Who Not to Call if Your Plane’s Being Hijacked

---

Today we fly across to the island of Naxos, which is in the South Cyclades group around two hundred kilometres south east of Athens.

We climb aboard our smallish propeller plane for the thirty five minute flight. But wait, what’s that in the seat pocket? It can’t be surely. Yes it is, it’s an in-flight magazine. At last count this is the nineteenth flight we’ve taken on this trip, and all we’ve found in any seat pockets until now have been plastic coated safety cards, white paper bags and advertisements for credit cards. We thought that the in-flight magazine had gone the way of the dodo, thanks, we assumed, to the possibility of the dreaded virus lurking within its pages. Presumably advertisements for credit cards are immune, and I guess it could get a bit messy if they did away with the white paper bags. I don’t think the staff from the airline, Sky Express, have gone through the magazines in every pocket and disinfected each of the hundred or so pages in each volume sheet by sheet, so we’re really none the wiser about this apparent anomaly in the seat pocket protocols of the world’s airlines. It’s a good read too, sprouting the virtues of a seemingly endless array of Greek islands.

Our hotel is right on Saint George Beach which is a few hundred metres south of Naxos Town, and we seem to have hit the accommodation jackpot yet again - a large room with a balcony and views out over the sandy shoreline.

It’s been a good day so far, the unexpected surprise of the in-flight magazine, and a great hotel room, but there’s trouble lurking just beneath the surface. “Where’s my iPad” says Issy? We search the room from top to bottom, but it’s nowhere to be found. Hmmm. She wonders whether maybe she left it on the plane or in the taxi, but phone calls to the airline and the taxi company don’t bring any joy. The only other option seems to be the departure gate at Athens Airport. I Google “Athens Airport lost and found”, and first hit is a website that offers to retrieve items lost there … for a small fee. I fill in a form detailing the brand, serial number, colour of the cover, and a description of the photo on the screen saver. I’m also asked to attach a photo of the lost item. Sure I’ll just snap one now, oh hang on, where is it again? I’m just about to submit payment when I hesitate. Yep, it’s a scam. You pay the fee and never hear from them again. Hit number two is the same - another scam. My faith in humanity is starting to wane. We find the real Athens Airport website. It seems that the lost and found department is run by the Greek police, and we’re advised to ring the Athens Airport police station. Too easy. Well so we thought, but thirty five phone calls later, all of which go unanswered, and things are not looking promising. I make a mental note to remember not to try to call these guys for help the next time one of our flights is being hijacked. Minutes pass, and the hotel phone rings. It seems the iPad was in the back of the taxi after all. We run to reception hoping to thank the driver personally, but he’s already left. Our faith in humanity is restored, well slightly at least.

We go for an evening stroll around the Naxos Town foreshore. It’s extremely attractive; the old town sits on a hill overlooking a large harbour. The backstreets are a maze of cute narrow alleyways, and very reminiscent of our memories of Mykonos. And the colours - we suspect it’s probably been several centuries since any of the local hardware stores stocked any paint shades other than blue and white.

Issy heads back to the hotel for a rest while I join a throng of fellow tourists at the Temple of Apollo, which occupies a commanding position on a small hill overlooking one end of the harbour. I read that its construction was started by a gent by name of Lygdamis in 530 BC. “Gent“ mightn’t be quite the right term, it seems he was otherwise known as the “Tyrant of Naxos”. Unfortunately it seems he never got around to finishing it; his rule came to an end in 524 BC when he was overthrown by a Spartan army. A Christian Church was built on the remains in the Middle Ages, but this was dismantled by the Venetians who needed the marble for other buildings. Fortunately the Portara, or gate, was too heavy, and that’s all that’s survived. It seems that this is THE place to watch the sunset from, and there’s heavy jockeying for positions to capture iconic happy snaps of the sun setting between the Portara’s columns.

---

Photos

Musical entertainment, Temple of Apollo
No idea what that instrument is, but the sound was excellent

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Naxos
The joys of Greece. I hope you are getting your fill of fresh calamari.

[RENanDREW]

Naxos
Excellent jockeying for this gate sunset photo! One of our ferries stopped at Naxos on the way south and it looked like a beautiful place... so many gorgeous islands so little time :)