Arriving to Naxos - Live Every Moment of Life

We left Santorini on Thursday and realized none of us had bonded with it. We feel blessed to have the opportunity to visit, but other than its drop-dead gorgeous views, it doesn't have a lot else going for it if you are trying to spend time there. In Fira, the locals hardly tolerate you, there are very few sidewalks, and the drivers literally swerve to aim straight for you - clearly some sort of game to them. Even in a designated crosswalk you are taking your life into your own hands. Oia is better obviously since it doesn't have cars and I met some nice shop owners, but it is just too crowded and very expensive at two to six times the price of Fira. Now that we are on a different island, we know that rude behavior is not the same for all of Greece.

Greece has many islands with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. Apart from visiting Santorini or Athens, how do you choose where to vacation? My friend Vickie made it easy, introducing me to Naxos, where she goes each summer and just built a home. Naxos is the largest island of the Cyclades and has some of its finest (white sand) beaches. Residential more than touristy, it is the major provider of agriculture and seafood for Greece.  Naxos, dotted with everyday treasures, is authentic and true.  We have been on Naxos a day and already like it better than Santorini. The people are all nice, they speak English very well, and there are literally endless affordable places to eat. When Anthony Bourdain came here, he didn't want to leave.

 

"If you live here you live every moment of your life". Naxos is dotted with everyday treasures.

Naxos' most recognizable landmark is the Portara

The Portara is the oversized marble gate of the never-completed Apollo Temple

To get from Santorini to Naxos, we took the large Delos Blue Star ferry. Buy your ferry tickets on Ferryhopper.com. Since it was only a 2-hour ride, I didn't pay the extra fee for designated seats. Instead we could sit in any lounge or on any deck - there were plenty of available places to sit.

The Blue Star Delos is huge and nice

We are staying in Naxos Town, also known as the Chora, right beneath the Kastro, the old Venetian castle. I found our "home" for a week on Airbnb; one of the reviews said if you were walking around the Chora and could pick any place to stay, this is where you would pick. Besides its perfect location, it has a huge balcony overlooking the harbor and surrounding shore. We still can't drink the water in the apartment but there are water "fountains" in the old town. And best of all, we can flush our toilet paper here!! You take this simple pleasure away from the kids and then when you give it back to them, they act like it is the most amazing thing!

You know you picked the right place when you hear "I could just sit here all day with a beer"

Kate, Chris and I left Greg and Jeremy on ferry watch and went to Agios Georgios Beach, a 10-minute walk from our place. The wind was picking up so it wasn't as amazing as our beach day on Santorini but you still can't complain about sitting on a beach in Greece.

Greg is perfectly happy to stay on our balcony and watch the ferries all day

Greg and Jeremy were sure the ferries were going to crash from the high winds, waves, and current. Nope, those captains have skills!

Agios Georgios Beach is a 10-minute walk from us and one of the nicest beaches in Naxos

One of the beach clubs along Agios Georgios Beach

We have had 2 dinners here in Naxos so far and I would recommend both eateries:  Su e Giu (along the harbor) and Kozi (just around the corner from the harbor).

Eating anywhere along the harbor is delightful for the views and people watching

Mussels drenched in olive oil and garlic from at Su e Giu 

 Su e Giu's delicious truffle pizza

At Kozi, Chris got the "single meat plate" with hamburger, sausage, lamb, pork, and chicken

"This is just huge," exclaims Greg, surprised at the amount of schnitzel on his plate.  At Kozi, these 2 large plates of food plus fried calamari, fried zucchini balls, stuffed mushrooms, tzatziki, pita, 4 large beers, and 5 complimentary desserts came to 68 euros

On the beach, Kozi has a great view of the sunset

We were out past 10pm, very full of food, and anxious to empty our bladders when we heard the words from Greg: "Holy shit I don't have the key." These are not words you would ever hear from him, and he wasn't joking. We knew inevitably this could be a problem because the door automatically locks when it closes. So Greg climbed over the gate onto the balcony and discouragingly discovered we had responsibly locked the door. Waiting eagerly at the door,  we hear an update from Greg, "Huh I don't know what happened there but here is the key." Ok well that was entertaining.

Crawling into bed, I hear Jeremy ask, "So are we all ferry watching tomorrow?"

Our beautiful evening view

On a side note, the good thing about this trip is that I am actually getting sleep - something I am not accustomed to at either home or travel. I guess that is what happens when you work around the clock through COVID and take your first real time off in over a year and a half. However, that means this blog is not being regularly updated. For the next post, check back tomorrow ... or maybe the next day.