Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades but still easy to drive its entirety over a couple of days. Apallonis on the north shore is only 54 Kilometers but it takes a couple of hours due to the many mountain twists and turns. It doesn’t help that I’m older, wiser, and more fearful of driving off the mountain than I used to be.
Kelly and Vicky and I drove to Apollonis for lunch and stopped along the way at various sites. The Agias Tower is accessible by a path and you can climb up the stairs to what used to be a home and lookout. This wouldn’t be allowed in the high season but there isn’t anyone around to keep people out.
Agias Tower on the North Shore
Vicky on the stairs of Agias Tower
When we first visited Naxos in 2000 and stayed for 4.5 months we did a drive to Apollonas at night. In front of the shops a large group of men were hauling nets in from the sea filled with small fish and emptying the nets on the paralia. It was quite exciting to watch and reminded us of the smelt season in Hawkestone.
High Above Apollonas
Apollonas is also the location of one of the four Kouros located on Naxos Island. We call this one “The Jay Leno” Kouros because it has a huge chin just like Jay’s. Jay said he found that kinda funny. The Kouros is a huge figure carved from marble. The four which exist on Naxos were abandoned at some stage for one reason or another and have been lying where they are for hundred’s of years.
Jay Leno Kouros
On our way back from Apollonas we drove to the Sanctuary of Demeter. We had tried to find it earlier in the week without success. However, we did manage to locate it this time thanks to a guy who spoke no English but could point really well.
Demeter’s Sanctuary
Marilyn and Kelly arranged a scavenger hunt in “Old Town” Naxos which involved finding a headless statue, a donkey, a cat, and a lot of other fun stuff. Everyone had to take pictures of what they found off the list. I won but was disqualified when the judges discovered my lemon tree was really a lime tree, my donkey was a horse, and the cat really didn’t have a sparrow in its mouth. Oh well.
Setting out on the scavenger hunt
Old Town Naxos
There’s a lot to see and do on Naxos and sadly we ran out of time with Kelly and Vicky. Vicky left on Thursday Feb 14 and Kelly left Feb 16. We had a great time together and were sad to see them go. Ed and Nancy arrive Monday so that will be fun. We did manage to get back to Alyko beach one last time to search for Eyes of Naxos. We found four. Here’s what they look like.
Naxos eyes from Alyko Beach
During the scavenger hunt we came across a few houses for sale in the Old Town and later checked out the prices. This one below (which seems to need a bit of work) is priced at 390,000 Euros. I don’t think it is going to sell considering the Greek economy.
House for Sale
SAYING GOODBYE TO VICKY AT THE NAXOS AIRPORT
At the Naxos Airport
At Rena Valetta we have one room for our bedroom and one for our community kitchen. It works out great.
Our room at Rena Valetta
Our Kitchen
We played a lot of scrabble with Kelly and will do so with Ed and Nancy I’m sure since we all love the game. We’ve also started playing Tavoli again which is a Greek game played on a Backgammon board. It’s a fast game and every bar has a Tavoli board.
Having a game of Tavoli
Yesterday we had one of the hottest days since our arrival on Naxos. At the south end of the island there is a huge abandoned resort which was well underway to being developed before the construction stopped. Now, after many years, nature is reclaiming it. I love wondering around it and I took some pictures yesterday.
This parrot has quite a vocabulary and mimics words if you stop to talk to it. It’s also trilingual….English, Greek, and Bird
That’s Marilyn on the left
Lush green valleys will soon be producing the vast amount of food grown on Naxos
One of the many hidden beaches on the island
On the roof of Rena Valetta with Vicky, Kelly and Marilyn
