Tinos and Chora town

May 2023

Introduction

I thought I might take a break after teaching Shiatsu and giving supervision in Athens, so I looked up islands which were easy to get to from the capital and typed the word ‘pilgrimage’ into the search engine as a starting point. Tinos came up immediately. It’s not only a vital place of pilgrimage for Greek people, but it’s also famous for its dovecots (see photo at the end of this blog), which I have been studying for a few years now. To Tinos I had to go!

A sacred island of pilgrimage, Tinos is one of the Cyclades, and has a deep history that is crucial to Greece herself. Since the 7th century, a feast has taken place there in honour of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (her passing from the earthly state). Then, in 1823, two years after the Greek War of Independence had started, a nun called Pelagia found the Holy icon of the Annunciation of the Panagia in a field. Considered a divine omen for the Greek Revolution, a shrine / church was founded to coincide with the agricultural calendar on the island, and a festival was established on 15 August to which women and men flock each year.

In the first [of several chapels at the Shrine] is a holy spring, where pilgrims collect water which has powers of fertility and cures sickness. According to tradition, the well was found during the excavations in search of the icon. The well was dry. On the day the church’s cornerstone was laid, it filled up with water. The source is seen as a miracle, and the chapel of the holy water is called the “Life-Giving Spring.”

Evy Johanne Haaland

Evy Johanne Haaland, a Norwegian researcher (Dr/PhD, history) and government scholar, writes here about Palagia, and the ritual that women through the ages have performed – climbing up the steep hill from the sea to the shrine on their hands and knees, sometimes with a child on their back.

Greek women are strong and active persons …, thus paralleling the divine Panagia.

Evy Johanne Haaland

Practicalities

Chora is the main town of the island, also known as Tinos, and is where the ferry arrives and leaves from Athens. I took the ferry to and from Rafina (not far from Athens – take the inexpensive KTEL bus).

The town is well stocked and bustling with pretty, narrow streets, a long waterfront (including the port) and steep climbs to the Panagia shrine.

There is a good bus service across the island, but NOT on Sundays and I didn’t find it easy to get information about when they run.

Café

Recommended book café: Antilalos, Fr. Paximadi & Afentouli, 84200 Chora, Tinos. The owner and other staff were so very kind to me. I arrived on a Sunday and had booked an air bnb at the opposite end of the island – too far even for me to walk in one afternoon (though I walked from Pyrgos to Panormos which was wonderful). They made phone calls on my behalf and really helped me out. There were no taxis because, of course it was some sort of festival and so everyone was celebrating with family. I started to walk, but it was far too hot at midday, so in the end they arranged for a taxi driver they knew to come on his day off from another village and pick me up. He took me to Pyrgos – more than three quarters of the way there, and I was really grateful.

Antilalos Café in Chora, Tinos, Greece

Accomodation

I stayed at the Pension Selenti which I would recommend.

Old Weaving School, Chora

“Zarifios Vocational School (Βιοτεχνική Σχολή Τήνου Υφαντήριο) is a legacy of the Zarifis family originating from Constantinople. Since 1898, Zarifios School has been a reminder of the gratitude of the family of banker Nikolaos Zarifis towards the governess of his children, who took them to the safe environment of Tenos (sic), when riots broke out in the Constantinople. The school emphasized in the traditional weaving art supporting women and society in adverse conditions. Today, 200 years later, it still continues to have a presence by supporting the School and textile workshops.” Description from thehouse.gr website

Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum is worth a visit.

Built in the early 60s by the architect Charalambos Bouras, the Archaeological Museum of Tinos contains finds from Chora, the main town, as well as the hill of Exombourgo, local villages, and the Sanctuary of Poseidon. I particularly enjoyed the little courtyard with its bodyless legs and lace-like mosaic.

Artist’s Residency and Maria Valela

There was an Artist’s Residency taking place on the island when I was there, and I was particularly pleased to meet Maria Valela, a weaver, who gave an inspiring demonstration at the Old Weaving School in Chora, and invited me to accompany her to a local women’s knitting and weaving group that she was visiting. In return I offered her Shiatsu.

“The island is widely recognised for its marble tradition and was home to some of the most widely revered Greek artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.” from Kirki Projects page

Various photos of Maria and the knitting / crochet group, Chora, Tinos, Greece

The Inherited Earth artist residency programme was part of the Fe26 project a collective research program by the NWMW NPO team 2023. “The Fe26 project brings together an interdisciplinary group of people to exchange knowledge and practices around metal as matter, material, and object in conjunction with locus, crafts and identity. In this aspect, the NWMW team has envisioned along with curator Christos Artemis “The inherited earth” Fe26 residency.” ARTrabbit.com

Links

The second in this series of blogs about Tinos is Tinos and Kionia

Map and walks by Desired landscapes

Secret Tinos blog