Travel Time: TInos

So the day after the Acropolis was a travel day. We left bright and early Tuesday morning (July 12th) before the sun was up to hit the port of Rafina and catch a ferry to the wonderful island of Tinos. I have to tell you; Greece’s ferries put ours to shame! It was windy and it was chilly, but the sky and the sea were a brilliant blue and a bad day on the water is better than a good day at work, so off we went.

I was still quite jet lagged so after a cup of Greek coffee and some sort of pizza like pie thingy, I headed up to the upper deck to catch some z’s. There were plenty of passengers up there that had the same idea as me, but luckily I found a bench where I could stretch out and enjoy the sunshine; so much so, my feet were tanned with my sandal straps. It was going to take a week to get rid of that tan line. We arrive in Tinos about 4 hours later, sometime around midday I think and Louis had rented a car for us to use on the island. Now remember, we are four adults and two children –both which should be in a car seat, but only one was able to fit–PLUS all of our luggage. Luckily, Georgia had stuffed her car full of our luggage. We piled in and headed to the local grocery store. You want to know about a place—go to the grocery store. It was small, but it was effective. There was the largest area of cheeses and olives I have ever seen. Finally, I may find an olive I can eat.

We load up our loot and drive about 20 minutes up a very windy, switchbacky road to the village of Kardiani. We were greeted by a group of wonderful people who turned out to be Louis’ aunt, uncle and a variety of others that were in town for the wedding (that was in four days). Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Georgia helped us unload and pointed us down a flight of steps to our humble abode for the next 9 days. It is safe to say here, that Greeks, for the most part, in this village live quite simply. The house had 4 rooms: 1 master bedroom, one very small room that I guess was a bedroom, a dining room and a kitchen. There was also an indoor bathroom too. It turns out a lot of the houses are built this way–small and simple. Here in America, we are used to our large family rooms with large TV’s and couches. The family rooms in Greece are mostly small or outdoors. The house we stayed in did not have a seating room–just the kitchen table and two chairs in the dining area. It also reminded me of old world Europe—because the person who lived there was old. But when all you need is a place to sleep, it was perfect.

We spent the rest of the time exploring the small area where we were and eating at the Taverna that was 20 feet away from us. It was a beautiful start to a lovely 10 days.