GREEK ISLANDS – PART 5

We’d expected the weather to be in the mid-teens at this time of year but it’s been 20-22C every day since we arrived, not bad for the beach and just right for hiking and visiting. We found it surprising that the tourist season winds down here at the end of October, with many of the shops and restaurants closing. The locals tell us the season lasts only six months.

We squeezed our butts into a tiny Fiat Panda and began exploring the southwest quarter of the island. While there are a few historical sites to visit, the main attractions are the beaches. Driving south along the coast from Chora, we soon entered resort territory; nice beaches fronted by ugly hotels and resorts, all of them closed for the season. The further south we went, the more deserted the beaches. We took a short walk out to Cape Mikri Vigla and took a selfie to mark the beautiful morning. 

Our destination was Agiassos, a tiny village at the end of the road. The water looked inviting so I went for a dip. Elva and I and a young couple were the only ones there on what would have been an August beach day back home.

The drive north toward the center of the island took us through the richest and flattest farmland we’d seen. Sheep and goats gave way to dairy cows, and I even got the puddle-jumper into sixth gear on a couple of flat straight stretches of road! Turns out about 75% of Naxos is hilly or mountainous, so this was quite a treat. 

After lunch in Chalki with the local after-church crowd, we headed south to the settlement of Kalados, once again the end of the road. We enjoyed great views along the way of Mt. Zas, and had to negotiate dozens of switchbacks before we finally got there. 

As was the case with Agiassos and Panormos, we were greeted by a quiet cove and a beautiful beach and had the place all to ourselves. The local MLA (or whatever they’re called here) must have had quite a bit of pull because Kalados has a first-class harbour with all the fixins, including nice paved walkways and park benches. Several fishing boats were tied up, as well as a two-masted schooner and a boat that gives harbour cruises. The latter two were probably based in Chora but tied up in Kalados for the winter months. The sunny day and the calm water made for a pretty picture, and we sat there for a while taking it all in.

There are 18 marked trails on Naxos and they range from easy to difficult and from 2 to 4 hours walking time. On our second day with the Fiat, we walked #4 from Chalki up to Moni through the Targea Valley past dozens of olive groves and one photogenic donkey. The trail was good most of the way with a few scrambles over loose rock and gravel but the scenery made it worth the effort.

In the small village of Moni, we met a woman who works a loom in her home making high-quality textiles and bought a souvenir from her. Although the trails are marked with small signs, it’s not always clear which way to go at an intersection. We missed one on the way back to Chalki, so just followed the road down into the village. After 8 kilometers, we were ready for a rest. To finish our day of exploration, we took a couple of roads we hadn’t been on before and were treated with more panoramic views.

While the weather’s been great since we arrived in the Cyclades, with only one rainy day to speak of, the temperature dropped slightly during our last few days here. The sky above the Portera is a bit grayer now though it’s still a lot warmer than we expected. 

We took advantage of good hiking conditions to continue exploring the countryside around Chalki. On our way to a nearby village, we came by the Church of Drosiani, one unlike any we’d seen before. A man was sitting by the locked door, so we struck up a conversation with Spiro from the island of Korfu; he was waiting for the priest to come open the door.

The main body of the Church dates from the 12^th-14^th century and is surrounded by three side chapels which meet the main one at angles; one dates from the 6^th century. The frescoes are quite well preserved considering their ages and the Church is considered the oldest in the Balkans and one of the most revered in Greece. Spiro, quite knowledgeable about the Church, gave us the grand tour as the priest didn’t speak any English.

He told us that St. John Chrysostom is one of the most important saints in the Orthodox faith and that the day we were there, November 13, was not only his feast day but also the name of the priest. When we told them both that Elva’s native village is Saint-Chrysostôme, they were taken aback at the coincidence, as were we. Once again, we learned the lesson that pure chance often beats meticulous planning and that taking the path less travelled can often mean everything!

A few closing comments about our Greek adventure:

1. The Cyclades, except for Santorini and Mykonos, offer a unique perspective on Greek culture. The pace of life on the islands is much slower than we’re used to at home and in other places we’ve visited. For that reason, they remind us a bit of the best our island has to offer. People here take the time to socialize with one another; they’re friendly and helpful; many do not lock their doors; police presence is somewhere between discreet and invisible; and we saw no evidence of homelessness.
2. I measure three indicators when I visit a new place: graffiti, garbage, and public transit. Naxos, the island we’re most familiar with, scores well on all three. Graffiti is limited mostly to very recent stuff with the message “Free Gaza”. Garbage can be seen in ditches along roadways but the cleanliness of the villages and Chora demonstrate that residents are proud of where they live and work. And the public bus system is very efficient and reasonably priced.
3. We had no plan for our three weeks on Naxos. I like to just let things happen and discover as I go, rather than plan an itinerary in advance. We stayed there for two reasons: because we’re looking for a quieter experience and because a former travel agent recommended it over the busier Cycladic islands. Turns out there is much more to do and see on Naxos than we imagined: many layers of human history; an excellent trail network for those who like to hike; comfortable fall weather; beautiful villages; numerous beaches; and Chora, the main town, which offers everything the visitor needs.
4. There are no fast-food joints here, only local eateries and cafés, no chain hotels, no chain stores and no malls. And what a difference that makes! Small stores sell dry goods, fresh fish and olive products like they have for generations, and you can still find shoemakers, watchmakers, and small appliance repair shops here.
5. There’s no flat ground on Naxos, and on most of the islands we visited for that matter, and there’s no such thing as a straight or a flat road. Traffic is generally light though and vehicles are careful and polite on the narrow streets and highways.
6. Our hosts, Sofia and Padelis, could not have been more accommodating. Not only is their place very nice, it’s ideally located only a two-minute walk from the main street and waterfront. They helped us with suggestions for places to visit, things to do and places to eat, and left us home-made treats several times. When we do come back, Arco Naxos Apartments will be at the top of our list of places to stay.
7. A final note about our Intrepid sailing experience. No regrets, but would we recommend it? Probably not. At $700 a day for the two of us plus meal expenses, it’s overpriced compared to other, much more comfortable experiences we’ve had in our travels. Yes, it’s a neat way to see the Cyclades, but the living conditions aboard a 56-foot sailboat are not much better than a yurt in Central Asia, a swag in the Australian Outback, or a tent on the Inca Trail.
   
   
   

 

GREEK ISLANDS – PART 4

After riding the public buses for a few days, we rented a car to begin our second week on Naxos and headed north along the west coast to the village of Apollonas. The cost of renting the car was quite reasonable but paying almost $3.50 a liter for gas gave me a bit of a start! Our Ford Fiesta has a five-speed transmission but I never got her out of fourth gear on the twisting, hilly, narrow road. The views of the sea far below were fantastic and we were tempted to visit a couple of the small villages along the coast, but would have needed a 4x4 to get there and back safely.

Apollonas is a small fishing port that was once utilized to export the region’s fine marble. It’s a sleepy place at this time of year as the tourist season is over and most seasonal residents have left. But the beach is very nice and the setting is beautiful. 

We headed along the island’s eastern shore and took a side road to Lionas after bypassing the picturesque village of Koronos. I was interested in seeing what remained of the area’s emery mines, known for their high quality, and exploited since antiquity. As children, Elva and I remember our mothers using emery paper to clean the top of our Kemac kitchen stoves.

The switchback drive down to the seaside village of Lionas was an adventure but the destination was well worth it. We had lunch there, walked around a bit and had a nice conversation with a couple from Koronos, relying on Google Translate to help us communicate. Although emery’s heyday is long past, one can still see mine shafts here and there, and rusted rails that carried the ore cars from mine to roadside. Our last stop of the day was the village of Moutsouna, the port from which emery was shipped after being transported there by an aerial cableway, the remains of which can still be seen, more than 40 years after the mines shut down. Fewer than 100 people live in Moutsouna today. Elva and I sat on a bench in the pretty seaside park watching waves break softly on the pocket beach and had the place all to ourselves.

The second day with our Ford Fiesta didn’t start off very well as the battery died just after we gassed up. Fortunately, the gas pump attendant (yes, they still have those on Naxos!) gave us a boost to get us away from the pumps, and we called the rental company to come bring us another car. The tiny and underpowered Mitsubishi Space Star had seen better days but it got us up and down hills and  everywhere we wanted to go.

We drove east to the small village of Kinidaros, home to several of the island’s marble quarries. Naxos marble is known for its high quality and has been a source of the material for Greek statues and structures since ancient times. The marble consists mostly of transparent calcite crystals, giving it the the appearance of depth. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the quarries high on the mountainsides, and then came upon a building where the stone was being cut. Elva walked up to the door and boldly asked the workman if we could watch. He waved us in and showed us the whole process. The photo shows a large circular saw lubricated by water cutting 1-centimetre-thick sheets from a big block, probably to be used as flooring. It's one thing to view a distant quarry, but to see the finished product being made in front of your eyes made it special!

I’d read about the village of Keramoti and, since it lay only a couple of kilometers out of our way, we headed down the dizzyingly steep road, parked the car in a tiny parking lot and walked into the village that sits precariously atop a knob of rock with nothing but steep ravines on three sides. Only 50 or so people live there year-round but the houses are immaculate and you could eat off the walkways. There is even a reconstructed traditional olive processing plant filled with original equipment. We visited the impressive village church and had a chat with a man who was refinishing the church door.

Cousin Aubrey, four years older than me and far wiser, instilled in me a longing to explore when I was about ten years old. “Exploring” to us meant heading deep into the woods around Wellington and basically trying not to get lost. I’ve loved exploring ever since.

We saw a sign on a sideroad pointing to a place called “Panagia Argokiliotissa”. I’ve only ever liked one poet, Robert Frost, and remembered these lines from his poem, The Road Not Taken: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” We rounded a curve in the one-lane road and came upon a monstrous church standing on a hill overlooking the sea on a dead-end road in the middle of nowhere. A sign noting that the European Commission had contributed $8.1 million Euros to the site certainly got my attention.

Iconography is central to the Greek Orthodox faith. In this case, an icon of the Virgin Mary (Panagia) attributed to the Evangelist Luke was found in a cave at the site. A couple of churches built there to house the icon still stand. In 1997, construction of the new “temple” began, the largest in the Cyclades. I struck up a conversation with the caretaker who was kind enough to unlock the new unfinished cathedral and let us experience its massive interior. We left there wondering why it was ever built.

Back on the main road, we headed to Apollonas, a village we’d visited the day before, and stopped for lunch at a café that was virtually empty. Others nearby had already closed for the season. Our objective was the Kouros of Apollonas, a 10.7-meter-long unfinished statue weighing an estimated 80 tonnes. Archaeologists estimate it was carved sometime before 500 BC and may have been intended for the Temple of Apollo in Chora. No one knows why it was wasn’t finished. The sheer scale of the thing is hard to appreciate unless an old man, foolish enough to climb onto it, agrees to have his picture taken. Best thing about our visit to the Kouros; not another soul around!

Next on our list was a trip down the island’s southeast coast toward the end of the road, Panormos. The drive along the coast was nice, but nothing we hadn’t seen before. It was a cloudy day when we left Chora but the weather had cleared by the time we reached our destination. Goats and sheep wandered everywhere, including the middle of the road.

We wanted to visit the ruins of the Panormos acropolis, defined as “a citadel or fortified part of an ancient Greek city, typically one built on a hill.” This one was built about 2,500 BC and included stone walls and a fortification that would have sheltered locals in the event of attack. The site is said to be unique in Greece because it marks a significant change in society from small rural communities to a larger urban settlement. The site didn’t offer much to see but the view was impressive.

We walked down through the tiny, mostly deserted, community and made our way to the beach. A local told us that everything was closed until May but that didn’t deter us in the least as the place looked so inviting. A row of palm trees lines the waterfront and a couple of boats were moored at the tiny nearby dock. I couldn’t resist a dip in the crystal-clear turquoise water and, although it was a bit on the cool side, I’m glad I did!

 

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.