Naxos

---

After a few much nicer days in Ios, we have moved onto Naxos and have been here about 4 days now. It's a really nice island, quite different to Ios as it has much more of a family feel - lots more places to eat but far fewer bars! The weather wasn't so good on the first day so we explored the town which has quite a lot of history linked to it. We visited the castle that dominates the old town of Naxos and was built by the Venitians under their rule from about 13th century onwards. Unfortunately, due to the Naxian's dislike of the Venitians, a lot of the castle has been torn down or covered over with more classic Cycladic architecture, but you still get a feel of how dominating this castle must have been. After that, we visited Apollo's archway which is a very iconic landmark within Naxos. It stands on a spit of land that you reach by a causeway from the harbour. The story goes that Adriane was left on Naxos by Thesus (who incidentally had just slayed the Minotour and was on his way back to Knossos). She became lovers with the god Dionysos who is the god of wine and pleasure, and they lived on this spit of land until she died. The temple was apparently built in honour of them (but some also say it was built in honour of Apollo, hence the name) and all that really is left is this HUGE archway. Piccies attached.

We've also explored a lot of the beaches which are lovely, mile upon mile of sandy coastline with a sea that looks like it should be in the tropics, not in Greece! The weather has drastically improved so we've braved the sea a few times, but it is freezing!!! Apparently it doesn't hot up properly for about another month or so.

Yesterday we hired a car - it turned out to be far cheaper than a bus tour around the island which would have been E50 but the car was only E20. We really wanted to see a few more of the sites that Naxos is famous for. The first place we went to was Apollon which is a small fishing village on the northern tip of the island. Just outside this town is something called a Kouros which is a huge marble statue set on it's back (it's about 6 metres long). It was carved in 7thC B.C but was never finished - it was thought that this was due to flaws in the marble. The statue is obviously not finished as it's pretty crude, but it was amazing to see something that is over 2700 years old! There are others around the island that were abandoned in the same way - apparently Naxos was famed pre-Christ for it's marble and marble statues.

We also went to a few villages which were a world away from cosmopolitan Naxos town. They were very Greek indeed, complete with Kaphenions where old Greek men while away their retirement (Charlie: I have decided that it would be excellent to be an old Greek man!). We also went on to see the ruins of Demeter's temple in the middle of the island. This is a site where an Acropolis once stood which was used by a cult to worship Demeter, who is linked to fertility. It was then taken over by the Christian church and used for worship in a very different way! The place was excavated just 10 years ago or so.

We've had a great time in Naxos, it's been really interesting to delve into the Greek mythology and history surrounding the island. Tomorrow we head off to Paros, so shall write once we've done some stuff there!

---