Greece Trip, Day 1

Since not all that much happened the first day of our trip (May 6--we flew in, arrived around 7, took a one-hour bus ride to the hotel in the Piraeus, took a quick walk and watched the news on TV before an early bedtime), I'll skip to the first full day...

May 7:
We woke up very early in order to make the 10 minute walk to the ferry, stopping for frappes (Greek iced coffee) along the way. The ferry left the Piraeus at 7:35 and we were in for an approximately 4 1/2 hour ride. The ride itself was fun as it was exciting to be back on the Aegean again. We really felt the length of the ride as it wore on, though, as we had forgotten to keep any books or cards out and resorted to playing 21 questions and just enjoying the lovely views of Greek islands floating by. Arriving to Tinos around 12:00 after stopping at the nearby island of Siros, we were met at the port by someone from our hotel, who put our bags in a van and drove us up to the hotel. We were excited for this hotel, as we had read very good things about it online and had gotten a very good deal on it. Even so, we were just stunned when we got there and saw how nice it really was and how good of a deal we really did get (we basically paid a quarter of the price, and even the price we paid was a bit more than we usually pay for hotels). The room had typical 'Greek island' decor (whitewashed walls with blue doors and windows). The sink was essentially a hollowed-out rock and we had a jacuzzi bathtub. We were given free guides and postcards upon arrival, in addition to a glass of cold lemonade. The owners constantly asked if we needed anything and were very eager to help. We certainly felt quite pampered and very relaxed and happy!

After checking in, we took a walk around the island's main town. The island itself was absolutely gorgeous, filled with whitewashed houses on brown slopes which met clear blue waters. It was unique in terms of Greek islands in that it was more dedicated to religious pilgrimage than to foreign tourism. Further, it was mainly Greek religious tourists, so the island itself had a very Greek character and we had to rely on our Greek far more than we did in Athens. The island housed an allegedly miracle-working icon contained in a beautiful Greek church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church was within the town of Tinos (the island's main town), and a road led from it downhill to the sea. A carpet lined the road so that pilgrims could crawl the 200-some yards up the rather steep hill to the doors of the church and the road was lined with shops selling icons, candles, holy water and other religious items. It was very inspiring to see the dedication of the Greek pilgrims and the seriousness with which they viewed the site. In addition to the main church of the Virgin Mary, there were a large number of smaller churches and chapels dotting the island, adding to its deeply religious character.

We walked around the town for a while and then after an afternoon frappe we made our way towards one of the nearby beaches. It was quite relaxing to walk along the clear blue water and have no assignments to think about for several days. Unfortunately the beach also was home to some weird black substance (oil? black sand? something else?) that caked itself to our feet and sandals and got all over anything it touched, coming out only after intense scrubbing or sometimes not coming out at all. But it was not annoying enough to damper our day and we returned to the hotel in high spirits in time for a late afternoon siesta in our gorgeous hotel. Around 7:00, knowing the Greeks' love for late dinners, we headed down into the main part of the town eagerly in search of our first Greek cuisine in several years. However, our dinner estimate was too early, and we had to walk the promenade along the sea and watch the preliminary stages of sunset for about an hour while we waited for restaurants to open for dinner (which they did around 8:00--how easily we forgot the Greek dinner customs!!). The wait was well worth it, though, as we both enjoyed our Greek dishes (I had veal and Allison had some sort of squid, we both enjoyed Mythos beer) while sitting just feet from the sea watching the sunset on the promenade. The place was very good and got incredibly crowded much to the chagrin of our poor waiter who was basically working alone serving over 50 people and seemed quite overwhelmed, despite maintaining a positive demeanor. After taking in our fill of the Greek night and cuisine we headed back to the hotel for a lovely night sleeping with the windows open and the Greek island breeze coming through our room.

Ferry to Tinos

The ferry door opens and pictures from around the town of Tinos

The Virgin Mary's church (above)