Naxos

Exploring Naxos by car

Sunny

Today we hired a car (a Fiat Panda) and explored Naxos.  

The countryside is rugged and hilly interspersed with white washed villages, farms and multitudinous stone fences which must have taken a millennium to build. 

Our first stop was the high hill top village of Halki and the long ago capital of Naxos.  We wandered down a path to the Byzantine church of St George, enjoyed morning tea of coffee and the famous Greek custard tart and slipped in and out of shops in the atmosphere of a slow village waking to the tourists.

The wonderful Greek custard slice that had just come out of the oven.. YUM!

Pretty little shops in Halki.

Our coffee stop....blue and white gingham tablecloths and a grapevine pergola....a little slice of tourist heaven.

It wasn’t too far to the Temple of Demeter and its museum set in the picturesque landscape of surrounding hills.  

A small but beautiful temple set amongst the hills.

We passed through the village of Filoti and up a winding road to view Mount Zeus.  A winding path could be seen for walkers and we sighted a few making the climb.

We wound through tiny villages until we were high in the hills and lunch beckoned.  A delightful restaurant with amazing views caught our attention and we stopped and enjoyed superb food with wine.  Of course, we couldn’t leave without the gift of the house....a liqueur which tasted infinitely better than raki...and for once I was able to enjoy.

A windmill behind our restaurant...Naxos is famed for these dotted all over the island.

It was a winding road down to the beach of Moutsouna on the eastern side of the island.  It’s a fabulous low key beach with a few restaurants, a small marina for fishing boats and some accommodation.

On the way to Moutsouna we stopped at this gorgeous little church and admired the views. 

The tables on the beach are waiting for their evening customers.

We stopped by the roadside to view a huge marble quarry.

The car for the day...a Fiat Panda.

After our big lunch we had a simple meal on the terrace.  It was wonderful to see Naxos away from the tourist areas.  Tomorrow we are taking a ferry to Delos and Mykonos so we have another interesting day ahead.