We arrived in Naxos in the afternoon of Saturday June 1st after a short forty minute ferry ride from the neighbouring island of Paros. Initially we had planned to catch a life with our VRBO host to our stay inland but at the last minute we opted to rent a car for the three days we were in the interior of Naxos (only 30 euro a day!) as we wanted the flexibility to tour.
Good thing too as there is not that much to do in the quaint but sleepy mountain village where we were staying and we spent quite a bit of time touring about.
After a brief meeting with our host at the port (Chora), we hopped in the car and drove to the wonderful mountain village of stairs, marble and old Greek charm that is Apeiranthos!
It took us a bit to find our place but we finally managed to settle in to our wonderful unit at the base of the village. We had a wonderful enclosed courtyard to relax in at night as well as laundry, a decent kitchen and an extra bedroom!
The space had been the grandfather's place back in the day and was now renovated as a modern guest house although touches of Pappou remained (like his cane hanging in the corner and the welcome raki).
For most of the evening it was just us and two old Greek men at another table who talked and drank (but did not eat) the entire time we had dinner.
Finally as it got dark after 9:30PM a few more locals appeared but we were very much the odd tourist table among the locals! For the locals it was mostly drinking, smoking and lively discussions with the occasional small plate of food plopped down. The sole waiter spent more time sitting drinking and chatting than he did working (once again, we appeared to be the only substantial customers, the rest all knowing each other).
During our three nights in Apeiranthos we were the only tourists there in the evening as the village is one that tourists usually just visit during the day, coming up from Chora by car or bus.
The village is built on a hillside such that the lower part (where we were) is quite a bit down from the upper part where the main drag (filled with tourists during the day) is. Every day it was a hike from our spot just to get to the bakery!
The next day we opted for a drive out to the small village of Keramoti for a fairly short hike to a waterfall that our host had told us was "easy". Perhaps the trail was easy for goats (we saw some on the hike) but it certainly had its difficult spots!
While the village was practically deserted, we did come across a local woman at the church who gave us water and sweets before showing us the way to the trailhead for the 2.5 hour loop hike to the waterfall.
The hike during the noon day heat was more than we had bargained for so we took it easy in the afternoon with resting back in Apeiranthos plus some wandering around the village itself.
Wandering the winding streets of the village is wonderful as it is truly a beautiful place that keeps much of the old Greece close to its heart. Some of the buildings are boarded up but that just enhances the rugged beauty of the place.
Apeiranthos is in the heart of an old mining district known for both its marble and for emery which have been mined locally since antiquity.
Our second night's dinner was at taverna Platanos which sadly was mediocre. Apeiranthos needs better dining options! After dinner we stopped at the place we dined the previous night for an extra 1/2 litre of white wine and some people watching.
Then it was back to our wonderful spot for a little late night outside TV and a final nightcap before a solid night's sleep.
Our final full day in Apeiranthos was full of touring starting with a visit to the wonderful Monastery of Fotodotis where we enjoyed the views and the site itself.
The monastery is a crossbreed between a fortress and a place of worship with a large central church surrounded by walls with battlements. Apparently pirates were a problem back in the day.
After that we drove to the small village of Filoti for lunch at "The Old Cinema", a tour of the town and a visit to Panagia Filotitissa, the local church, as well as the adjacent small folklore museum.
Our next stop was the charming village of Halki (or Chalki) which was far busier than we had thought as it is quite a popular spot for day trips from Chora (being less than half an hour drive).
The village had quite a few high end boutiques. A worker in marble had lovely pieces but wanted far too much for them and the Fish & Olive gallery was wonderful (and had trees from the Greek artist we had seen on Santorini; priced even more expensively than Santorini!) but far beyond our price point!
We returned to Apeiranthos in the late afternoon, chilled out for a bit and then undertook another tour through the village with a visit to visit to Panagia Aperathitissa (the local church), which had been closed when we popped by earlier.
We bought a small flower vase made from emery from a local artisan for a very reasonable 20 euros; what a world of difference versus the pricing in Chalki for art!
Dinner was at the local Kafenio which had been quite busy with locals the previous night having a carbon grill and while the grilled sausage was good they served us a terrible cut of beef that we barely touched.
The young boy in charge of the place seemed to have a bit of an attitude and I suspect they fed the tourists the bad cut!
On the way back to our spot we stopped to say hi to a local cat and her kitten we had come across the previous day. They had a small enclosed porch of one of the houses as their domain and took to Lisa quite readily! How cute are the cats in Greece!
The next morning we had a lovely breakfast of farm fresh eggs on toast, cucumber, green pepper and apricot before heading for the car and the forty minute drive to Chora where we had the next two nights booked. We had parked the car near the local bus stop and a lady who had just missed the bus to Chora asked us for a lift to town so we happily obliged and the car was filled with chatter about the Greek language and history for the duration of the drive.
After dropping off our passenger on the outskirts of town, we drove to the port area where the car rental agency was and returned the car before accessing our nearby luxury suite for two nights. The suite was lovely with the best bed (king sized!) to date in Greece (the next one on par was in Athens), a great shower (with a view of the port!) and two verandas.
From one Veranda we had a great view of the port and could see the tourists at the iconic Portara as they visited it for sunsets.
Chora on Naxos once more has its own character unlike the other ports we had already visited. It is quite a large town, one of the largest in the cyclades, and has a waterfront full of restaurants and other shops serviced by a wide pedestrian space running seemingly forever.
The waterfront is barely busy during the day (mostly lunchers) but gets really busy at night as a mix of both Greek families and tourists come out for the promenade.
Dinner for our first night in Chora was at Sarris Fish restaurant which was superb. An exquisite fish soup followed by fried barbounia that were perfect.
Total cost less than half what we paid in Santorini at Ammoudi Bay and just as good! If you find yourself in Chora Naxos do yourself the favour of visiting Sarris Fish!
Sarris also offered a great opportunity for people watching as families, groups of kids, tourist couples, local couples and other sorts passed by.
The town's main drag really has a vibrancy during summer evenings and I suspect that having just come from sleepy Apeiranthos the change to crowds was more noticeable (and intriguing to watch) for us.
After dinner we wandered back to our suite for a nightcap and then a good night's sleep; or so we thought!
While our suite was wonderfully luxurious, it was also adjacent to a row of garbage bins that it turns out are emptied raucously daily at 6AM! Well good to have an early wake up call!
The next day we grabbed a decent breakfast from one of the many shops on the main drag before heading out to explore for the day. Lunch was at the "Boulamatsis" tavern which offered good traditional Greek food (mama was in the kitchen cooking while we were there).
Also note the downstairs restaurant and the promenade in front of it which stretches down the waterfront for ages!
One of the things Christos had been looking for on the trip was an "Octopus T-Shirt" and while several Octopi shirts had been seen so far, none had done it for him yet. So imagine his wonder when he discovered Octopus Naxos (sorry for the facebook link) which was devoted to the cephalopoda on shirts! After much deliberation three shirts were acquired, one for Christos, one for Lisa and one for Aare!
Today was also the day all the craft cards Christos had been working on were dropped off at the post office heading to Greece and Canada.
Dinner that night was at "Scirocco" which was off the main drag in a less touristy part of town but still filled mostly with tourists. Another great meal with tuna ceviche, lovely salad and meatballs in tomato sauce; took a break from whole fish for this dinner although not quite sure why as the place was known for good fish (and the ceviche was excellent).
After another night in our suite with the early wake up call we boarded the slow boat ferry the next morning at 9AM bound, via Paros, Mykonos and Tinos, for our final island destination, Andros.
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