Agios Giorgios
On our first full day, we stayed close to home, enjoying the shallow, clear water and bars that dotted the beach, which also delivered a hell of an iced coffee to your deck chair. The beach isn't the most beautiful but it makes up for it by its location to Naxos Town and our accommodation.
Local Buses
Local buses will also ferry you out to the various beaches on Naxos' west coast if your proclivity for sand is varied. They're cheap (€1.80 in 2019), frequent and take you to, arguably, better, quieter destinations down the coast. Catch the bus from in front of the Ferry Terminal and buy a ticket from the harassed-looking woman inside the tourist office. If you're brave, there's also a series of roadside stops closer to town. You'd be brave to do this only because the bus is so crowded by the time you arrive in the centre of town that you're liable to stand, sardine-style for the 30 minute journey.
First stop is Agios Prokopios followed by Agia Anna and finally Plaka Beach. In between, a series of beachside establishments like the outdoor cinema, Mister Bean laundromat and windsurfing schools invite you in. Watching the world go by from a vehicle is one of the better things about travelling and Naxos did not disappoint.
Plaka Beach
The farthest beach from our hotel turned out to be our favourite. Sparsely dotted with people, the sand was super white and empty. A nudist colony set up shop halfway down the beach and everyone was happy to let everyone else do their own thing.
Due to the imminent death of my phone battery, I didn't take any photos of our lunch at Petrino Beach Restaurant, a local taverna with outstanding food and a beautiful covered in grapevine patio. All open air, the restaurant serves local delicacies and despite the fact that fried food isn't that cooling, a taste of Naxian potatoes (essentially french fries with a Naxos cheese) were on the cards.
Naxos Town
Perhaps embarrassingly, we didn't discover the fortified part of Naxos Town until our last night on the island. The layout is broken up into portside restaurants and then lots of intricate passageways up to the town and castle itself. Like lots of other seaside Italian and Croatian villages I've seen before, Naxos Town was built this way to protect its residents from the elements and from ancient outside attacks.
Today, the castle at the top of the hill is home to a bevy of concerts and a stunning view Portara, a gate leading to the never-finished Temple of Apollo that lies just next to the harbour. This has something to do with Dionysus and Ariadne, probably a torrid love affair, but I never really got to the bottom of this (or got an acceptable picture of the gate).
Local buses will also ferry you out to the various beaches on Naxos' west coast if your proclivity for sand is varied. They're cheap (€1.80 in 2019), frequent and take you to, arguably, better, quieter destinations down the coast. Catch the bus from in front of the Ferry Terminal and buy a ticket from the harassed-looking woman inside the tourist office. If you're brave, there's also a series of roadside stops closer to town. You'd be brave to do this only because the bus is so crowded by the time you arrive in the centre of town that you're liable to stand, sardine-style for the 30 minute journey.
First stop is Agios Prokopios followed by Agia Anna and finally Plaka Beach. In between, a series of beachside establishments like the outdoor cinema, Mister Bean laundromat and windsurfing schools invite you in. Watching the world go by from a vehicle is one of the better things about travelling and Naxos did not disappoint.
Plaka Beach
The farthest beach from our hotel turned out to be our favourite. Sparsely dotted with people, the sand was super white and empty. A nudist colony set up shop halfway down the beach and everyone was happy to let everyone else do their own thing.
Naxos Town
Perhaps embarrassingly, we didn't discover the fortified part of Naxos Town until our last night on the island. The layout is broken up into portside restaurants and then lots of intricate passageways up to the town and castle itself. Like lots of other seaside Italian and Croatian villages I've seen before, Naxos Town was built this way to protect its residents from the elements and from ancient outside attacks.
Today, the castle at the top of the hill is home to a bevy of concerts and a stunning view Portara, a gate leading to the never-finished Temple of Apollo that lies just next to the harbour. This has something to do with Dionysus and Ariadne, probably a torrid love affair, but I never really got to the bottom of this (or got an acceptable picture of the gate).
Leading down from the castle the paths and archways get smaller, narrower and cuter. Today, shops, restaurants and a very few upscale hotels fill the premises.
Pardon the eight million pictures, I could not get enough.
Too many great windows and doors.
You could spend hours winding through the town and there are some great places to eat, drink and perch. We stopped at a vacant table outside a jazz bar and people watched for the best part of an hour. At 11pm, the crowd was varied--young, old, small children. It was a touristy crowd up here in the town but it didn't feel obtrusive.
I often jokingly contemplate on why I moved to England of all countries. There were practical reasons and heartfelt ones. There still are. And it's impossible for a holiday destination to be exactly the same if you were to live there. But sometimes it's nice to suspend reality and pretend you've emigrated elsewhere. Somewhere like Naxos.
No comments:
Post a Comment