Τήνος · Marble villages, a thousand dovecotes and the holiest church in Greece
A pilgrim island next door to Mykonos with a very different soul: a great marble church above the port, dozens of villages of carvers and farmers, dovecotes in every valley, Catholic and Orthodox bell towers, and a north wind that keeps the beaches honest.
Greetings from Tinos
Tinos
The ferry from Mykonos takes half an hour, and the island you land on feels like another country. In the morning, walk up the pilgrims' street past the candle shops to the marble courtyard of the Evangelistria, where women in black are lighting tapers taller than they are. At noon, drive into the hills and lose count of the dovecotes, white towers of lace stone standing in the terraces. In the afternoon, coffee under the plane tree in Pyrgos, with the sound of a chisel somewhere down the lane. In the evening, fish at the harbour of Panormos, and the wind pushing at the tablecloths.
Hour by hour
The church in the cool of the morning, a valley of dovecotes, a village of marble, a swim below the carvers' harbour and dinner by the boats.
Walk up from the harbour before the day-trippers arrive, past the shops of candles and silver votives, and into the marble courtyard of Panagia Evangelistria while the church is still quiet.
Drive inland and take the stepped path down the valley below Tarambados, where the dovecotes stand one after another in the terraces, their walls cut into triangles, diamonds and suns.
Wander the tiny village in its field of round granite rocks, look in on the basket weavers, and stop for a coffee in the shade.
Spend the hot hours in the Museum of Marble Crafts, then walk up through the lanes to the square, the house of Yannoulis Chalepas and the white tombs of the cemetery.
Go down to the bay where the marble was once loaded onto boats and swim from the little beaches either side of the harbour. If the meltemi is up, the water on this north coast will be rough, so ask in the village first.
Stay for dinner on the waterfront of Panormos, with the fishing caiques tied up beside the tables and grilled fish from that morning.
Where to stay
Pyrgos
Marble Art Villas · Villa with a private pool · €€€€
Kionia
Odera Tinos Beach Resort · Beach resort · €€€€
Kionia
Tinos Beach Hotel · Beach hotel · €€€
Only on Tinos
What sets Tinos apart from the islands on either side of it.
In 1823, two years into the War of Independence, a nun of the monastery of Kechrovouni, Pelagia, said she had been told in visions where to dig, and an icon of the Annunciation was found in a field above the port. The church of Panagia Evangelistria was built over the spot in white marble, and it became the great pilgrimage of the Greek Orthodox world. On 25 March and above all on 15 August the island fills with people who have come to keep a promise.
The hills of Tinos are full of white and green-veined marble, and its carvers worked it for churches, fountains and graves across Greece and the old Ottoman cities. The craft is still taught in Pyrgos, and in 2015 UNESCO listed Tinian marble craftsmanship as intangible heritage. Look up at any door on the island and you will find a carved fanlight over it.
Hundreds of dovecotes stand in the terraces of Tinos, most of them built from the Venetian years onwards, when keeping pigeons was a privilege and a source of meat and fertiliser. They are two-storey stone towers whose upper walls are worked into open patterns of triangles, rhombuses and suns, so the birds can come and go. The densest cluster is in the valleys around Tarambados.
Venice held Tinos for about five centuries, longer than any other island in the Aegean, and it was the last Venetian possession here when it fell to the Ottomans in 1715. That long rule left a large Catholic community, and many inland villages still have a Catholic church and an Orthodox one, sometimes a few lanes apart, each with its own bell tower.
Towns & villages
The village of the marble carvers, where even the graves are works of art
Pyrgos is the largest village of Tinos and the home of its marble carvers, in the north-west of the island above the bay of Panormos. Marble is everywhere: in the doorframes and the carved fanlights over the doors, the fountain and the benches in the square under the plane tree, the bell towers and the steps. It has a school of fine arts where young carvers still learn the craft, the Museum of Marble Crafts, the house of the sculptor Yannoulis Chalepas, and a cemetery of marble tombs that people come to visit as if it were a gallery.
The port town of the pilgrims, climbing to the church of the Evangelistria
Tinos Town, which islanders call Chora, is the port and capital of the island, a working Cycladic town of white houses and pastel mansions climbing from the harbour to the great marble church of Panagia Evangelistria. Its two main streets run straight up the hill: one lined with shops selling candles, icons and votive offerings, the other with a strip of carpet along its edge for pilgrims who make the climb on their knees. Behind them are lanes of tavernas, bakeries and bars, and on either side of town the beaches of Agios Fokas and Kionia.
Things to do
Culture
Climb to Panagia Evangelistria early, when the courtyard is cool and the first candles are being lit, and see the votive ships and silver hanging from the ceiling.
Tinos Town
Hike
Follow the old stepped paths between Tarambados, Kampos and the villages around them, with dovecotes in almost every terrace. Many of the island's footpaths are waymarked.
Tarambados and Kampos
Hike
Scramble up the granite rock of the Venetian capital for the ruins and a view that takes in Syros, Mykonos, Delos and Naxos on a clear day. Go early, take water, and skip it in a strong wind.
Exomvourgo
Good to know
Tinos is about 194 km² of bare, terraced hills between Andros and Mykonos, and most people who see it from a ferry rail have no idea how much is up there. Above the port stands Panagia Evangelistria, the most visited church in Greece, where pilgrims climb the last stretch of the street on their knees. Behind it the island breaks into something like fifty villages, each on its own slope: Pyrgos of the marble carvers, Volax among its granite boulders, Kardiani in its gardens, Catholic hamlets with their own bell towers and valleys full of dovecotes built under Venice. Tinian marble craft is on the UNESCO list, and you see why in every doorway. The trade-offs are real. The meltemi blows hard in July and August, the roads are steep and slow, the buses do not reach most villages, and around 15 August the town fills with pilgrims and every bed is gone. The beaches are good but not the reason to come. This is an island for people who like to drive a mountain road, stop in a square, and stay longer than they planned.
When to go
May, June and September are best: warm, green on the terraces in spring and calmer than high summer. July and August bring the meltemi, which can blow for days. Avoid the days around 15 August unless you have come for the feast, and note that 25 March is busy too. Some villages close up between November and Easter.
Getting around
Rent a car or scooter. Buses link Tinos Town with the main villages and beaches, but not often, and the most beautiful places are on the small roads. Mountain roads are narrow and winding, so allow more time than the map suggests, and take a scooter only if you are confident in wind.
How long
Three days covers the town, Pyrgos, the dovecotes and a beach. Five to seven lets you walk the old paths, see a dozen villages and wait out a windy day. Tinos also works as a quiet base for a day trip to Mykonos or Delos.
Getting there
No airport: ferries from Piraeus and Rafina near Athens, about two to four and a half hours, and a short hop from Mykonos, whose airport is the nearest.
Flights & ferries
An island of snakes and springs in the ancient sources, a hilltop city on a granite rock, five Venetian centuries, and a discovery in 1823 that made a farming island the holy island of modern Greece.
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