[BACK TO TINOS]

Tinos

Tinos is Greek Orthodoxy's most sacred island with the famous monastery of the Madonna of Tinos, honored on the 15th of August each year by pilgrims from all over Greece, hoping to get a glimpse of the icon or a token of its miraculous powers for curing the ill and the misfortunate.

Tinos lies very close to the southern tip of Andros. A line of mountains, whose highest peak is Mt Tsiknias, runs the length of the island. On its lower slopes, walls like the fortifications of the old castles divide the terraced fields. The coast of the island is mostly steep, but there are also numerous coves with sandy or pebbly beaches.

Known as the island of Our Lady, Tinos is the greatest centre of pilgrimage in Greece. For that reason most of the visitors do not prolong their stay, and thus see little of the beauty of the island: the blindingly-white traditional villages have unadulterated Cycladic architecture and the famous dove-cotes which are constructed with great skill and imagination and are found exclusively only in Tinos.

In addition, Tinos has superb beaches with white sand, crystal-clear water and cool breezes at Agios Fokas near the town, Kionia, Porto, Panormos bay, Kolimbithra, Agios Sostis and Pahia Amos. The island has long spells of sunlight in the summer, which helps to make Tinos one of the most interesting places in the Cyclades.

Tinos, which is also the capital of the island and its port, is where most of the population lives. A broad paved street leads from the harbour to the low hill on which stands the magnificent church of Our Lady.

A full tour of the island would reveal picturesque villages in the interior like Komi, Kalloni, Kardiani, Isternia and the unbeatable Pyrgos (the largest and the most attractive village in Tinos.
 

<click to go back>