Wednesday, May 30: Rick calls Sharon at Windmill Travel in Tinos to let her know we're on the way. We have directions for the short walk to her office from the arrival pier. It's past 9pm when we finally arrive and find Sharon waiting for us in her office at Windmills Travel. She takes us to the apartment we've rented for the 5 days we'll be here. It's quite unique, to say the least: not luxurious by any means, but quite comfortable and very quaint. The identifying feature of the apartment (which is actally a small cottage on a tract of private property) is the front, glassed-in porch, which provides a clear view to the waterfront (separated from us only by a road and the pier). Sharon spends a few minutes going over the idionsynchracies of living here: the water system, the electricity, how the window shutters work, and where everything is. She warns us about the very low doorway to the bathroom which is also the shower. It doesn't take long to get acclimated and we're tired to the point that hitting the sack has a lot more appeal than eating dinner.

Thursday, May 31: We awoke to a gorgeous day with a delightful cool breeze blowing through the apartment. Hard to believe we still have 4 weeks left in Greece! Despite some of the modern places we've stayed so far, Rick gets the best night's sleep of the trip. He's almost back to 100%, and, as he does when we first get to a new apartment, sets off for the market to get some basic groceries. He returns to find Rory talking with Sharon (who lives in the main apartment on the property). Sharon is thrilled to hear how well Rick slept. We also meet Tricia, who lives in the apartment above Sharon. They have at least 8 cats and a dog who isn't too sociable. Our intent today is to take it easy, wander into town for lunch, and get our bearings. Rick will first spend an hour or so updating the journal--another order of business will be to find an Internet Cafe.

We stop at the Windmills office to trade a paperback; Rick leaves one, but doesn't find one he wants in trade.No matter, it will lighten the load he's hauling. There are tavernas all over the waterfront area, as there are in every Greek port, and Sharon points us in the direction of 5 of them on one side of a path between two rows of shops. She tells us that 1,2,4, and 5 are OK, but don't eat at the 3rd one. We choose number 5, for a light lunch of salad, stuffed tomatoes, and bread. Rick had spotted a pink pelican when he went out for groceries, and the big bird is hanging around the circular area just beyond where we're eating. Apparently he belongs to the owner of the fishmarket opposite the taverna. As 2pm (Siesta time) approaches, the owner of the fish narket shoos the pelican inside until it's time to reopen at 6pm. When we're finished with lunch we walk around the pier and find ourselves in the heart of town: lots of tavernas, hotels, ticket agencies, etc. Most of the tourists to Tinos are Greeks from other places; not many Americans come here. Maybe that's why it has the feel of the kind of Greek island we all imagine. We want to rent a car for a day or two to explore the island, and arrange for a Suzuki samurai from Vidalis Car Rental which we will pick up in the morning. Rory wants to wander a bit and then we return to the apartment to read and take our own siesta.

At about 8pm, we leave the apartment and walk the back streets to the waterfront. The streets are narrow (what else?), too narrow for cars. Each little house and narrow pathway demands a photo (we'll do that tomorrow). Several of the larger streets are paved with large flat stones that look like huge pearls in the twilight. We have dinner in the #1 taverna (from Sharon's recommendations). Having regained his appetite, Rick craves swordfish. We ask the man at the taverna if they have any. He says they do, but it's not on the menu and we're skeptical. We have pasta instead with some red wine. The food is quite good as is the walk back to the apartment.

Friday, June 1: Another great night's sleep for both of us. If we keep this up we may never want to leave Tinos. Trish is sitting on her balcony when Rick goes out and he chats with her for 15 minutes or so-- a very nice lady from England who married a Greek. She lives in the house they bought from his cousins; her husband passed away 13 years ago and she spends 4 months each year here in Tinos and the rest of the time in England. When she's gone, Sharon, who lives in the apartment below Trish, keeps her eye on the place. We're about an hour late to pick up the car. On the way, we walk past the tavernas and the fish market. The pelican we saw yesterday is asleep on the roof of a nearby car. Gotta have a picture of that! We've rented a Suzuki samurai. Rick has Yeorgos put the roof down in back and open up the top. It's another perfect day: bright sunshine; cool, dry breeze. Armed with a "map" of the island, we're off. We've rented the car for two days, but Yeorgus says not to pay until we return it--this will prove to work out well for us. Our primary destination is Pyrgos, the marble artists' village about 19km from the port of Tinos. It doesn't take long for Rick to reacquaint himself with a standard transmission and we are quite happy with our choice of vehicle.

The island is a series of mountains; the hills are covered with rock walls that look like braille from a distance. The obvious questions are: who built all of these (there must be 10s of thousands of kilometers of them) and why were they built? Suffice it to say that they make the rocky hills of Ireland look like small pebble farms. The roads are narrower than the ones on the mainland, but we encounter very few vehicles. In fact we have the feeling that we're on the island by ourselves once we're out of Tinos town. In addition to rock walls, the hills are covered with purplish pink oleander and the roads are lined with tall yellow flowers on both sides. On the way to Pyrgos, we'll take little detours to Kardiani Bay (there appears to be a resort hotel here), Isternia, and Platia. We approach Pyrgos from above the town--its architecture is completely white marble. There's a car park, with a WC nearby. We follow the signs to the museum, but decide we'd rather see some of the artists's studios than pay to look at the contents of a museum. There are only a few shops open on the little main pathway through the town and no studios are open. We did see a couple of studios just before the carpark and retrace our steps. At the second studio, the artist Lambros Diamantoulos (or something close to that), is working. He welcomes us and shows us some of the work he is doing: primarily large pieces for above doorways and vertical columns. This work has been commissioned by someone who is building a new house. We admire some of his work including a tall column with the face of Apollo carved into the top facing part of the column. He explains in a combination of Greek, English, and pantomime, how when the sun hits the face just right, it will appear as if the face is projected forward, rather than recessed into the marble. That his mind could imagine this, his eye see it, and then his hands create it, leaves us in awe! Lambros tells us that he has a shop in the town, which we think we were in. If it's the one we think it is, we're going back to see if perhaps there is a small piece we might purchase. It will certainly have much more meaning to us having met the artist! We pass the shop and go in for the second time. The man overseeing things speaks English very well. We explain that we've been to Lambros' studio. There are a couple of small pieces that interest us, and we decide to buy one of them. The proprietor of the shop carefully wraps the item and we're off to lunch. At the end of the street, there's a kind of courtyard with a large tree in the center. Around the tree are the tables of about 5 different tavernas. We select one and order mushrooms, fried potatoes, wine for Rory and coke for Rick. We're served bread, which is standard (and for which they charge--in lieu of tipping), and relax under the spreading limbs of the tree. There's a small orange tree across from us, grwoing out of the marble street. We're not sure how exactly it gets any water. The mushrooms are excellent, and the potatoes are the best we've had so far: sliced round, slightly crisp, and very hot. A very little bit of salt really brings out their flavor. A second coke and glass of wine later, we're through with lunch and back to Lambros' shop, because there is a piece that Rory wants to look at again. It's almost 2:30 and Lambros has come by so that the other man can take his siesta. We spend some more time "chatting" with Lambros and finally Rory decides to buy the second small piece. This makes us Lambros' very good friends and he proceeds to tell us that he was in Minneapolis for heart surgery 13 years ago. It's almost hard to leave, but finally we're on our way.

Back in the car, we follow the road to Panormos Bay, a very picturesque little seaside town with it's own little rocky island at the mouth of the cove. It looks like there is a narrow strip of land that connects the island with the town, but when the tide is in, the water covers the connection, leaving it an island once again. We'll pass through numerous towns on the way back to Tinos. We take a little detour to the town of Volax, known for it's basket weavers. Every town seems to have its craft specialty. The road ends at the beginning of the town and we proceed on foot. Other than two small boys playing and a man sitting outside his taverna, there appears to be no one here. It is siesta time however, and little towns like this are not catering to tourists who could care about siesta. The town is ASLEEP!! We wander the narrow (what else?) streets and pass one man sitting in his room weaving baskets. It's such a pretty little place and so amazingly quiet. Almost at the end of the street, we see an old man sitting on the wall in front of his house above us. We wave and he waves back. Rick says "Ya mas" (hello) and points to his camera and then at the man. He nods, takes off his hat, and fixes his hair. When he signals he's ready, Rick takes two shots and says "efaristo" (thank you). Before we can walk away, the man calls for us to come up the stairs. He pulls a large old iron key from his pocket and unlocks the heavy wooden door to his house (actually it's a room). Remember, he was sitting not 2 meters from his door, yet it's locked. He invites us inside and points to two chairs for us to sit on. Rick understands what is happening. We have made a connection and it's traditional that when guests come, they are offered "metzes", a snack or some sweets--whatever the host might have. The man offers us a piece of hard candy wrapped in celophane. We have to accept. He motions for Rory to unwrap one for him as well. We sit and look around at the stone walls of his room. There's a bed in the far right corner, a table along the wall from it toward the front. There are the two chairs we're sitting on, and a large wooden box covered with a cloth on the opposite side of the door from the two chairs. The walls are covered with religious icons. We don't see a closet or a bathroom. We're at a loss for words, but want to express our appreciation for his hospitality. Rick points to himself and says "Rick" then points to Rory and says "Rory". Then he points to the man and says nothing. The man understands and says "Marco"! Bingo--communication. Marco's smile would light up a room, while revealing the few teeth he has left. He shakes Rick's hand and goes to the table to get some ouzo. We don't want any, but do not want to hurt his feelings by refusing. Rick gets him to understand that we're driving, and relates that to no drinking somehow. It's all we can do to figure out a way to leave gracefully, which we do, but not before Marco can offer us a sweet biscuit! We have had another one of those unique experiences that our traveling has often afforded us.

On the way back to the car, we pass the basket weaver and stop to watch for a minute. Then we're on our way past a couple of small towns on our way back to Tinos town. We're thinking we've seen everything we want to on the island. There are no good beaches that we might want to visit tomorrow. Why not turn the car in rather than keep it the second day and pay for something we won't be using? So we fill the car with gas and return to the car rental office. Yeorgos says there is no problem returning it early. (Heck, he'll make more renting it tomorrow at the weekend rate than he would have made from us.) We're happy because we won't spend the extra euros and can sleep in tomorrow without worrying about getting the car back on time. Win-win! On our walk back to the apartment we stop at taverna #5 (where we had lunch yesterday) to see if they have swordfish. We are assured they do, and we promise to be back for dinner.

Saturday, June 2: We've got no plans for today and take the opportunity to sleep in. (By the way, Rick got his swordfish last night. It was great, and accompanied by the best tomato he's aver tasted. The tomatoes in Greece are fantastic, as are most of the fruits and vegetables we've had.) We're not out of the apartment until almost 11:30. Rory wants to wander in town and hopes to encounter her buddy the pelican. Several ferries have arrived, hundreds of people have disembarked, most of whom are heading to the Church of Panagia Evangelistria. (More on this in a bit). Sure enough, the pelican is waddling casually by the children's playground, seemingly knowing his celebrity status. He struts around, peeking into coffee bars and the local super market.Many of the people coming off the ferries are scurrying around taking his picture and posing with him for their families to do the same. The bird seems to be relishing the attention, but he does not seem too willing to have anyone touch him. We follow the crowd to Leof Megaloharis, the main street leading up a steep hill to the Church of Panagia Evangelistria. All of these people are Greeks who have come to Tinos for some sort of religious observance. We walk slowly up the street, lined with shops selling huge candles (approx. 2 to 4 feet in length) and wrapped in paper of the same color as the candle. The shops also sell religious icons, incense, and other religious items. There are hundreds of these little shops along this and the next street over, intermixed with clothing and jewelry shops, tavernas, and shops selling sweets of all kinds.

The Church of Panagia Evangelistria is built of white marble from the quarries of Panormos on Tinos. During the major Greek Orthodox festival in August, the town is overrun with pilgrims coming to the church from all over Greece and the rest of the world. As we walk up the hill, we notice a path of carpet set in a rubber base that runs from the bottom of the hill, all the way up to the church, a distance of 500-750 meters. Many people (all women) are crawling on their hands and knees up the hill on this carpet in devotion to the sacred icon of Megalochari (Holy Virgin), draped with gold, silver, jewels, and pearls, that resides inside the church. At the top of the hill, the plaza in front of the church is paved with black and wbite stones in an elaborate mosaic design. There is also a bronze statue of a woman on her hands and knees, hand raised toward the sky.

For lunch we choose a taverna along the waterfront and watch the people go by. There is a priest standing across the square and after watching him for a while, we discern that he's stationed there to guide people both from the ferry to the church and back again. He is the happiest looking priest we've ever seen--a constant grin on his face as he talks to whoever happens by. We are also amused by the varying sizes, shapes and outfits of the women who pass by. All this entertainment for free!! The rest of the day will be spent lounging at the apartment: reading and napping. Around 8:30, we decide to go out for pizza at Segneta's just around the corner. Sharon had recommended it. The vegetarian pizza is great and we enjoy watching the ferries coming in, turning around in the small harbor, disgorging the cars and passengers, and boarding the departing. It's a wonderfully warm evening with a cool breeze (what else is new?), so we walk into town for a coffee at one of the cafes. It's been anther great day on Tinos. We can't say enough good things about this island, not the least of which is the absence of buses filled with American tourists.

Sunday, June 3: It's another gorgeous day in Tinos--our last. By the time we get going, it's after 11am. We want to go back to see if we can get inside the Church of Panagia Evangelistria and to take some pictures of the candle shops and the bronze statue at the top of the hill. There are only a few people crawling up the carpet and, even thought it's Sunday, far fewer people at the church. We still don't get inside as there's a service in progress, but we do visti the gallery museum which contains mostly portraits, but they don't say of whom. We'll idle the rest of the day and return to taverna #5 for dinner. By now the waiter nows us, and we are treated more like family than customers. Tomorrow, we'll catch the 9:40am Highspeed 2 ferry to Naxos