There is no better way to get to know a place than to walk. In the case of Tinos, its new network of 152 km long paths presents its best face: landscaped scenery, impressive geological phenomena, villages, rich culture and unique local flavors. The “Tinos Trails” recommend us another, wonderful Tinos, the one behind the great religious traffic of Chora.
The network of paths was presented last week alongside the Tinos Food Paths, the island’s gastronomic festival held this year for the fifth time. The symbiosis of tasteful and … real paths is harmonious, since they both appeal to the same visitor: the one who seeks actual acquaintance with a place. Through twelve hiking routes, the visitor to Tinos can experience its true self. “Tinos has many comparative advantages,” explains Fivos Tsaravopoulos, head of the Paths of Greece Social Cooperative Company (which deals with the design and signaling of paths and cares for the network in Tinos). “It has 62 settlements, with their own character. Its landscape is unique, the constant struggle of man with nature is revealed. The location of Volakas and Falatados is unique, comparable to a few others in Europe. The marble villages of North Tinos, where you can not walk if you do not wear sunglasses because they are all flashing, have a special quality and a well-known culture. All of this is an amazing set. ”
“The paths will reveal to the hiker the real Tinos, highlighting the soul and the tradition of the island,” says the mayor of the island, Yiannis Siotos. “Tinos can and must be recognized as an island for those who love nature”.
The paths have “gone” on earlier paths or followed new trajectories in order to acquire a coherent logic and character. They have a different “duration” (from 40 minutes to 5.5 hours), different degrees of difficulty, some are friendly to children. Some lead to a beach, others are “circular” to return to where you started (at www.tinostrails.com one can get a good idea of what suits his interests and his physical condition). The most striking spot on the island is the “tunnel” that forms enormous granite boulders in Falatado – which only requires prior consultation with the local club because it is in private property.
The dynamism with which Tinos wishes to support the network of its paths shows how much the world (and especially local) has now become aware of the possibilities of walking tourism. “Kythera made an investment of 50,000 euros to build a network of footpaths, which in five years is estimated to have yielded 1.5 million euros on the island!”, Says Tsaravopoulos. “The paths bring people out of the summer peak, quality tourism with a high level of income and income. The areas that organized them well, such as Andros, Sifnos, Mainalo, saw a significant increase in their traffic. Gradually, the relationship of the Greeks with the hiking is changing. There are now two or three generations of people who grew up in the city and who are looking for a meaningful contact with nature. ”
kathimerini.gr