This Greek island is perfect for a fall drive
We are talking about Tinos — not a beachy island, but a captivating one.
Summer is over but airports are still crowded, as anybody who has been one recently can attest. Air travel figures keep going up and more Americans are taking short trips, including to Europe. Athens is full of tourists. Most make the mistake of staying put.
But fall is a fine time for exploring some scenic spots outside the traffic-choked city that tend to get crowded in summertime months — one of these is enchanting Tinos.
This Cycladic island close to Athens (just two hours by ferry) is often not only too busy for comfort in summer but also too windy. From late September until around the middle of November though, it’s another story.
Or a storybook. It starts, for many, with the Church of Panagia Evangelistria. Also known as Our Lady of Tinos, it is the preeminent shrine to the Virgin Mary in Greece and a major pilgrimage site for Greek Orthodox Christians. Every August 15 the faithful come in droves, some even crawling from the port up to the Renaissance wedding-cake style church. This time of year, visitors can have it pretty much to themselves.
Centuries ago Tinos was called Ophiousa on account of its many snakes, but today there are plenty of cats, who presumably had some role in trimming the local serpent population. Gorgeous little churches abound, mostly in the hill villages and usually hacked out of an abundant local supply of marble. It is also a place with unique gastronomic traditions.
Tinos was the last of the Aegean islands to fall to the Ottoman Turks, partly because of the robust Venetian military presence which held firm until 1715. A deep sense of history pervades this place, and a drive along its roads takes you through villages with evocative names like Xinara, Falatados, and Kechros. Cliche as it may sound, these really do seem untouched by time.
The most spectacular route is the one that zigzags from the port up to the hills of Volax, where enormous round boulders and intricately carved dovecotes vie for the driver’s attention. There’s a soupçon of southern Arizona in them thar hills. From there it is easy to loop counterclockwise up to the high and pretty villages of Kardiani and Isternia, worthy stops for strolling and a hot Greek coffee (if you’re looking for a Starbucks in these parts, better head to nearby Mykonos).
Among many magnificent views, two truly stood out . From my hotel balcony one night, the ghostly floodlit peak of Exomvourgo, once the site of a Venetian fortress, emerged from a cool island fog. This was as imposing a sight as the Empire State Building after an October rainstorm, but much eerier.
The scene-stealer, though, was the view across the Aegean to the island of Syros. In late September after a twilight to Pyrgos, a village high in the Tinian in the hinterlands famed for its marble architecture, I had to stop the car and take it all in. An orange marmalade moon was hanging so large and low over the twinkling lights of Ermoupoli, the main burg on Syros, that for a moment I thought the people there should be warned to brace for impact.
WHERE TO STAY: Check in here.
OTHER SIGHTS: See here.
Such extraordinary sights are commonplace on and from Tinos, especially in autumn.
