We arose, breakfasted and having already packed, set off for Gravio and the ferry all in good time.
I had a little wander around the town of Gravio which seemed to be filled with bars, restaurants and shop selling ferry tickets all of which lined the quay.
The ferry departed Andros and arrived exactly on time. The lower decks filled with women and some men who intended to visit the Holy Church of the Virgin Mary. For more details on the church and its pilgrims click on this link to Wikipedia.
The packed ferry emptied when we arrived at Tinos. The coach waited to carry us to our hotel called The Golden Beach. When we arrived the bulk of the rooms for our party were not ready. Fortunately we had a room immediately.
We unpacked and joined the others who continued to wait for rooms to become available. We ate a reasonable lunch which consisted of the normal Greek salad plus beef and orso. Beef seemed overcooked but still tough.
In the afternoon we trekked into town and made our own pilgrimage to ‘Her Grace’ other wise known as Holy Church of the Virgin Mary. The road leading to the church has a section devoted to pilgrims to allow them to crawl on their hands and knees from the port up to the very doors of the church.
We arrived around 6:30 so the majority of the day’s visitors had already left the island on the ferry. However within the church many pilgrims remained kissing the bibles and icons, buying and lighting candles. The scent of incense, not heavy, hung in the background. All around hung thuribles made of silver and bejewelled. How many thuribles does anyone church need to burn incense and carry the prayers to heaven.
On every inch of the walls hung icons with a central image surrounded by embossed silver workings.
Many helpers stood available to guide the worshipers through the church, via the candle seller and the kissable icons. But they also assisted those that had crawled to their feet once they had entered.
Underneath the actual chapel a cavern held the spot where the nun Pelagia found the lost icon revealed to her in a dream. This church has done extremely well from this nun’s discovery and is now the main pilgrim site for Greece.
On the way down the hill we saw two women crawling up the hill. I wasn’t prepared to photograph either of them. But I did take a snapshot of the statue celebrating their agony for the sake of their beliefs.
We had a drink in town and walked back to the hotel where we ate our evening meal. We had a choice of either sardines or pork. Along with the majority I plumbed for the sardines. As usual the salad etc went down well but the star of the show completely disappointed. A sardine filleted and cooked so that arrived on the plate as a solid piece of fish with a load of tiny bones. A very poor show.