Considered by many to be another overlooked gem in the
Aegean,
Naxos is big, green and may have the best beaches in
Greece. It's close
to the popular islands
Mykonos,
Ios,
Paros and
Santorini with frequent
ferry connections. It has a lively harbor town with
restaurants, cafes, clubs
and shops. Rent a car, or even better, a
motorscooter (
papaki) and see the
whole island. The
valleys and
ridges are beautiful and lush, particularly
the area known as
Tragaia, so hikers will
have a ball. The best beach they
say is at
Plaka with other nice ones at
Agios Yorgos,
Agia Anna,
Mikri
Vigla, and
Kastraki, any of which would be the prized beach on any other island.
The fishing village of
Apollon is a popular location for day trips, with good
seafood restaurants and a giant unfinished statue of the god
Apollo laying
in the ancient marble quarries since 600bc. The ferry trip is about 8 hours from
Athens and stops in
Paros. There are daily connections to
Mykonos,
Ios
and
Santorini. There are also less frequent connections to
Crete, the
Dodekanese,
Ikaria,
Samos,
Amorgos, the small
Cyclades islands,
Skiathos,
Crete
and
Thessaloniki.
Naxos is also appealing as the first view of the island
is that of its most famous
archeological site, the
Portara, the doorway to
the ancient
Temple to Apollo which was built in 522 BC and never finished. That
inof itself is kind of cool, as most ruins we see are ruins because of the
passage
of time, not becasue they were
never finished. Above the town is the
Venetian
Kastro, where the famous Modern Greek author
Nikos Kazantzakis went to school.
Kazantzakis is famous for the films that have been made of his books (
Zorba
the Greek and
The Last Temptation of Christ).
Naxos is a bustling island, so you should just sit back
and relax until you pick up the pace of things. As most people go on
multiple
island tours, they spend a few days in
Naxos. I'd advise that you don't do
those multiple islands in one day tours. You just get
herded from one island
to another. If you're short for time, visit one or two, and
enjoy your stay.
Naxos deserves a couple of days to really enjoy and
explore.
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