After taking some wonderful pictures of the Sea Cloud with its sails up in the morning, we headed towards the island of Tinos. Tinos is known to the Greeks for its beautiful church of Virgin Mary with its miraculous icon. Apart from the church, Tinos is also known for its beautiful villages and sculptors, so in our excursion we decided to combine everything! Coming ashore the buses were waiting for us in order to take us to the northern part of the island to the town of Pyrgos which is known for its marble carving. During the drive we had some great views of the Aegean Sea and neighboring islands. Our first stop was quite new, the Museum of Marble Crafts. One could see the whole process, from the marble quarry to the hands of the sculptor. Tinos is rich with white and green marble which explains the long tradition of marble crafts. After visiting this interesting museum we walked towards the town of Pyrgos. On the way we stopped for a few minutes at the cemetery because, with such a long tradition, one expects to see beautiful monuments and graves.
Coming down to the main square people had a chance to behave like the Greeks! They sat at the different cafes and ordered the typical coffees and sweets. It was fun and everybody enjoyed it. Many pictures were taken in the picturesque town and a little shop with marble crafts was open. Unfortunately only small items could be bought because marble is very heavy! Our buses drove us back a different way so we could see a very well preserved dove cot which is also typical of Tinos, surviving all the way from the Venetian occupation. On the way back to port in the main town, we stopped at the church of Virgin Mary. We had a chance to visit the church, see the icon, and walk down to the seashore, exploring the little narrow streets and shops. Our day ended with Greek night aboard the ship, complete with Greek music and a wonderful Greek buffet!
