I must admit to never having even heard of Tinos before planning this trip. But it was on the way. So why not!? Or maybe it was my subconscious anagrammatical brain working……for it used to be known as Tenos….an appropriate stopping point on the STONE ride!!
But first…a lazy morning and bit of time to explore Naxos Town…climbing up to its Venetian castle!
A long lazy breakfast for me. A nice long lie-in for Iain who is not really a breakfast-eater!
Between check-out and ferry we went to visit a couple of Naxos’ temples. Renowned…if only for their pre-Parthenon-heritage age.
Firstly to the ancient temple of Dionysus….where I managed to get offside with the ticket lady for leaning my bike against her building. She was afraid that I would damage the paintwork! Quite funny really…given of course we take our bikes into almost every apartment we stay in!!
Anyway…she did have the courtesy to be surprised that I was entitled to a discounted ticket (for over 65 year-olds!). But it still cost 16 bucks to visit this place.
And it was probably one of the worst spent tourist dollar. For there really is very little here. Most of it improvised. With a mock up of how the columns might have looked. But even that was not tall enough!
Ho hum……a review I read said that the writer had loved it…but was put off by the smell of cows from a neighbouring paddock.
To my mind….I think the cows were more interesting!
So we biked back to town to visit the Temple of Apollo. At least they did not charge for this one.
And the reconstructed ‘doorway’ is quite impressive (albeit that the Architect in me was sure they had put the columns in upside down!)..
….and the views back to town were lovely!
So…temples aside…Naxos really impressed…as the photos from yesterday will attest.
The town itself is busy…even now…with a lot of American tourists…but get away from the town and you feel like you have the island to yourself.
So a long slow coffee as we waited for our ferry…and then we were off! A “Fast Ferries” ferry today…which is a lot slower than yesterday’s!! But very comfortable and very empty!
Farewell Naxos……
To Mykonos…and then Tinos….before it carries on to Rafina.
This is an ashtray on board! Haha! Probably a good reason to avoid Mykonos! Our brief stop…….
There are always interesting surprises on ferries. And this one really tickled me! “Emergency Exit”! To where? For you might have imagined if there was an emergency……you possibly would not choose to open this hatch and jump in! Rather head in the opposite direction and jump off!!
So to Tinos. A disappointingly modern waterfront…but behind that front is a lovely warren of tiny streets and colourful restaurants!
More on Tinos tomorrow…for we have another rest day!
