Naxos - The Island Less Traveled

First class ticket to Paradise

The next island we visited was Naxos.  We headed out on a ferry, which was more like a big airplane.  It had 5 columns of  seats across, so most people couldn't see out a window, and those who could only were able to see a spray from the ocean anyways.

Our hotel was up on a hill over the beach.  It was easy to identify - the only yellow building in a sea of white buildings.







One of the identyfying sights of Naxos town is a gate, the "Portara".  It is actually on a small island off the beach, but a walkway connects Naxos to it.  It is 6 meters high and is the remains of a temple to Apollo.  Actually, I do not know if the temple was ever finished, but anyways, only the door remains.

The Portara, Naxos Town in the background

Sometimes a dirty lens can make your pictures look cool

 

The walkway that connects the island of the Portara with Naxos.

If this looks familiar, and perhaps if you're an astronomer, it does, it's because someone beat me to catching a celestial event behind a cool Greek monument and submitting it to Astronomy Picture of the Day... 

Walking along the beach was fun.

It only took me six tries to get this picture!

 The beach was covered with stones.  Amazingly, most of them were marble... Naxos produces a huge quantity of marble!

My new countertop

 Again, Naxos was covered with many white churches.  This one was built into the rock, halfway up the mountain.

Imagine the driveway

Church in Naxos Town.

Lizard on marble.

 

Then, we turn our sights to the town of Naxos.  

Naxos had a lot more old charm... the streets were not as polished and perfect as Mykonos, but something in their old condition made them even more beautiful...

Naxos is an island not visited as often as the other places we visited, and as a result, felt more authentic.

The streets were even more of a maze than Mykonos.  Maps were useless.  Instead, we just wandered around in the general direction of where we wanted to go (which actually proved to be more difficult than it seemed, because roads spiraled in on themselves, ended abruptly, and were generally indecisive about which way they wanted to go.)

A local even told us that she sometimes gets lost in what she affectionately called "The Maze".

We thought we might never find our way out.. but at least I had plenty of subjects for pictures.

At the center was the Venetian castle, and the nearby church.  A local cat of Naxos poses for a shot.

View of the Venetian castle.

Inside the castle, we went to a nighttime show that included local song and dance of Naxos.  Included in the fee: all you could drink local alchohol.  It was all you could drink because, as our host for the evening put it, "the musicians aren't very good".*

*This is not true, the musicians were actually quite good, although perhaps I was drunk enough not to notice.

Local alcohols.  Most were toxic, except for the brown one, which tasted like cinnamon. We bought a bottle.

 Part of the allure of the show was watching the sunset from the castle!

If you want to hear some Greek music, check out this father/son duo:

 

Some local dance, with an unexpected ending:

 

Here's a local instrument: it's essentially a bagpipe, but made of a goat skin turned inside out.  It's slightly disturbing that you can almost make out the profile of the goat with this instrument.  So what's the verdict?  Is this instrument more or less annoying than an actual bagpipe?