Two Days in Naxos

After two beautiful days in Mykonos we hopped onto a ferry and headed to Naxos. We used Blue Star Ferries. I booked tickets online in advance, though the ferry was pretty empty and they could have been booked while we were in Mykonos as well, I don't like to chance it. It was nothing fancy and took 45 mins to get us to Naxos.

The port was very close to the main town where are hotel was, so we walked it. While it was in fact a very short walk, only about 10 minutes it also happened to be in the 90's and excruciatingly hot. Like hide indoors hot. But when you are vacation you don't have the luxury to hide indoors now do you? 

The hotel was not ready for us to check in so we wandered around for a bit, trying to get our bearings. Which was hard to do in the blistering heat.. every turn we took ended up being the wrong one. Except for the main street we couldn't locate the little shop lined streets that we loved so much in Mykonos.

We decided to grab a bite to eat while we waited for our room to be ready. 

After lunch we headed back to our hotel, everything was just a few minutes away. The room was ready and we finally checked in and decided to take an hours break before heading out again. 

While things greatly improved after our break it was still very very hot.

We found some cute streets, perused some shops but you see what I look like back there.. wilted. Which is why we took very few pictures. No one was in the mood. We strolled some more, made a few purchases.. the kids needed new straw hats and then we braked for some ice cream.

and then headed towards the Portara aka Apollo's Temple, which is essentially a large marble doorway atop a hill making it a very scenic spot. For mythology buffs - myth has it that the bay beneath it was exactly where Ariadne, the Minoan princess, was abandoned by her lover Theseus after he killed Minotaur on the island of Crete. 

The view of the chora behind me.. the hike was very worth it and quite easy. 

The day had cooled off considerably. We walked around some more before having an extremely average meal and then headed back to the hotel. The downside of living in the center of things meant there was music playing all night long.. 

When we woke up the next morning M and I tried to put the previous day behind us and hoped for a better day today.

We started with breakfast at Bossa Cafe. It was already looking better.

 Afterwards we picked up our rental car and headed off to explore a few of the villages of Naxos. M hadn't driven a stick in quite a few years, over a decade so the start was a bit bumpy.. literally.. lol. The roads were narrow and winding up the side of mountains.. those drives always make me a little nervous. 

The island of Naxos is full of beautiful little villages. Hordes of tourists have not yet descended upon Naxos which makes the island and it's villages unique and not over crowded. We decided to visit three villages.

1. Halki (Chalkio) - the village used to be the capital of the island as well as its main administrative and trade centre. It is located in the centre of Naxos. It is nestled in the hills of Naxos and of the three villages we visited the most beautiful and tourist friendly. By this I mean that when you are wandering through it you don't feel like you are just strolling by peoples private homes, there are shops and restaurants that make you feel welcome and not like a tourist invading their personal space. 

Olive trees - Halki is most famous for its olive cultivation. Products made with olive tree wood were also very popular on the island.

Meat roasting on a spit.. the smell was divine. 

We stopped by at the Phos Gallery and D found the photographs by Dimitris Gavalas impressive enough to leave a comment in the guest book. 

There was lovely little weave shop, PenelopeNaxos where the kids learnt about the art of a loom. 

We visited the small Church of Agios Georgios Diasoritis as well.

It was still incredibly hot but more bearable and the kids ended the village tour with a cold juice. 

2. Filoti - There was a hike from Halki to Filoti but we opted out and chose to drive the short distance instead. Filoti is the largest of all Naxian villages. Set amphitheatrically on the slopes of two hills at the foot of Mount Zas and home to church of Virgin Mary.

The shops and restaurants (touristy) part of the village was much smaller than Halki. Which is totally fine of course but as I mentioned above I don't want to be some crazy tourist wandering around in front of people's private homes.

We stopped at Amvrosia for lunch and had the most delicious salad. 

 

Greece is famous for its cats.. you see them lounging on steps and in corners, the residents leaving bowls of water and piles of food out for them. This was the first time we came across a clowder of them underneath our table waiting for some burger meat to accidentally come tumbling from the boys plates. 

3. Apeiranthos - The third and final village we visited was Apeiranthos. It is a picturesque mountain village with a beautiful name meaning 'plenty of flowers'. It was a steep drive up the mountainous region of Naxos, the island is dotted with several little churches, some teeny tiny ones upon mountain peaks.. we wondered about those.. turns out there are eighty six churches in Naxos. 

This was such a lovely village.. it felt like we had taken a step back in time. As someone who has always lived in a big city I always wonder about small town/village living, I feel like I would get bored. Do you live in a small town? Do you like it? 

The view of another village from Apeiranthos

A tall cold glass of a Freddo (cold) espresso to end the trip. 

On the way back to the chora we decided to make an impromptu stop at the beach. Ugh I wish we had thought to throw a couple of towels in the car, but we didn't. We drove down to plaka beach. 

 It was a beautiful beach.. the kids were good about not getting to wet and dirty. 

We got back to the chora, returned the car and could think of only one thing, food. I know everyone loves a good greek meal but we tend to eat a lot more spice so when we stumbled upon the restaurant, Baco, serving mexican food we were all thrilled.

                          

Oh the food was so good and a view of the sunset, couldn't have imagined a better way to end the day.

       

                  Etsy           Instagram           Twitter