Mykonos to Tinos and relaxation bliss

 

We packed up and headed to Tinos today, catching a ferry mid-morning which took about 30 minutes. There were 2 x cruise ships in and we encountered a large bunch of American's on our way to the port then others on the water taxi. The wind had dropped and Paul had been out for a run while the rest of us showered and packed. This ferry arrived early - shocking - so boarding wasn't as chaotic and we got to explore the boat a bit before it left the port. Other than being told off for putting our backpacks on a seat the trip was pretty uneventful and we were on Tinos. 

Top left - on the ferry to Tinos, then ferries in port. Bottom right on the water taxi and bottom left the first pic I took of our view. 

William our host came and picked 2 of us plus our luggage up while the others caught a taxi to Horizon Villas. The architecture here in Tinos is completely different architecture than the other islands we have visited, less densely populated buildings wise and even more arid. Our accommodation is about a 15 minute drive from the port. As it's Easter Monday the supermarkets are still closed so we decided to take a punt on food from a local mini-mart and our host William gave us 6 1.5L bottles of water to tide us over to tomorrow. 

Libby chose us the most amazing place to stay. It's isolated, quiet, oh so hot, not windy and simply beautiful. Our villa is 2 storied with open plan kitchen, dining, living up stairs with a massive deck as big as that room. Then downstairs where it's cooler there are 3 large bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, another huge patio outside - every bedroom has access to the outdoors via lovely doors into a garden that is struggling to stay alive. On both decks there are loungers and upstairs a huge outdoor table and chairs. A few metres from us is the pool the 4 villas in the complex share which has plenty of loungers around it for relaxing. We are up on a hill above 2 beaches. Steve, Libby and Paul walked to the beach late afternoon and were gone a good couple of hours exploring both beaches. Karen sat by the pool and I did my hand washing before we both settled in upstairs - me writing my blogs and Karen to do some work as it's a bank holiday at home. 

We can see Mykonos from our villa and can also see the ferries going in and out of Mykonos and coming into Tinos, along with the two cruiseships as they left. The view is really spectacular.

Left - Libby in the pool with our view in the background, Steve ruining my pic of our lovely bedroom, The three of us walking back with groceries and Libby always travels with a collapsable vase. 

Earlier in the day Steve, Libby and I set out for the mini-mart, William picked us up so we only had to walk back with our groceries, about 15-20 minutes. There we got wine and beer, cheeses, dips and a loaf of bread. Last minute I decided to grab some eggs and made us all mini omelettes with all of these fillings plus tomatoes for late lunch. As predicted the mini-mart was horrendously expensive so we are going to have to learn how to navigate the bus which comes twice a day tomorrow to get to a supermarket. 

Tinos is known for Dovecotes - and we saw a few on our walk. 

• "The island of Tinos is famous for the many intricately designed dovecotes found here. They are fortress-like stone structures with two levels of which the lower level is usually used to store utensils and other items. It is decorated with both geometric patterns including triangles and rhomboids and non-geometric patterns including cypress trees and variations of the sun. It is believed that these elaborate patterns are the reason why the pigeons are attracted to these dovecotes."

Top right is a Dovecote on a property near us. The other three pics are Dovecote patterns built into walls. 

Tinos is also know for snakes, I joked with Karen that the insect we could hear beside the pool sounded awefully like a rattle snake, we both dismissed the notion as we're not in Australia. When picked up my laptop later on I did a quick search on Tinos and snakes and the first result was "Tinos, Island of Snakes" turns out there are heaps here including some seriously venomous ones. We haven't seen any yet. 

Top is our view. Bottom left outside our bedrooms floor. Bottom right the bus stop shelter which also has PO Boxes inside. 

At 8pm we were still sitting in the sunshine feeling so very priviledged to be here in this beautiful villa on this beautiful island looking at a stunning view but decided we'd better head out to one of the two food places that we knew were open about 10 minutes walk away. 

Right - Steve reading as the sun started to go down. Top right the sunsetting over Mykonos. Bottom a cruise ship leaving Mykonos as a ferry is going in just before dusk. 

We chose the closest restaurant which was kinda like a huge wedding venue with a covered in patio area where people were eating - only thing is they were all smoking so we opted to sit in the banquet hall instead. The whole thing was an experience. Their menu was in Greek and an Easter very meat focused menu. The lovely waitress tried to explain it all to us but something got lost in translation - the main thing is we got food, lots of food just maybe not what we thought we had ordered. 

On the left is the giant Souvlaki to share that Steve and I ordered, done over charcoal with capsicum on the side and slices of capsicum in between each huge chunk of juicy chicken. 

Bottom right is Paul's burger which we assume was also to share as it was HUGE. Luckily it meant he could take half home for Karen who didn't join us - and I got told off for working.  

After our dinner they gave us some shots of a lovely liqueur and a mini ice cream each - part of their Easter celebrations we think - modelled by Libby top right. We walked home with very full stomachs.