IN TINOS, WITH ATLAS

Tinos, Greece
April 2021

By Chris Kontos

My first evening in Tinos last summer was spent on the terrace of my friends Dimitri and Zoe in Falatados for an aperiti. We drank a lot of raki in coffee cups along with a spicy local cheese that despite my efforts was unable to find again for the rest of my holidays. As the evening settled in the light across the horizon became purple and the shadows of the electricity poles grew longer. In the distance shimmering lights and the shape of the cross on top of a rooftop. Tinos is brimming with churches of extreme beauty both Orthodox and Catholic. Some in ruins. It was the first holiday with Atlas my son. For that alone I will remember them forever. We did not swim a lot, the wind in Tinos can be unforgiving with a small baby. When I managed to swam it was during the early evening just before the sun set. It was swim so peaceful, a catharsis of body and mind. I tend to swim during that hour of the day during the last few years. It’s the choice of a hermit. Instead of swimming every day we would drive for hours from one village to the other. We would end up in this lonely kafeneio in Arnados where the lady owner would treat us to some of the best food we had on the island. Atlas would fall sleep on the stone side seat covered in batique under the sun. On our last night in Myrsini the sun was going down fast behind the rooftops, painting the mountains in gold. The song of the glasses from the table next to us was echoing in the distance. Until next summer I will hold on to this memory.