Tinos
The Greatest Orthodox Pilgrimage Island In Greece: The Icon Of Panagia Evangelistria, Reached Up A Carpeted Street On The Knees At The 15 August Feast; Also Marble Villages And Dovecotes · Tinos, South Aegean
Tinos is the greatest Orthodox pilgrimage island in Greece, and for most of the year it is also a quiet, windy, rural Cyclade that few foreign visitors reach. The church of Panagia Evangelistria stands at the top of a broad street above the harbour, built after a nun of the Kechrovouni monastery told of visions in 1822 and 1823 of a buried icon, found in a field below. A strip of carpet runs from the quay to the church door, and pilgrims climb it on their knees. On 15 August, the feast of the Dormition, the island fills, the icon is carried down to the port, and beds and boats are taken months ahead. Away from the shrine, Tinos is marble country: the village of Pyrgos carved fanlights and church screens for much of Greece and still teaches sculpture, hundreds of ornamented Venetian-era dovecotes stand in the valleys, and the hamlet of Volax sits in a field of giant granite boulders. Honest caveats: it is one of the windiest islands in the Cyclades, its beaches are good rather than great, and the pilgrimage is a living devotion, not a show for visitors.
Tinos, Cyclades; Tinos Town (Chora) and the church of Panagia Evangelistria above the port; Pyrgos in the marble country to the north-west, Tinos, South Aegean, Greece
The church of Panagia Evangelistria is open daily, in practice from early morning until early evening, with a long midday opening in the pilgrimage season and shorter hours in winter - confirm locally. Entry to the church and to the small museums and galleries in its courtyard is free; candles and offerings are bought at stalls on the way up. The state Archaeological Museum in Tinos Town and the Museum of Marble Crafts at Pyrgos keep their own days and hours, long in summer and much shorter from about November to March, and the state museum closes on the main public holidays. Ferries run from Rafina, roughly 2 to 4 hours depending on the boat, and from Mykonos in roughly 15 to 40 minutes. Nothing needs booking except ferries and rooms, which must be booked months ahead for 15 August and around 25 March.