Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tis Irinis Pýrgos T 22830 31165. A friendly , popular
taverna opposite the stunning marble bus stop that offers
good, traditional family favourites such as pastitsio (€6)
and a quick turnaround service for those pressed for time to
visit
the
museums
opposite.
Easter-Oct
daily
noon-midnight .
Around Exóbourgo
The ring of villages around the mountain of EXÓBOURGO is a worthwhile visit. The
fortified pinnacle itself (570m), with the ruins of three Venetian churches and a
fountain, is reached by steep steps from XInára (near the island's major road junction),
the old seat of the island's Roman Catholic bishop. Most villages in north-central Tínos
have mixed populations, but Xinára and its immediate neighbours are purely Catholic;
the inland villages also tend to have a more sheltered position, with better farmland
nearby - the Venetians' way of rewarding converts and their descendants.
At Loutrá , an almost deserted village north of Xinára (population 7), there's an
Ursuline convent, and a small folk art museum (daily 9.30am-2.30pm; free) in the
seventeenth-century Jesuit monastery. From Krókos, 1km northwest of Loutrá, you can
turn to tiny Voláx , the most spectacular village on the island: a windswept oasis
surrounded by hundreds of giant granite boulders, as far from a typical Greek
landscape as you can get in the Cyclades. Alternatively you can continue to Kómi , 5km
beyond Krókos, where you can take a detour for Kolymbíthra , a magnificent double
beach: one part wild, huge and windswept and the other balmy and sheltered.
From either Skaládho or Voláx you go on to Koúmaros , towards the agricultural
villages of Falatádhos and Stení , which appear as white speckles against the fertile
Livádhia valley. Falatádhos has a number of whitewashed churches, including Áyios
Ioánnis, notable for its marble decoration. From Stení, which has fewer amenities but
plenty of postcard-perfect whitewashed buildings to admire, you can catch the bus
back to Tínos Town.
6
EATING AND DRINKING
AROUND EXÓBOURGO
To K atóï Falatádhos T 22830 41000. A good
restaurant that draws customers from all around the
island, based in a low-ceilinged old warehouse that
reminds you of Central European Bierkellers; it
specializes in grills (€12) and meat on the spit. June-
Sept daily 7pm-midnight.
Mýkonos
MÝKONOS has become the most popular, the most high profile and the most
expensive of the Cyclades. Boosted by direct air links with Europe, it sees several
million tourists a year pass through, producing some spectacular August
overcrowding on the island's 85 square kilometres. But if you don't mind the tourist
hordes, or you come in the shoulder season, its striking capital is still one of the
most photogenic Cycladic towns with whitewashed houses concealing a dozen little
churches, shrines and chapels.
The sophisticated nightlife is hectic, amply stimulated by Mýkonos's former
reputation as the gay resort of the Mediterranean, although today gay tourists are well
in the minority. While everywhere on the island is at least gay-friendly, gay tourists
prefer to congregate in Mýkonos Town itself or the beaches of Super Paradise and Eliá.
The locals take it all in their stride, ever conscious of the important revenue generated
by their laissez-faire attitude. When they first opened up to the hippy tourists who
began appearing on Mýkonos in the 1960s, they assumed their eccentric visitors were
sharing cigarettes due to lack of funds. Since then, a lot of the innocence has
evaporated, and you shouldn't come for scenery, solitude or tradition, but Mýkonos
offers lively beaches and a party lifestyle next to none.
 
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search