Pigeon house

Pigeon house

[ Sept.2013 ] What do you think this strange building is? It is a pigeon house.

Tinos is famous for these houses.

I was imagining that they had a romantic custom to keep carrier pigeons, but apparently it was for eating.

The poor farmers needed them to feed a lot of children because the farm products were not enough.

When I searched online, I found an explanation saying that the Venetians who already had a custom to eat pigeons brought it to the island in the 13th century.

But we did not see any pigeon menu in the restaurant.

I asked the guide and he said they are only for family.

The patterns of the house were very pretty, but he did not explain about the reasons.

We had a bit of free time at the end in the town, so we bought a model of this house and added it to my collection of “houses of the world”.