Our third day was one of more local exploration.
We decided to spend the morning on the beach, lunch on the terrace at the villa and catch bus into Naxos Town for a look around and an evening meal.
This is the lovely owner of the villa, Tereza, brining us fresh honeycomb from the farm's hives. She made us all kinds of wonderful goodies throughout our stay. Breakfast omelettes, Feta Cheese cake, oranges soaked in honey and my favourite, Loukamades which are crunchy deep fried donuts also drizzled with honey.
The breeze had dropped so it was a wonderful and calm couple of hours soaking up some sunshine and swimming.
Family paddle.
Nice to have this spot just a 5 minute walk from our rural retreat.
After lunch, rather than catch the bus all the way to Naxos Town we took a stroll along Plaka beach to Agia Anna to remind me and TBF of where we stayed on our previous visit.
We spent many happy hours sat on this granite headland looking at the views.
The boats in this little shallow cove look lovely against the clear water.
Looking across the to the mini-mountain of Stelida. The beach runs pretty much unbroken all the way to its base.
This is Agia Anna Beach. It was always deserted when we were here last time. Much busier now and much louder with lots of bars and lots of music playing.
This was the apartment we stayed in (one of the one's on the first floor). I'd thought of staying here again as it had a killer view over the sea. However, a quick check of the reviews said it had changed hands and it (along with the rest of the resort) was attracting a younger crowd with lots of loud music into the evening. Not our kind of thing and very pleased with our much quieter choice.
Hop on the bus and onwards to Naxos Town.
The old town is wonderful, a maze of narrow streets leading up and through the Venetian Castle on the hill.
Crowned by the extravagantly named Catholic Cathedral of the Presentation of the Lord.
A striking building although not open when we were there.
Its not a castle in the traditional sense, just a collection of houses really with the odd bit that looked more fortified.
The dark shady alleyways gave a respite from the hot sunshine down by the harbour. The temperatures over the past few days had been steadily rising so it was unseasonably hot during the middle part of the day.
Fine views to the mountainous interior.
I liked this little corner with its covered passageways.
And this very pretty classic blue painted Cyclades house tucked away down a side street.
We had an early evening meal in a fine restaurant in the old town. We wanted to be finished in time to see the sunset.
Probably Naxos most well known site is this doorway of the Temple of Apollo.
Its not a ruin as the temple was never finished. The gateway faces directly to the Island of Delos, Apollo's home. More on that in the next post.
A photo of this spot adorns pretty much every article or blog you read about Naxos.
When me and TBF last visited we had the place pretty much to ourselves. However this time, in the Instagram years, we shared the sunset with about 300 other people! My photos seem to have made it look much quieter than it was
Panorama shot across Naxos Town and the rest of the island.
Our new found love of Loukamades had us searching out a little kiosk that made them fresh to order and we sat and ate them up at the Temple watching the crowds trying to take the perfect photo. It was quite amusing to watch.
The evening sunset lighting up the old town perfectly.
Sun goes down over the western Cyclades.
The doorway catching those evening rays.
Sun about to set over Paros.
And this is our closest effort to the photo everyone is after - I think TJF took this. As soon as the sun sets the crowds all disappear rapidly, as we did to catch the bus back home. Another top day.
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