GREEK ISLANDS – PART 3

We began the second part of our Greek adventure by sailing from Santorini to Naxos on SeaJet, operator of the fastest ferries in the Aegean. It was a silky-smooth trip, in stark contrast to our nine-day experience on Serendipity. We schlepped our stuff from the ferry dock to our lodgings, Arco Naxos Apartments, where we’ll spend the next three weeks. In all our travels, with the exception of time spent in Florida, we’ve never stayed in one place for more than a week, so this will be a new experience.

Host Padelis was there to greet us and to tell us everything we need to know about Chora town and the island of Naxos. He has been a fixture here for 35 years and seems to know everyone. As for our lodgings, we can honestly say that the apartment is the nicest place we’ve stayed in since we began travelling seriously in 2013. It’s well located, clean, spacious, has all the amenities we need, and it’s decorated with taste. It features a separate bedroom, spacious bathroom, kitchen-dining area, and living room, all of this in a centuries-old building less than a five-minute walk from the seaside promenade.

Naxos is the largest of the Cycladic islands with a land area of 430 square kilometers, roughly 40 kilometers long from north to south and 15 kilometers at its widest point from east to west. It has a population of about 19,000 inhabitants, half of them residents of Chora, the main town. Archaeological evidence suggests that the island was inhabited by our Neanderthal cousins at least 200,000 years ago. Modern humans arrived here by boat about 9,000 years ago as the Greek islands were settled one by one, in much the same way as were the South Pacific and Caribbean islands. One of the oldest structures, the large marble door frame of the Temple of Apollo, was built around 530 BC and is a major Naxos tourist attraction. It's a ten-minute walk from our apartment. Ten minutes in the other direction and we’re on Saint George beach.

Tourism is a major industry on Naxos but the island’s economy is not as dependent on tourists as those of Santorini and Mykonos. To illustrate, one day in the summer of 2024, the Mayor of Santorini declared a “state of emergency” because 17,000 cruise ship passengers were to descend on the town that day. In our short time on Santorini during the shoulder tourist season, we found it too busy there for our liking. Naxos, while stunningly beautiful and popular with tourists, does not need to rely on this sector, thanks to other key industries including livestock farming, cheesemaking, agriculture, and wine-making.

On October 28, 1940, Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas said no to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s ultimatum that Greece allow Axis forces to occupy Greek territory or face war. The story, deeply ingrained in Greek consciousness, is that Metaxas responded with a single word “ohi”, meaning “no.” We watched the main street of Chora fill with what seemed like half the island’s population to watch a parade featuring young people attired in their white and blue school uniforms marching and performing percussion numbers. Everyone was dressed to the nines and it was easy to pick out the tourists; they were the ones that looked slovenly on this important National Holiday. While also a day of remembrance, it’s a joyous occasion here, marking the spirit of Greek resistance to Hitler and his Italian puppet, Mussolini.

We began our fourth full day on Naxos by riding the public bus to the inland village of Chalki, former capital of the island, situated in the Tragea Valley. Next to the bus stop stands the church of Panagia Protothroni, which has been in uninterrupted service since the year 1052 and includes a chapel dating to the sixth century. We were given a tour by the resident priest who was kind enough to answer our many questions about the Greek Orthodox Church. For example, priests are encouraged to marry, and he told us that 95% do so. The photo below shows what we saw just off the main street. How could you not want to explore this alleyway and browse through the shops and pass the time at an outdoor café?

The nearby village of Filoti lies two kilometers from Chalki, so we walked there along the main road. Some say it’s the island’s most beautiful village although we’re sure there are several candidates for the title. The view across the valley with the island’s highest point, Mt. Zeus, in the background is breathtaking. 

We had lunch at a charming café just off the main square and found our way back to Chalki along a well-marked path. In the middle of an old olive grove, we came across this little church, 1,000 years old according to the interpretive panel. 

Every time I see one of these in my European travels, it makes me regret what happened to the church where Elva and I got married fifty years ago, Saint-Philippe-et-Saint-Jacques. It should never have been demolished. This 1,000-year-old church may be abandoned and decaying but it’s charming in its simplicity. It stands proud and defiant and will be remain where it is for many years, long after I'm gone. People here will give it the respect it deserves and honour those who came before and worked so hard to build and maintain it for all the years it served. And, who knows, someday a wealthy descendant of a family who lived in the valley many centuries ago may decide to restore it to its former glory.

Our next bus trip took us to the village of Apeiranthos, about 10 kilometers beyond Filoti, on the east side of the island’s highest point, Mt. Zas (Zeus). We started by taking a stroll through the main pedestrian street, another charming walkway lined by homes, boutiques, cafés, and restaurants. The locals were taking in the warm fall day; older ladies walked to the church while the men shared a coffee and a smoke, and everyone seemed so contented. People on Naxos are much friendlier than those on Santorini. They seem to enjoy the more relaxed pace, and who can blame them? They probably don’t realize it but, to us, they’re living in a sort of paradise.

To work up an appetite, we followed a couple of the trails that led out of the village. One took us to a cemetery with a view of the ocean to the island’s east and of several nearby islands, including Amorgos and Koufounisi. The cemetery itself is pristine and all the graves are white marble. It looked like it had been swept every day, it was that clean. We enjoyed lunch with a mother and daughter visiting from California. The daughter was spending her last semester from a US college studying in Athens. It was another relaxing day with a mix of physical activity, a bit of culture, and a lot of relaxation.

Elva and I are cyclists, not hikers. But Red Green taught me the man's prayer and I recite it often on the trail: "I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess." Naxos is a favoured destination for those who enjoy hiking. Trails are clearly marked and take you through some amazing places away from the traffic of the paved roads, along donkey trails and farm lanes, and there is much built history to see along the way. As we near the end of week one on Naxos, we’ve found the perfect fall activity and the weather has been great so far.

On the last day of our first week, we rode the bus to the village of Sagri. There isn’t much to see there but it’s the best place to access a trail we wanted to try out. We headed south from Sagri toward the Temple of Demeter, situated on a small hill surrounded by rich pasture and cropland. The Temple was built around 530 BC (making it a century older than the Parthenon of Athens) from Naxian marble to honour the Greek goddess of agriculture, harvest and fertility. Christians built a basilica nearby in the 6^th century AD. The Temple was restored to its current state in the 1990s. We were surprised that it is not classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site given its condition and its historical importance. The walk back to Sagri took us past several Orthodox churches and I remembered what the priest from Chalki told us about their orientation: the alters of all of them face east, toward the rising sun.