Naxos, Greece

If we had to sum up Naxos in one word, it would be...amazing! We spent five days and four nights here, and we barely saw anything. You need weeks to do it justice. Naxos is the biggest island in a group of islands called the Cyclades. The history of the island dates back 5000 years. This is hard for us to fathom considering the youth of our own country. Naxos has towns, villages, great restaurants, churches, museums, ancient sites, hiking, and beaches. Oh, and lots of book stores. (Lynda finally found the sequel to her Ken Follett novel, so she is content for another two weeks.) Overall, Naxos offers something for everyone.
We stayed in Chora (Hora, also known as Naxos town) at Pension Sofi. Although it is off-season and there aren't that many tourists around yet, Sofi's was full. We had a wonderful room with a small balcony and a kitchenette. Rena, Panos and family are very friendly and helpful, so it is not surprising that they are rated number one on Trip Advisor.
We decided to try out the public bus on our first day there. We were heading for the town of Chalki (Halki) about twenty five kilometres away. Our intention was to hike a circular route through some small villages. The bus was supposed to leave at 11:00 am, but it seems the Greeks have a different idea of punctuality. The bus was 45 minutes late, much to the dismay of the waiting passengers. The local Greeks were more put out than the tourists, and there were lots of loud voices and gesturing, much to our amusement. The down side of this delay was that it was already 12:15 and the last bus back to Chora was at 4:00 pm. We really weren't sure of the route or how long it would take, and now we had the pressure of not missing the bus. We spent the first half an hour searching for the two churches which marked the start of the hike, according to the guidebook. We eventually gave up on those when we located the village of Kaloxilos and signs marking the trail to Moni. We had a wonderful hike through the villages, past some farms and churches, up the hill to Moni. Craig was way behind as usual. He kept stopping every ten feet to take pictures. Get ready everyone because next Christmas you are all going to receive a card with a different scene from our trip on it. We have to do something with all the photos or they will sit on the portable hard drive and no one will ever see them. When we finally got to Moni we didn't even have time to stop. We were only half way through our hike and we kept thinking about the bus. To make a long story short, we arrived back in Chalki with one hour to spare. We went to a cafe for a quick bite to eat, had a tour of the local Kitron distillery (a lemon liqueur made only on Naxos) and went to the bus stop. Wouldn't you know it? The bus was an hour late. We learned a valuable lesson that day. Don't rely on public transportation when you are in a country full of scooters!
Early the next morning we waked into town to rent a scooter. For 14 Euros per day we had two helmets and our own set of wheels. Without a motorcycle endorsement on your driver's license, the insurance will only allow you to rent a 100cc max. scooter. Even so, Craig was able to make that high performance 85 cc engine scream its way up all the hills of Naxos. We spent the next two days making two loops around the majority of the island. We visited several castles (all closed), the Dimitras Temple (open) and a multitude of churches (all closed except the village ones which didn't have locks on the doors.) We also hiked in to see the statues of Kouros, which date back to between the 8th and 6th centuries BC. These stone and marble statues are said to depict local heroes or even the God Dionysus. They are very large in size, but very simple in their decoration. It is believed they were abandoned by the sculptors because of defects in the stone or marble. Today they still remain in the location of their initial discovery.
Naxos in April is a very relaxing place to be. There is a lot of local flavour at this time of year. It is definitely spring time in the Mediterranean. The flowers are blooming, the blossoms are on the trees and the gardens are being planted. The weather is warming up, although it is not warm enough for sunbathing. We didn't even make it to one of the island's many beaches. Our shorts are still in the backpacks and we aren't brave enough to go out without our jackets. Most of the time we end up carrying them, but we need them to reduce the impact of the wind, especially when we are riding on the scooter. If you are thinking about a holiday in Naxos, now is the time to book it. We would love to go back again one day. There is still so much for us to do and see there.

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