Tinos Island - Sacred island of Greece

We took a ferry to Tinos island and brought our car along... The ferry has a garage for taking your car along... just as long as you pay for it of course! hehehe... Tinos is known as the sacred island... Greeks will visit Tinos in March and in Aug (i think) to do their pilgrimage.

This is the hotel we stayed in.. Porto Tango... It is suppose to be one of the better hotels in Tinos, but we thought it was just ok... normal standards... hehehe...

Here's shots of the room... clean and comfy i would say...

And there's Kevin sitting just outside the balcony... reading up on where we can venture!

Nice sunset as we drove out... It is a quiet and peaceful island... very untouched... unlike the usual touristy islands...

Small lanes in between town... And you get to see the typical white-washed island houses...

HALT! Kevin wanted to pose with the Greek words (name of the street) above his head! And that NO Entry Sign! hahahah...

A nice local taverna for some greek food! Good! I like!

Night falls...

Passing through some lanes to get back...

Nice building in town with a bar upstairs.. think this is the only more happening place to chill out at night... we didn't go up lah... hahahah... just see see only...

Back into our hotel lobby at night... quite nice and cosy... like a house yah?



The morning walk and climb! Ok, maybe we didn't climb, the car did... hehehe... But we climb all the way up, as the sign said there was an archaelogical site, but nothing lor! We only see rocks and stones...


And maybe a funny thingy sticking out of nowhere on the site! hhmmm... are you thinking what i am thinking?? Hello, sacred island leh!

Give up looking at the site... let's take in some fresh air! Stretch!

While Kevin does his walking, I do my nature-observing... hehehe...

Beauty of life...

A statue in town on our way to the church of Tinos... where Greeks will come for their pilgrimage..

And you see this road leading to the church... on the left side of the picture, you see a straight line marking on the ground of a small lane beside the walkway leading towards the end (which is town centre, i am standing on the side of the church)... That small lane is for people to postrate... On our way walking up, we saw people postrating (on their knees), but we didn't take pictures of them as it will be rude...

And so here's the church...

On our way in... Red carpet...

Lighting a candle... Wishing for good health and wealth... :)

My turn... wishing for Eternal bliss...

Holy water of the holy grounds...


Praying... God, hear my prayers...


Dome interior...

The grand interior of the main building of the church.


Exterior... Peaceful... Calm...



And just outside the church, you will find lots of stalls selling candles! See those long red sticks? (Looks like bamboo sticks in Singapore yah??) Those are candles, and people buy them to light in the church... There is a special altar for gigantic candles...

Ok, sorry, i had to take this... I was surprised to find that Singapore Airlines was so well known and recognised... The shop actually put the post card of a Singapore girl... Probably thinking it will help her to sell her accessories faster! hehehe...



Serenity...



Dove Cotes! These are built for doves to rest and eat.. As it is a sacred island and they adore doves, there are alot of dove cotes built... Those holes in between the building are filled with dove feeds...


Climbing upwards again...


On top... Love it... Nice view..


Try spotting me! :)


Picture with the car and broken rocks behind us! :)



Cow! See the breasts? Milk anyone?


A black one...


Nice??? Love this! Greek's nice white churches with blue cap!


More dove cotes!


Over the edge...


Island... The beach was quiet as it was still a little cold...


Hug hug in Tinos!


Act cute in Tinos!!!


Cuddle up!!!


Doves! Tell me, what is the difference between a pigeon and a dove??? hehehe...



They are both under the same family of birds (same breed), just that dove is a smaller version and pigeons are bigger! (At first i thought the difference was, Dove is white lor! Pigeon many colours! hahahah... ok, i know Kevin will say i Bimbo.. Laugh at him then! He married one!)


Ohh-Hoo... I like! Love the picturesque...


Cheezeeeee!!!


Cobbled-stone pathway...


Lane of the streets...

The port area...


Pose...


The sun!!!


This is when i am really beautiful to Kevin.. hahahha... coz' can't see my face anyway... hahahha..


A walk up to a white church...

Sun sets again..

A nice Greek meal before we leave Tinos...

Check out the dishes! heheheh... You either love it or hate it...

And watching a soccer match before we depart Tinos.. Some youth soccer match... hehehe... but nice right? A soccer field beside the port and sea...

Welcome!

Last picture before we go down the hill!


Ok, and we decided to get a big candle! hahahahah.. to bring home.... dun ask me for what... Kevin wanted to buy... hahahah...


Flowers and Beauty...



Still can't bear to go down the hill, so took some shots of the flowers... Spring time!

Come on baby!

The blooming flowers as spring approaches..

There's our ferry!


Bye bye... we are driving up the garage of the ferry...


Relax and wait to sail home... :) ta ta...

Whew! Finally time to update the blog!!!

Since late Dec, started on helping with a project to sell Chingay ads till Feb, and thereafter busy organising our wedding stuffs for March (so finally we are officially married now!).

Started on my Montessori Diploma course in April which got me occupied. And in the month of May got another mini project to do (good to keep me in touch with working and learn new things each time) and then Kevin's parents came to Greece for holidays. Followed by Kevin's friends visiting Greece just after his parents left.

Before i could take a breather... hehehe... my parents came to Europe in June and I brought them around for three weeks. Finally now the chance to settle down (after finishing my assignments), and I can find time to do up this blog again... to record our travels...

We have been doing well and surviving all travel experiences. hehehe... We are starting to get more visitors in Greece which can keep us busy and occupied, so something for us to look forward to as well. hehehe... Weather in Athens is terribly hot now in the summer. Killing me man! The sun simply scorches your skin when you are under it... Walking becomes difficult for me now, and i am getting so tanned, i think i look more and more like Kevin's personal maid!

Oh well, we took many small and big trips in between this period (while the blog has been stagnant, but our travelling hearts keep going), but didn't get the chance to update the pictures online. Well, but here it goes all at once! :)

Thessaloniki, Northern Greece - A six hours drive journey!!!

Our adventurous drive to Northern part of Greece... Kevin drove all the way from Athens for about 6 hours or slightly more... It was really tiring for him. We set off in the evening after his work on Friday and drove all the way... making only one toilet break stop... chewing on a sandwich i made on the way, before we arrive in Thessaloniki to get proper dinner... hahhaha... i think our fuel tank of the car was half to three quarter gone after the journey man...

Thessaloniki was pretty nice, a city very vibrant and quite arty-farty, compared to Athens. hahahaha...

This is the hotel we stayed in at Thessaloniki: Olympia Hotel... It was ok, quite modern and near to city (we were given a bigger room as Kevin booked through his company travel agent, heheh..)... As the parking conditions was so terrible in Thessaloniki, we could only park our car near to the hotel, and walked all the way around the city.

The street "pasar malam", a little similar to our Sungei Road, whereby they sell second-hand old goods.

Went to the local market

Vege and Fruits stall

Look behind me, those are rabbits hanging!!!
One of their orthodox churches in town.

Lovey Dovey hug along the coast... The skies are amazingly blue each time... hard to find any clouds even...

Their city beside the coastline is quite scenic and gives one a special feeling...

The City Square with lots of actions...

Chilling out with a cuppa...

Welcome to Thessaloniki...

Red Indian Performance... their music is actually quite nice leh...

Their building structure and design...

An arty statue at the round about...

Posing at yet another typical orthodox greek church. hehehe...

Sorry ah, i vainpot... must put another one... hahahha...

Rotunda... Kevin keeps saying next time he will build his house like that... hahaha... it is always good to have dreams...

Twist! We love the blue, love the city, love the feeling absolutely!

Their mini city tower... hehehe... i think it was some satellite building...

Ok, i am not sure what is this too! hahahah... but just a nice structure to pose for a picture yah?! hehehe..

Interior of a church...

Their monastery... Don't ask me where are the monks... hahah..

Castle look-a-like fortress...

Passing by Mount Olympus on the way... We didn't climb the mountain or went near, as the weather was foggy and we couldn't see the mountain clearly...

Entering an archaelogical site..


Mountain and car... When we were driving on this road, a group of dogs actually chased us lor!

Kevin's favourite word: FOOD!!! He had Paella (seafood rice) while i had seafood spaghetti! NICE!!!

The restuarant interior.. typical greek with a flavour...

Going up Platamon Castle...

Sorry, i know all looks the same.. stone structures! hahaha...

Well... AGAIN!!!

Scenery from the top...

Farewell... there goes another weekend break...

Thessaloniki gave us a very different feeling compared to Athens. Though the parking situation was worse than Athens city (you should see man...when you find a parking, you don't want to get out of it)... but the luxury of its city along by the coast allow it to give off an arty feeling... Quite worth visiting... Though the long drive was tiring (for Kevin... i didn't help.. hee)... but we certainly had fun as usual! And i have the luxury of a husband who loves travel and see to all the planning, while i can happily follow blindly... hehehe...