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Post by Baz Faz on May 31, 2019 10:31:11 GMT 2
We are off for a brief visit (10 days) to Greece. Tonight we'll be in the ferry port of Rafina. Our hotel overlooks the harbour so it is within easy walking distance (we stayed there last year). Tomorrow we take the ferry to Tinos. We are staying in the Chora (the main town) in a rather strange place. It used to be a farm, right on the edge of the town. Then it was a camp site. No more camping - it now has a number of simple villas but in a wooded area complete with a lovely pond. Aerial photos show it as being a large green area but in walking distance of the port.
We are leaving to catch the bus to Bristol in 30 minutes. I'll post later.
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Post by sophie on May 31, 2019 17:04:04 GMT 2
Safe travels!
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Tinos
Jun 1, 2019 20:23:03 GMT 2
Post by auntieannie on Jun 1, 2019 20:23:03 GMT 2
enjoy! oh, the cyclades. lovely.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jun 2, 2019 17:32:10 GMT 2
We had a faultfree journey from England. Our welcome at the hotel in Rafina was good (no need to check in as we had stayed there last year). We had a lovely meal down by the harbour. On Saturday our journey on the ferry was fine. We walked from the port to our accommodation. This is a bit strange. It used to be a campsite on the edge of town but is now just a large green treed area with a few chalets. We have a bedroom with a cooking corner and a shower room. In front there is a huge terrace and then a paved area under trees with a resident peacock. Fortunately he is not noisy.
Last night we wandered into the centre of town and had a good meal with proper Greek food (stuffed tomatoes, gigantes beans and fried fish. A semolina dessert and a shot of some fiery spirit were on the house.
I had a walk up to the main church in town which has the ikon of some saint who reputedly works miracles. The bad news is that for the miracle to work you have to approach the church on your knees. From the harbourside to the church is 300 metres. And it is uphill. A thoughtful council has laid a strip of carpet to make it less painful for penitents. Even so 300 metres is a long way. I watched a woman (in her early 30s I reckoned) going up. She was about three-quarters of the way. I kept seeing her raisenher head to see how much further it was. Or possibly for diving help.
Very possibly this knee-crawling going up does the trick as I saw nobody on their knees coming down.
Today we packed a picnic and took a bus up into tje hills. Tinos is famed for 2 things (apart from the knee-crawling): its dovecotes and it villages. The dovecotes are big and ornate but we only saw one with resident pigeons. There are about 50 villages but we only walked between 3. They are white painted and attractive and are lived in. People are really friendly. Three times people stopped and asked if we needed help. Another time a man stopped kin his pick-up and gave us a lift to a monastery. Unfortunately the monastery (actually a nunnery) was closed until 4 pm and we needed to catch our bus back to town.
We have more bus trips planned to more villages and beaches but tomorrow is the day (possibly) when the summer bus timetable comes into operation. Nobody knows what changes will be made so we can't plan.
Tinos is a great island and has been saved from mass tourism (unless you are on your knees).
All for now. Mrs Faz needs her computer to edit the hundreds of photos she has taken.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jun 3, 2019 8:23:38 GMT 2
The Pelican War
Mykonos is visible on the horizon and, in my view, it can stay there. I have been coming to Greece for decades and right from the start I considered it to be too chi-chi, pretentious, over-crowded and over-priced. It has always been known for its pelican which features on numerous postcards and tourist posters. The pelican is to give Mykonos its friendly aura. Then mysteriously the pelican disappeared - and reappeared on neighbouring Tinos.
There was no suggestion it was kidnapped. Well, maybe there were dark murmurings after a bit too much ouzo had been drunk. How and why it moved location is a mystery. One assumes it got tired of posing for tourists' cameras and flew. Anyway Mykonos wanted its pelican back. Requests, meetings, negotiations came to nothing. The pelican was a free bird and could choose to live where it wished - so said Tinos. Eventually Mykonos went to court and pleaded its case. The court in its wisdom supported Mykonos so the bird was transported back to Mykonos.
However Tinos decided to go one step further - and got a pelican of their own. Yesterday we saw it. It was not swimming in the harbour. No, it was determinedly walking up from the waterfront to the small fish market. Here it was fed scraps of fish and then off it went further into town in search of more food. So much easier than fishing for itself.
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Tinos
Jun 3, 2019 9:33:49 GMT 2
Post by shrjeff on Jun 3, 2019 9:33:49 GMT 2
reminds me of the pelicans in the galapagos who have learned to hang out at the fish cleaning station for scraps... they just have to fight off the sea lions and thieving frigate birds... and each other...
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Tinos
Jun 4, 2019 8:29:54 GMT 2
Post by Baz Faz on Jun 4, 2019 8:29:54 GMT 2
Yesterday we went up to the church where miracles occur (Mrs Faz didn't come with me on Saturday). We watched a woman on her hands and knees reach the top of the hill, then get to her feet to cross a square. Her first action on getting to her feet was to get out her mobile phone and send a text message (possibly to God asking for a miracle). When we went into the crypt under the church we were stopped by a woman who said we should get a plastic bottle and fill it with holy water. She came from Thessaloniki and said that she would take her bottle right onto the plane to go back. She told us that when she said it was holy water from Tinos there was no problem taking the litre bottle on board. I don't think EasyJet has the same policy.
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Post by Baz Faz on Jun 6, 2019 9:17:30 GMT 2
Mrs Faz has been posting about our visit to Tinos on Facebook and has included a photo of my arm that is alarming, blood everywhere. She has been milking this to get sympathy for me but the reality is less impressive. We were following a blazed trail from the lovely village of Pyrgos down to the sea at Panormos where we could catch the bus for our return journey. The path we were following had a stretch that had simply crumbled away so we had to scramble along the hillside. My boot rolled on a loose stone so I pitched forward. Thankfully I have fast reflexes so I got my hands in front of me as I tumbled into a low-growing thorny bush. No lasting damage was done though the photo Mrs Faz took made it seem as if I had just come ashore on D-Day and had met stiff resistance from the Germans. Once we got home, washed my arm and removed the thorns you would be hard put to see any damage at all.
Walking in the hills here is a joy because of the lovely views and the pretty villages (about 60) on the island. The negative is the appalling map. It looks truly impressive with contour lines round all the hills, little roads and paths everywhere. I think the map makers gathered at a taverna, had a good lunch with lots of ouzo and retsina and then got down to deciding what to put on the map. It would be nice to have a footpath between point A and point B so lets put one in. The paths are more an aspiration than a fact. One path we followed did not go from point A to point B but took us mysteriously round a village and after 20 minutes returned us to where we had started. Many other paths do exist but have long ago been overgrown by bushes and brambles so are impenetrable.
Today we have decided to take one of the tracks marked as leaving from the main town where we are staying. Surely that will be all right.
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Tinos
Jun 6, 2019 11:48:58 GMT 2
Post by auntieannie on Jun 6, 2019 11:48:58 GMT 2
have fun on your adventures, but do take care.
I recently watched a documentary about the first successful ascension to the Matterhorn. One of the unfortunate souls who lost their lives on the way down, being in a hurry to take part in the ascension, only had city shoes on. Not even walking boots. nothing. And he was member of Queen Victoria's extended family, so it's not as if he was a pauper.
So, anyway, look where you put your feet, Baz.
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Tinos
Jun 6, 2019 13:44:17 GMT 2
Post by Voy on Jun 6, 2019 13:44:17 GMT 2
a silver lining to this escapade might be the title of a new book ? "The Alarming Arm"
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Tinos
Jun 6, 2019 18:03:11 GMT 2
Post by Baz Faz on Jun 6, 2019 18:03:11 GMT 2
No alarms on today's walk. The map and directions continue to be awful. The map numbers the route differently from the occasional posts on the ground. The weather has got hotter so it was a bit more sweaty today. I am looking forward to tonight's retsina. This is not something you hear often from foreign visitors but I have long experience of drinking Greek wine having lived on the island of Skopelos for 6 months.
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Post by sophie on Jun 7, 2019 0:44:29 GMT 2
Baz,if you like retsina, you can have mine. Forever. I gag on it. I will take a Greek Brandy however...
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