Volax

So the day before the big wedding, we decide to go adventuring. In hind-sight, this was a stupid idea. However, when you only have so much time to spend, you end up spending as much time as possible seeing as much as you can. Thia Kandia, Louis’ Auntie suggested we take a ride inland to the center of the island to a small village called Volax. We were in search of rocks to climb and Volax apparently had many, many rocks because there was once some volcanic activity. That period has long past. But as we set out crammed into the car once again we noticed that the landscape was scattered with large boulders. There is a Greek myth that the islands of Greece were created when the gods threw out some land in anger. If you look at a map of the islands, you can see this could not be far from the truth. The island of Tinos has rocks scattered about it like the islands are scattered in the sea.

Of course the first thing you must do when visiting a new village is check out the local taverna. Tinos Town has many tavernas, but the majority of the villages on the island only have one. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived and the taverna was deserted. We were the only customers that afternoon and the taverna’s children were hanging out. This made for a good time for Perrin. Unfortunately, the children did not speak English and Perrin does not speak Greek. There were several instances of confusion, but for the most part, running and jumping are universal playing techniques.

Now, from what I understand, one of the reasons Thia Kandia thought we would like this village was the fact that the taverna served this special omelet. This omelet held five eggs and everything else you can put in an omelet. We ordered that, some pastitsio, some artichokes and potatoes, this incredible potato and garlic dip and I will always wish I had, roasted eggplant dip, and that is all I remember. We ate... A LOT!

However, instead of that rock climbing we were thinking of, we decided to check out the village. Just like Kardiani, it was not very big. But they are very proud of al the things they do have such as an awesome taverna, a basket maker, a gift shop, a natural spring/well, and a church with a town museum full of artifacts that were found over the years. We bought Georgia and Markos part of their “thank you” gifts in the gift shop (complete with hand woven basket) and then climbed down a set of steps to find the town well. This was good for a few minutes because children do like to play in the water.

We later found the cute little woman who was in charge of the museum and she let us in for a moment to view the artifacts. We left a small donation for our appreciation. The sun was getting ready to set, so we headed back up through the hills to our little town to get some rest for the night. Unfortunately, Lena, who we could almost always count on to fall asleep in the car, screamed the entire way home. Perrin, however, fell asleep against his mother in the back seat. Only one word describes how this day ended: OUZO