FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Naxos

Monday, 3 October 2022

Naxos

It was time to move on to the next island of the Cyclades. The seabus conveniently located near our apartment would take us from the Old Town to the New Port for 2 euros per person. From there it was a matter of waiting to see how late the ferry would be...only 20 minutes. Not too bad!

The 35 minute ferry ride served as our morning entertainment as we watched passengers play musical chairs, with one group displacing another who had sat in the wrong seats. The rest of the passengers walking around were still trying to find their seats by the time the ferry reached Naxos. We could not blame them as the seat numbering system was not intuitive whatsoever. Fortunately, the exchange of cars and passengers at Naxos was far less chaotic due the the fact that there were significantly less people getting on and off. We found the driver of our private guided tour easily and we had 6 hours to see the highlights of Naxos.

Naxos, the largest island of the Cyclades, was greener than Mykonos which made for a nice change. Without going into the geography of why this was, this meant that Naxos had produce that were specialties of the island. Potatoes was one. Naxian gruyere was another. And the lucky last but not least was the citron. The fruit and leaves are distilled to make a liquor called Kitron. The fruit can be dried and preserved into snacks, as well as made into marmalade. We bought them all! Naxos was also known for its marble, which was used for the Parthenon, structures in Delphi and many more. The guide did a good job picking a bit of everything to show us. We visited pretty villages, went to archaeological sites, tried local food (rooster!), and watched local craftsmen at work. He also educated us on mythology related to Naxos.

The seabus. We had to wait until the captain and the deckhand finished their breakfast before leaving...

Illustrating the Greek's attempt to be efficient, the ramp comes down whilst the ferry is rotating and moving into position

Let the chaos begin! Cars and people moving at the same time

The green made everything much easier on the eye. The temple of Demeter in the distance

There were no straight lines, done to give the optical illusion of straight lines when viewed from a distance. The Parthenon would later use this same technique

Manolis, a fourth generation potter at work. This was his work studio in the village of Damalas

It took him no more than 3 minutes to create this

Some of his creations on display

Tradition functional vessels only found in Naxos

The traditional olive press in Damalas

Heavy stone to crush the olives. It took 3 men to turn the wheel

The pulp was then further "pressed", with extra leverage possible if required

Halki, the old capital

Where we discovered Kitron!

Made from the leaves of the citron fruit

The distillery

The end product, this was the least strong of the range and the sweetest

Next pretty town...Apiranthos

Basil!

Our lunch stop

Xinomizithra (sour goat cream cheese) salad. Another specialty of the region. Tasted like a mix between feta and ricotta. The best of both worlds!

Another specialty of Naxos, rooster. Yup this was rooster chops

A winner. Rosto, a pork dish was a specialty of the village. We also had to try the potatoes!

Naxos exports emery. The mineral that was next in hardness on the moh scale after diamond, used to make emery boards, sanding paper etc! Very hard to mine

Kouros, ancient Greek free standing male sculptures. This one was made of marble (white underneath but not allowed to be cleaned by archaeologists) more than 4m tall and weighing about 5 tonnes. Probably abandoned because it was damaged prior to transport

Our home for the next 2 nights was Naxos Downtown apartments. For only 80 euros per night, it really was a steal. It was an easy walk to the waterfront, was comfortable and had an amazing rooftop terrace only shared by 2 apartments (out of 6 in the building). The host was super friendly and helpful, giving us many tips and recommendations.