Summer trip to the wilderness of Tinos island.. Cyclades, Greece

content:
photos:
Vote this travel review

Travel DIY on an island (Tinos - Cyclades) outside the usual tourist routes.
We are two couples, guests of a friend, who lent us his house,
recently renovated, giving us the keys as well as some general guidance for
find her.
And 'August 6, 2009. We can find a flight from Rome to Mykonos Company
Blue Panorama.
We land around 10.30, we must move to the old port to embark to Tinos.
Mess out of the airport to grab a taxi (there are very few.)
But we are Italians and we know arranging!
We boarded the Meltemi (fresh and dry wind that blows nell'areale Aegean,
particularly in summer - Wikipedia) is heard, but after about twenty minutes we land
Kora, the capital and port of Tinos.
We rent a Jeep discovery and follow the instructions of our friend of the owner
our accommodation.
Climb, climb and after about 6 km we reach Dyo Chora, a village perched on
hill made of white houses and narrow streets passable only by donkeys and mules. We had
general indication of the type: you climb the stairs, the house is the last
village, the highest. After the first hundred steps here is a small square with trees (in the following days will become the scene of a great party with barbecue and folk dances) from which branch off 4 or 5 steps, which to choose?
The fourth step and not even know how many hundreds of steps, completely soaked
sweat and pant to a thousand, find the house. Until then we had not realized
of what we had behind seven islands were crowned by a breathtaking view,
Closest Andros, Syros, Mykonos and Dylos, background Sifnos, Paros and Naxos.
The house is beautiful, we have two apartments restored and furnished with
great taste and skill in respect of places and a well-kept garden with a large
marble table where you enjoy the smells of the Mediterranean that grows wild around the enchanting scenery and deep blue.
Start contacts with the locals, most are Greek tourists who have second homes there and a few rooms among which a farmer all bent from the strain fields of uncertain age with a great desire to communicate with us, a bit ' to operate a bit 'with those four words of greek as we know now we create a lively and playful relationship (after we receive gifts to rain: tomatoes and peppers in his garden, homemade ouzo and various vegetables in the place).
After consulting the map of the island and have heard our friend homeowner who guides us through targeted SMS, visit one day after another all the most beautiful beaches of Tinos:
1) the cup Livada with granite boulders carved by wind and a characteristic upstream freshwater lagoon
2) Ormos Agios Ioannou facing Mykonos
3) the beautiful and protected Ormos Panormou the old port from which the famous marble which is said to have been built St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Church of San Marco in Venice and Buckingham Palace in London
4) the rich (so to speak) and fitted Kolympithra

Picturesque villages and well-maintained interior, among which Vólax (to get there, the wrong road, we found ourselves on a dirt path where not a soul passed with dense Mediterranean vegetation and large granite boulders including free grazing goats, many throughout the island, among other things, we cross a rabbit and two rates that playful leaping into the street deserted), Komi and its sculptors and its museum of marble and Stena.

Worth visiting
Monastiri: an Orthodox monastery and fortified self-sufficient to withstand the siege of the infidels with an extraordinary spontaneous architecture made up of alleys, steps and terraces
The renowned and significant Orthodox shrine dedicated to Our Lady. The 15th of August Tinos is filled with the faithful, particularly the Roma seem to be particularly devout, who storm the island and travel about a mile uphill on his knees to reach the shrine.

You eat well, to Greece, a bit 'everywhere and rarely exceed 15 euros after a real binge. But we have to find a gem: a restaurant block at the southern port of Kora, who specializes in fish, which looks more like a French bistro that a Greek taverna, but the prices are Italian restaurant (40-50 Euros).

And 'we are about to leave on August 13 Tinos to return to Mykonos where we spend a day in the waiting area to return to Rome.
And 'just in Mykonos that we can better appreciate the lonely landscapes and hidden beaches to a few close friends we have left. The frenzy of shopping and entertainment (???) at any cost is not our thing.
Thanks Tinos queen of the winds (Aeolus lived seems about right here) for letting us know another Greece, perhaps the hardest and wild, but full of charm and mythological allegories that still manage to thrill.