun is blazing hot but the wind is chilly. There are crickets and black and white crows and sheep and goats wandering. There are simple whitewashed buildings on the brown hillsides, singly and in clusters. There is a big hot blue sky. There is the Aegean on both sides of the island, with other islands out in it. We look out on Mykonos and Delos. Little chapels and windmills dot the hillsides, and I guess you need a new white chapel with a tiny blue cross every 10 minutes walk or so. So there is one.

Outside of the "large" port town, the thing about Tinos is the villages. They are built on cliff sides and valleys and perched on ridges. They are very small. They all have the whitewashed walls and feel like Tatooine when you walk through them. Decaying walls, trash in the corners, many cats, church bells, tiny village squares with old laundry basins around what was once a village spring. Greek Orthodox icons. Lots of tunnels and archways and slate steps leading nowhere. Or somewhere. Less like streets, more like little alleys between houses, which they are.

https://vimeo.com/269909460

Sprays of bougainvilleas, and lots of carved marble windows and fountains and accents, as Tinos is a large marble quarry with many marble carvers still working. So in these tiny villages, lots of marble.

Although May is theoretically the start of the tourist season, not many people are here. I think in summer there are a lot of Greeks with second homes here, and tour buses, and lots of religious pilgrims, as there is a reportedly a miraculous icon enshrined in the church in town. We hear the street leading to the church is carpeted because the old Greek women crawl up from the dock on their knees. We have not been there yet.

What do we do? So far, we explore and chill out. Our Air BB is very tiny and lovely. With a breezy porch and a great view. As Dave fights his head cold we hang out there. We venture out to sit in the nearby square, under the trees.

Also, we explore. We have been to Tarambados, to Volax, to Kiridiani and to Prygos--each village is a little different. Also Arnados, where we are staying. All are pretty quiet and empty. All are simple and have goats pretty near by. All have a taverna. All are in a different fairly dramatic landscape.

In a few days we move to our second place, near the water where we will be joined by Dave's cousin, the one and only CAMERON SHAW!

We love and miss each and every one of you.

- Jessica