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Published: July 22nd 2013
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As soon as you arrive at the port on Naxos you can immediately see the temple of Apollo sitting on top of a hill across the harbour. The town of Naxos is small so we didn’t worry about how we were going to get to our hotel. At this point we were so relaxed about Greece we forgot to even write down the address of the hotel. After a brief lost moment a travel agency with Internet got us on our way. We walked down the beach for 15 minutes and there was our hotel.
Just when I thought Greek island towns couldn’t get any quainter Naxos proved me wrong. The alleyways were even more narrow and the churches even smaller. Naxos is a relaxing and mellow town. The island is pretty big and we were only there for two days so we decided to stay near Naxos town. After spending lots of money on Santorini it was time to take it easy and Naxos was the perfect place to do it.
After a lazy morning we made our way to the temple of Apollo and up to the castle to visit the small museum.
There were no signs to tell you how to find your way through the maze of alleys. We learned early on in our trip that getting lost and finding your way is half the fun.
I loved the beaches on Naxos especially Plaka where we enjoyed a peaceful sunset swim with the beach all to ourselves. It was only a 20-minute bus ride from Naxos town.
We dined in pretty much a white tunnel right off the main alleyway with flowerpots hanging from the walls and live music playing in the restaurant in the adjacent alley. The food was delicious and not very expensive. Two brothers served us whose mother and father were cooking the food. This is very typical of Greece. Naxos has its own cheese. It isn’t like any cheese I’ve ever had so it’s hard to describe -kind of like fresh mozzarella but lighter and less salty. Combined with the fresh bread I was in heaven.
We set foot on Mykonos thinking we would only be there for a few minutes. Since there were no direct ferries from Naxos to Syros we had to
stop on Mykonos. As we waited near all the fancy British yachts I noticed a Blue Star Ferry in the distance. There were 2 ports! We had missed our boat; the travel agency at the port confirmed it.
We bought new tickets for that evening and got on a bus to the infamous Super Paradise. We figured we might as well check it out since we were there. It was not what I expected. It didn’t feel like Greece at all. It was more like Las Vegas or Miami. We were greeted by a large entryway with heavy doors fit for a fancy restaurant and very loud techno music. There was a DJ posted up above the bar and tiered dance floors going down to the sand. The beach itself was in a pretty small cove with dessert cliffs on both sides and lots of new constructions. With nowhere to expand to, the crowd piled high on the sand. I’ve never seen so many fit bodies in one place. We were both feeling extra self-conscious and making mental commitments to work out more. The beach was decent. The prices at the self-service restaurant
were not. It was a total rip. We found a spot on the sand and got in the water. Every few minutes the DJ played a recording of someone saying “Mykonos.” We still joke about it. In the early afternoon people were already dancing on the tables, crowd surfing each other and it didn’t look like the energy would taper off anytime soon. I can’t imagine what it looks like there at night. It cost us a lot of money to see what all the hype was about but I was still glad we went.
The ferry to Syros was quick. We learned our lesson about arriving unprepared. This time we had a street name and two landmarks, the opera house and St. Nicholas church. We found the hotel no problem. I was so proud of us. It helped that neither of us were at all scared to be lost. I felt like we could keep traveling for 6 more months.
We went to Syros because two friends from our Turkey tour told us about the Festival of the Aegean taking place there. Other than that
we really didn’t know much about the island. Earlier in the trip we had to make a decision about either going to Mykonos or to Syros. The locals told us we would like Syros better. They were right.
One of our maps pointed out Kini Beach as a beach worth seeing so once again we left our hotel with our beach bag in search of a beach to lie on. This was our daily routine. Once we found the bus that would take us there we ended up with an hour to kill so we ate at a restaurant called the Grill on the harbor. It was the cheapest meal we had in Greece. For 6.80 euro we both ate lunch including beer and wine. This made me even gladder we chose Syros over Mykonos. Kini beach took 20 minutes to get to by local bus across the middle of the island. The landscape was hilly and green. There were lots of Greeks sunbathing and playing paddleball on the beach. The weather was perfect and so were the waves and sand. We were conscious that Kini beach would be our last Greek beach day. I was grateful
it was a good one.
Visiting different beaches everyday doesn’t ever get old.
We showered and dressed up as much as we could for the opera, given the limited clothes in our backpacks. Before the opera we went to dinner at the same cliff side open-air restaurant we went to the night we arrived. I didn’t realize it at the time but is was our last meal in the pleasurable ambiance that is a Greek island restaurant. Anywhere in Athens just isn’t the same. In the Cyclades the décor and ambiance are always lovely.
We hadn’t taken three steps into the Opera house before we ran into our friend’s husband. He told us to meet them out front after to grab a drink. This was a relief since we had no way to contact them to tell them we would be there. The inside of the opera house was a work of art. Unfortunately we left our camera in the hotel. I had never seen an opera before. I was amazed at how loud the soloists could sing. Their voices were absolutely beautiful.
Now I understand why people cry at hearing them.
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