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..............Cindys Gallery - Photos of my Life
Don't arrive on a Sunday... Page3nday

We got to the port but the ferry wasn't in yet, people started to arrive so we joined the queue. The boat arrived and unloaded, we waited for the gate to open so we could board, it seemed to be taking awhile. Then the ferry closed its ramp and pulled out without us, we were in the wrong queue. No one was waiting to board our ferry so we didn't realize our mistake till it was too late. The "Robinson Holiday" has stuck again
Back in town we find there is not another ferry till 9pm so we will miss our boat to Crete. We have to reschedule for tomorrow, the Tuesday boat only has business class seat left so that will cost an extra 32euros. We decide to find a room in town for the night and booked into the Hotel Dingy's (Hotel Delfinia) penthouse at 35 Euros per night. It's one of those hotels with the very small aging lift, the ones Cindy refuses to get into, so we hike our bags up 4 flights of stairs. Its saving grace is a balcony with a front row view of the harbor looking out towards Crete, indecently where we should be headed at this very moment.

Hotel Delfinia Tinos

Tinos Harbour

It does however have wifi so Cindy has her laptop out to try and rearrange our hotel and car rental booking in Crete. This is when she finds that yes it does have wifi but the only place it works is in the corridor outside our room. She is perched on a chair in the hallway looking like a naughty child outside the headmaster’s office. I offered to past some toast out under the door if she gets peckish, we were not amused.

The hotel in Heraklion Crete was full the next night so we couldn't transfer our booking and it was not refundable, bugger. It's a wonder the Robinson ever go on holiday if this is what it's like, always waiting for the next balls up.

Tinos Town

Our Lady of Tinos Church

The town of Tinos is known for its church which draws many pilgrims to the island, the street from the port leads uphill to the church some 100 meter above the town. One feature of the street is a coned off section which is carpeted and extends some 800 meters up the hill. It had us baffled at first then at the top just outside the church was a bronze figure on hands and knees reaching out to the church. The carpet is so pilgrims can crawl all the way from the port to the church, just another of those strange religious customs designed to make you feel small and of little consequence. From then on we referred to it as "Crawling Street".

Crawling Street

Statue of Pilgrim

The breakfast at Hotel Dingy was a triumph of mediocrity, the yogurt turned out to be white cheese, which doesn't go well with cornflakes, only 1 slot of 6 slice toaster actually worked and getting hot water out of the boiler was a work of art. The bright spot was the wifi signal was strong so Cindy was like a pig in mud emailing, face booking and messaging like a women possessed.
Today is ferry day mark 2, I just couldn't resist buying 2 slices of syrup cake for the journey, I choose a piece of cherry and a piece of chocolate cinnamon. The only sad part is how little I will have to eat when we get home to shed these extra pounds, life is just not fair. As the days go by more tourists seem to be turning up, the holiday season is getting into full swing. It's beginning to remind me of Phuket, lots of mad tourist racing round on motor bikes with no helmets, they don't think they could have an accident on holiday. We usually refer to the inevitable happening as "Murphy's Law" however where holidays are concerned it's now to be "Robinson's Law".

Tinos Harbour

Water front Tinos

The ferry to Mykonos left on time and we were on it, on arriving at the port taxis were not to be found. We wondered around for a bit then asked a guy standing next to one of the strangest vehicles I have ever seen where we could find a taxi. His reply was "you can wait over there or I'll take you right now, we agreed on a price of 10 Euros which was more than a taxi but we just wanted to get to the next ferry port. I don't know how to describe his ancient little truck, it only sat 2 in the front with a little low tray at the back with a padded seat behind the cab. We loaded our luggage and perched yourselves on the seat ready for the off.
Ferry to Mykonos
Little Venice Mykonos
The guy then wonder off as if looking for something, seconds later a large shepherd looking dog appeared and jumped into the passenger seat. We set off for the 5 minute ride round to the old port feeling like we were back in Thailand. On arrival we unloaded our stuff and of course Cindy wanted to meet the dog, his name was Victor and he had problems. The next 10 minutes was spent advising him one medication for Victor's arthritis, we wrote it all down for him and he was going to get his daughter in England to bring it over for him. It was quite touching as the old guy obviously cared for his dog.

Windmills Mykonos

Oia Santorini

We stored our luggage and set off to walk round Mykonos while we waited for the ferry to Crete. There were lots of people waiting to board when the "Flying Cat 4" pulled into port. We were soon on our way and much to our surprise it was very smooth. We ate a bag of chips then tucked into our syrup cake eating more than was good for us. First stop was Paros, then full ahead for Santorini, it had taken 2 1/2 hours to get here and Cindy and I were feeling a little unsettled in the stomach department. Cindy said "we can get off here if you want", but I thought if we don't go on we may never get back to Crete. Most of the passengers left the boat here so it was half empty when we left.
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