101 POSTCARD from Leonie BY GINNY WARE
Admiring the view over Mykonos Town
AFTER LIVING ABOARD ON THE RIVER DART FOR EIGHT YEARS, GINNY WARE AND HER HUSBAND CARL SET SAIL IN 2013 FOR FRANCE AND BEYOND. HERE IS THE LATEST FROM THEM AS THEY CONTINUE TO EXPLORE THE MEDITERRANEAN ON THEIR 65 YEAR OLD 35FT YACHT.
THE suffering devout crawl half-a-mile up the steep hill on their hands and knees in search of a miracle cure from the holy icon at the church of Panayia towering above Tinos Town. A thick carpet is bolted to the edge of the busy
road in sympathy with sick and crippled pilgrims who painstakingly venture upwards to the Greek Orthodox ‘Lourdes’ from the harbour every day. In a further test of faith, once at
the top the devoted are faced with the challenge of ascending a massive marble staircase to reach the famous healing icon, practically buried under a dazzling array of jewels inside the church. Our Lady of Good Tidings was
discovered in 1822 by a local nun who was directed in a vision to unearth the relic at the site where the Neoclassical church now stands. The small island of Tinos in the Cyclades was a revelation to us, not for religious reasons but because
Above: It’s a tough life - Carl shelters from the sweltering sun on passage to Tinos
few foreigners have discovered its unspoiled villages (we had never heard of it) and for its unique Greekness. The island is peppered with more than a thousand
ornate dovecotes built by the Venetians who occupied Tinos for 500 years until the Turks took it in 1714. We assumed the dovecotes (called pigeon houses
One of the hundreds of dovecotes on Tinos.
by locals) were created to farm the birds for their meat and eggs but Carl learnt from an island veteran they were a secret weapon against the Ottoman Turks. According to the old gent, pigeon poo contains high levels of nitrogen, a component of gunpowder which was used to defend the island against the would-be invaders. So successful were the Venetians in holding Tinos, the Ottoman tenure of the island was the most fleeting in the Aegean. We explored the beautiful island on
a moped, enchanted by its pretty sugar-cube houses and Venetian towers; golden sandy beaches and brown arid interior spreading beyond roads lined with huge
Below: Pilgrims crawling up sthe marble staircase to the church of Panayia Exploring Tinos on a moped
Lakka Bay, Paxos .
At the Acropolis
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