Tinos 💜

My first day in Tinos was just what I wanted from a Greek island. The O’Donnell-Thebus clan has been here for awhile now, about a week and a half, and feel like they know the island like it is their second home. They were eager to share it with me. 

Waking up to this view is not a bad thing at all:

I am sleeping in a pseudo-hallway with a bed/couch in it, and it is small and adorable and perfect. The mornings here are coffee and lazy breakfasts outside in the huge garden with the neighborhood cats. There is one little orange and white lady thag Jessica named Creamsicle and she is everything you want in a cat. If I could adopt her I’d be all over it. 

We’ve spent a lot of time exploring the island. As they have been here for awhile, they’ve scouted it out and are taking me to all their favorite spots. First up was Volax, or Volakas, a beautiful basket-weaving hill town in a landscape surrounded by boulders and rugged terrain that calls to mind Don Quixote, and where a serene man named Joseph sold us teas and oils. The first time they had met Joseph he told them a story about a grave illness he had and his visit to the underworld. We have deduced from this that he is a witch, or perhaps immortal. Either way, we like him. 

I could easily have just explored Volax all day. It is a geological marvel- no one quite can figure out why the landscape is the way it is. Greek legends have explained it with a story about gods having a boulder fight, the way us mere mortals might have a snowball fight. This is probably a better explanation than whatever the truth may be. 

But exploring an entire island in a few days requires not as much lingering as I may have done on my own. 
So we had a lemonade and headed off to Agapi, an old town on a hill top where Willa Marie befriended a pregnant cat. There were some crumbling old buildings for sale that got me thinking about buying a house on a Greek island. Who’s in?? 

We went from Agapi to Aetofolia, which means Eagle’s Nest, to have lunch at a taverna that they had visited before. I had a sort of pork fillet that came with French fries. Jessica and I had wine. In Greece nobody rushes you through a meal. They let you sit and savor the ambiance and the food, enjoy the people you are with and relax a bit. It’s nice. 

When we got back to the house, which is above a little beach called Agios Romanos, we went swimming. My first time in the Aegean Sea! It is so salty that floating is no problem at all. The water is clear and not warm, exactly, but warm enough that once you’re in it’s no big deal. If I lived here I’d swim in the sea every day. I have the same thought whenever I’m in Hawaii. 

That night we sort of skipped dinner in favor of little snacks, and played a great game of self-made Scategories, featuring such categories as “Patterson qualities” and “things you can’t eat with a fork.” It was a lot of fun and felt like having our own little mini family reunion. 

The wind is intense on Tinos at all times (according to legend, Tinos is where Odysseus was given a bag of wind to get home), but that night it was still and I got subsequently eaten alive by mosquitos. So if I have Zika now, know that I love you all. 

On Thursday we decided to go to a beach on the other side of the island, Livada Bay, which has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The road was long and windy with lots of goats, and at a certain point it is unpaved, but not impassable by any means. If you are ever on Tinos, you really should make the effort to go. The rock formations are beautiful- mostly reddish rocks and at a certain point they meet very black rocks, very abruptly. The red ones are pockmarked by the wind and look like the Sand People from Star Wars should live there. Instead, goats live there. I think all four of us could have stayed there all day long, swimming and climbing rocks. Tinos in general would be a great place to go bouldering, if anyone is into that. 

At Livada Bay in the Aegean is where I got my Jubilee name, Sea Otter Jones. All Jubilee names end in Jones and must be bestowed by an O’Donnell-Thebus. Mine was given to me because I looked like a seat otter floating in the waves. I’ll take it.

By the time we left Livada we were all hungry, so we drove up and over the island to Andrados, the oldest town on Tinos and the first town where the O’Donnells stayed for 7 nights before going to Agios Romanos. It’s old- medieval old- and feels like you are walking around a movie set, for Star Wars or Children of Heaven or something. We went to their favorite taverna there, which is called Meeeh- like the sound a sheep makes. Literally. It’s named for that sound. The food was yummy and the proprietor very sweet, remembering that they were from Chicago and happy that they had returned. Then we wandered Andrados for an hour or so, and again, I could have stayed all day. Check this place out: 

Andrados is home to the monastery where the nun lived who had a vision that some relic would be found buried on the beach, and when it was found to be there, she became a saint, or something. The details of the story are unclear, but it is one reason why Greek Orthodox pilgrims flock to Tinos in August. Jessica had already visited the monastery, so we just did a quick tour of the courtyard and poked our heads into the church (two nuns glared at me when I did) while Dave and Willa Marie waited in the car, then walked the other way to a small chapel with many skulls. Some skulls in boxes with names, some just sitting in shelves. No explanation in English. I loved it.

Driving down the hill next we entered Kora, or Tinos Town, the “big city” on the island. We needed coffee and ice cream and groceries, and I wanted to see the church where the pilgrims go. They crawl from the ferry dock 800 meters up a hill, on a carpeted path running alongside the Main Street. The church is so ornate. I forget how fancy the Greek Orthodox faith is- all silver tin and incense and jewels. I didn’t want to take photos in the main church but this is from a chapel underneath: 

Picture those hanging silver things times 1000 upstairs in the main church. 

Carpet leading up to the church. 

Jessica and I both wrote out prayers for Vivian in the chapel. Can’t hurt.

We had ice cream at a Haagen Daz place by the wharf, and then got some groceries for dinner and headed home. Dave made potatoes and lentils and salad for dinner and we played more Scategories. The wind was back that night and the mosquitos were fewer- I killed one before falling asleep and that was that.

More tomorrow- it’s late and I need to sleep before the ferry in the morning. Look for a link soon to my guest post on the official Jubilee blog, www.odonnellthebus.com !!

Cameron