Naxos

It's always good to step off the ferry onto Naxos. The ferry drops you right on the edge of the marina and the old town sits there waiting  to be explored. As the ship comes in you can see the Portara, or Great Door, that sits proudly on the headland. I guarantee  if you visit Naxos you'll do at least one evening stroll to the 

Portara/gate of Apollo. Naxos is known as the birth place of Zeus and is packed full of history, how's your Greek mythology? 

Having visited the Archeological Museum on a previous visit,  we took our time wandering the back lanes. It's early in the season  so still very quiet which we liked. There were a lot of decorations for Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations which we will just  miss but it was lovely to see the displays and feel a buzz in the air for the Easter festivities. 

We love getting around on the little local bus. There are so many rental cars, scooters and awful ATV quad bikes [that look like moon buggies]  all lined up waiting for the season to really kick in. I hate to think how the traffic will be, it's bad now while it's quiet. So we escaped to the remote mountain village of Apeiranthos. 

To get there the little bus wound its way through the villages of Sagri, Chalki and Filoti, worth a visit to see traditional village life. On every little mountain top, once you got your eye in,  you could spot a little chapel, so quintessentially Greek. 

It was such a contrast to see how green the interior was. The village square of course was the natural centre of the community - lots of village folks sitting under trees chewing the fat.

  

The last stop at  640mtrs up in the clouds, was the gorgeous marble village of Apeiranthos.  It has quite a history during the wars, too much to get into here, but sobering and a testament to the plucky villagers during such harsh times. It's surrounded by fields and mountains, has 5 museums, wonderful marble paved lanes, plenty of places to sit back and enjoy lunch under the trees and fabulous architecture.

 

It's the only village where both houses and streets have been constructed  using marble. 

The monument at the entrance to the village, honouring the men lost in the wars is a heart breaker.

Rough translation - "Oh! joy, joy to the mothers of the immortal Greek. Women who without a word or bitterness or complaint donate wholeheartedly her poor child to the homeland on fire, on the alter of war!"

Every village has a chapel or two, or three tucked away and this one was from 1836 -  simple in its decoration but so peaceful. It was tucked into the rock beside the outdoor restaurant we had lunch in. Candles lit for mum and dad.

Spring had sprung in Apeiranthos - the meadows looked as pretty as a picture 👌

One point of difference we noticed as we wandered about, was the use of wrought iron decorations on the gates. We hadn't seen this on Tilos or Astypalea.

After the mountains it was time for a beach visit. 

There's some beautiful beaches to choose from so you won't be disappointed. 

We revisited where we stayed last time at Aiga Anna and Aiga Prokopios - both gorgeous golden sand beaches & also the town beach Aiga Georgio.... there's a beach for any occasion! 

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We clocked up lots of miles exploring the old town as staying at the beach on a previous visit we'd spent less time in 'town'.

There was no shortage of cafes, bars or restaurants, the challenge was where to go with so many options.  

We found our favourite coffee spot overlooking the marina 👌

So it's goodbye to little Hotel Zeus as we fly tomorrow to Portugal. Yassas Greece, it's been great!