Week 42: Naxos, Greece

Kalimera!

We realize that we are running into next week again, but we were, uh, really busy. 

When we were in Athens, we thought we should look up things to do and places to eat on the islands, as we do before arriving in most places we have been this year. However, we decided to just let go of that for a bit, take recommendations from others, and just fully embrace island life. The plan: no plan!

Since it is highly likely we will be recommending this part of the world to everyone we meet, we thought we would write our own top tips for visiting Naxos:

Arrive off-season: nearly every European we have met this year had told us not to come to Greece in July, as we had originally planned, so we decided on May instead. We are so happy we made that decision! Nearly everything is open right now, but there are hardly any tourists. We have escaped the crowds and have had the best experiences with the most helpful, friendly locals. We have also escaped the extreme heat, but have certainly had warm enough weather to justify a lot of sunscreen and get us into the sea daily!

Daytrip to Paros: travelling by ferry from Athens, we stopped off on the small island of Paros for the day. The ferry stops here on the way to Naxos a few times each day, so it was just as easy to book the ferry as two tickets (Athens-Paros 4hrs, Paros-Naxos 55min) as one. We put our bags in storage for the day, and went off to explore. We first visited the Byzantine church of Panagia Ekatontapiliani, better known as the Church of a Hundred Gates, which is considered one of the most important Byzantine monuments still standing in Greece. We then walked along the coast trail linking the port town of Parikia to the idyllic Agios Fokas church. This beautiful walk took us across a couple beaches, and allowed us to watch sailboats move through the oh-so-blue water. Once we were out there, we also saw the remains of a stone lighthouse. Back in Parikia, we walked through the streets of blue and white buildings, up to the Frankish church built with pieces from ruins, and then along the water’s edge while the sun was setting.

Stay at Pasas Studios: there are many places to stay on Naxos, from fancy resort-style hotels to guesthouses, but we found the best AirBnB (Pasas Studios). For seven nights, we stayed in a spacious apartment, complete with kitchen and outdoor terrace, where we enjoyed the enormous breakfast provided fresh each morning. Our host, Stavros, gave us so much food each day that we usually didn’t have to buy lunch! 

Get lost: I made it our mission to put away the map and get lost in the streets everyday. We wandered along the windy stone paths that led us between tightly packed, picturesque white and blue buildings with stone archway entrances. Here, we found many tiny churches, shops, and cafes. If you’re anything like me, the interesting décor and buildings plastered with pink and purple flowers will have you taking loads of photos as you walk. I had really thought that people must just heavily edit all of the photos of this part of the world, but walking around here was like having the photos come to life! Our favourite towns to wander through were Naxos and Halki, and our favourite very tiny towns were Kinidaros, Lionas, Moni, Koronos and Agios Anna. 

Head to the beach: this island is filled with amazing, clean beaches! These places are perfect for swimming, snorkelling, walking, or simply standing and staring out at the clear blue water. Because we were here off-season, the big beaches were nearly empty, but there are also many tiny beaches set inside private coves all the way along the coastline of this island. It’s very easy to claim a beach for yourself for the day! There are a few watersport shops and diving shops near the bigger beaches for people interested in those sorts of activities too. We visited a number of beaches here…

St. George’s-this is the most popular “tourist beach” for good reason. You can walk here from the port, and it’s lined with a number of restaurants with beachside seating along the edge. There is a large, sandy beach and the crystal clear water remains very shallow for a long time. 

Agios Prokopias- medium sized beach with soft sand and warm water.

Agios Anna- located right next to Agios Prokopias, and although it’s not necessarily a great beach, there is a nice little beach town there.

Mikri Vigla- we had this fair sized beach all to ourselves for a while, and even found a shady cove to duck into and enjoy our picnic lunch! This beach is made up of tiny rocks and shells rather than sand. 

Plaka- this beach is nearly a mile long and is made up of lovely soft sand. There’s lots of rocks to swim and snorkel around, but we felt a little overdressed in our bathing suits as we walked to the far end of this beach.

Kastraki- another sandy beauty!

Lionas- this picturesque beach is filled with medium sized rocks and black sand. 

Rent an ATV: there are many shops where you can rent a scooter, car or ATV to get around the island. We love riding quads off road with my aunt and uncle, so we thought it would be pretty fun to drive one on the roads here. The ATV was especially good to have when the roads turned into dirt or were washed away in some places. It also allowed for slower driving than a car, so we could enjoy the scenery even more! We rented the ATV for three days, and this allowed us to explore many beaches and towns across the island.

Take scenic drives: this island is known for it’s agriculture, mountains, and marble. The marble mined here is exported all over the world! Driving any of the roads on the island will take you through fields of hay and olive trees, over rolling hills and zigzagging up mountains. We especially enjoyed driving the northern loop road through Apollonas and Agia for spectacular coastal views.

Bus to a beach: there is a decent bus system on the island, with buses running to most towns a few times each day. We loved that we could take a bus to Plaka beach for the day!

Hike: there are numerous hiking trails on the island, all of which are very well marked. We started one hike in Koronos, and then hiked for about three hours on a mix of marble, rocks, and dirt (and through the webbed homes of many decent sized spiders!) down to Lionas. This cute seaside town with twenty or so buildings and two restaurants was the perfect resting place after a day in the sun. We ate at the family run Delfinaki restaurant, and then the father of the family gave us a transfer back up to Koronos in his car, stopping to point out all of the emery mining caves along the road. The other hike we did was a loop, starting in Halki. We circled up to Moni and back, which took about 1h45m, not including the mandatory café stop and wander through the towns on either end. Each trail was lined with tons of small flowers, including poppies. They were also home to many little lizards that would dart across the trail in front of us as we walked along. 

Check out some old stuff: from the port, it is easy to walk to the Temple of Apollo and the old town/venetian castle. As we ventured out from the town, we were able to see Demetra Temple, dating back to 530BC, as well as many old churches scattered across the countryside (usually perched on the top of a hill). We also visited the site of some unfinished statues, Kouros, found near Melanes. 

Go night fishing: Stavros took us out one night and showed us how to cast and set multiple lines. We enjoyed a few quiet hours of his stories and looking out at the night sky before reeling everything in. We didn’t catch anything, but it was still a great experience!  

Find some cats: you won’t have to work very hard for this one, there are cats everywhere! I must have been the one working hard, because I think I managed to go this whole time without one cat photo. 

Eat local: Naxos has many pigs, sheep, chicken, goats, and cows. This makes for great meat and cheeses! The island also has loads of figs, olives, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, oranges and lemons. We are loving everything except those darn olives… that all being said, the Greek really know how to cook! We would suggest the Greek cuisine (mousaka, rosto, pasticcio, goat, sausage souvlaki) found at Boulamatsis and To Elliniko (Naxos) and the sefoukloti at Delfinaki (Lionas). We also loved the pies at Kera Pastry Shop (Halki), the crepes at Creparea (Naxos), the ice cream at Heaven’s Café (Naxos), and the amazing sunset view at Flamingo (Naxos). 

Act of kindness: Our AirBnB host, Stavros, went above and beyond every one of our expectations. From a welcome meal to daily breakfasts, and a BBQ dinner for all four couples staying here, he made us feel right at home. We also loaded us up on a lot of homemade wine. He gave us a ride to and from the port, and also took us out fishing at night. We are so thankful to him for everything he did for us this week!