Pyrgos, Tinos

Pyrgos is the centre of a marble-carving tradition that supplied sculptors to the whole of modern Greece, and the village demonstrates it everywhere: fanlights, lintels, fountains, balconies, gravestones and even the village bus shelter are worked in white marble from local quarries. The Preparatory School of Fine Arts still trains carvers here, and its students' work stands around the village. The Museum of Marble Crafts, run by the Piraeus Bank Cultural Foundation, is genuinely excellent, explaining quarrying, tools and technique with films and full-size equipment. The house and studio of the sculptor Yannoulis Chalepas, the tormented genius of modern Greek sculpture, is preserved as a museum, and the village cemetery is an open-air gallery of carved memorials.

What you actually see

• The Museum of Marble Crafts - quarrying and carving explained with tools and film.
• The Chalepas house - the sculptor's preserved home and studio.
• The carved village - marble lintels, fountains and fanlights throughout.
• The cemetery - elaborately carved memorials by local masters.

When to go

Spring and autumn for walking the village and the surrounding paths; the museums keep standard hours and close on some weekdays. Summer afternoons are hot and the marble reflects the glare.

Honest expectations

The village is small and quiet, with a handful of cafes around the plane-tree square. Working studios are private, though some accept visitors. Bus connections from Tinos Town are limited to a few a day.

Nearby

Volax and its boulders lie east; Isternia and the west coast beaches are below the village.