Noilly Prattle: Europe Summer 2017: Greece 1

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Europe Summer 2017: Greece 1 – Tinos, getting there

August 12, 2017

Given the chaotic, if not irrational, international political environment, traveling can seem like a daunting—some may think risky—undertaking. Cat and mouse games of nuclear chicken by narcissistic “leaders” resembling sandbox bullies with funny haircuts and dangerous toys. Inept foreign policies by an apparently clueless legislature that will more likely than not drive away old allies and push competitor great powers deeper into each other's arms, and so on and so forth. End of rant!

the Aegean Island of Tinos

Agios Sostis Church (left center)
and Mykonos (background)

At any rate, come hell or high water, fire and fury, shock and awe or bluff and blink, one needs a getaway from all the “sound and fury” that only seems to feed into the media ratings frenzy of reality show politics. And here we are on a windy day in the Aegean Sea on the island of Tinos within eye shot of the better-known island of Mykonos. Our hotel, Cavos, is situated in the tiny town of Agios Sostis (named for the little Greek Orthodox church just across the street) on the southeastern end of the Tinos.

Shanghai waiting to board flight to Rome

on board - plied with liquor . . .

It took a couple days to get here from Japan: a short flight to Shanghai, a long flight to Rome; short flight to Mikonos the next day and a ferry to Tinos. Unfortunately, the getting there part of travel (transportation, airports, terminals, ports) did not go smoothly this time around. There was some undisclosed problem with our flight which was delayed for an hour. Finally on board, a thunderstorm in Shanghai kept our aircraft grounded at the gate for three hours. At least they plied us with liquor and a newspaper headlining the aforementioned issue I could nicely have done without. After finally taking off, the sky was still unsettled with heavy cumulus clouds and lots of turbulence, but we finally arrived in Rome three hours behind schedule. Fortunately we were staying the night in a hotel, so there were no missed connecting flights.

. . . and a newspaper

a bumpy ride thanx to these babies

Vueling's funny paint job

waiting for the Tinos ferry . . .

The flight from Rome to Mikonos on a rather frivolous looking aircraft with a funny paint job (a colorful fuselage with polka dots on the rudder) was uneventful, took off and landed on time. But, there was a long layover of three hours at the ferry port and then the ferry itself was over an hour late. Fortunately, the hotel owner, as prearranged, was still waiting for us at Tinos Port and took us speedily and cheerfully to the Cavos Hotel.