Νάξος: by eBike, by Car, and on foot

Here I am at the end of a five-week trip. I started in Rome, where I had eleven days on my own. From there I went on an OAT tour with fourteen other travelers to Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia. And at the end of that tour, I decided to treat myself to some solitude and relaxation on the Greek island of Naxos largest of the Cyclades.

So here’s a rundown of my three days on Naxos.

Photo

I had to pick a photo to put at the top of this post. I always try to select something representative or iconic. But Naxos, to my immense surprise and delight, is amazingly varied. As I went through the 116 items in my album, I couldn’t really pick one photo that truly encapsulates my experience.

Except that it was very windy the entire time. No, not “very.” It was crazy windy. So I went with the photo of a flag being whipped by the wind. And I saw that same flag on the first day I arrived. It was mostly whole.

I wanted to visit the Temple of Apollo, just a short walk from where I was staying in Naxos Town, but in three days I couldn’t make it there. Well I could have, but I would have gotten drenched, or worse, blown into the sea.

Apollo’s Temple was definitely under consideration for the iconic photo, but I decided to go with the wind-blown flag.

Ariadne

I’d hoped to have a spiritual encounter with Ariadne while I was on Naxos. It would have neatly bookended my Balkan experiences. On Crete a few weeks ago, we visited Knossos, the mythical site of the Labyrinth. As the story goes, Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, helped the Athenian Theseus kill the Minotaur and escape from the Labyrinth. So Theseus agreed to take her back to Athens with him. But he abandoned her on Naxos, where the god Dionysus fell in love with her and married her. But she was heartbroken by her true love, Theseus, so she killed herself.

Claudio Monteverdi wrote an opera about her. The only part that survives is her famous lament. He also wrote a madrigal cycle on the same text. Her tragic lament, which starts with the words “Lasciatemi morire” (let me die) is almost comically melodramatic and harmonically luscious. Watch and listen to this gorgeous performance, and follow along with this translation:

Here’s the thing: I can’t relate. Naxos was amazing. Monterverdi’s Arianna is a fool. She should have enjoyed being in this paradise instead of pining away for someone who obviously didn’t love her.

Naxos Town

I arrived at the very small and very cute Naxos Airport at 10:45 am on Monday. The flight from Athens took just 20 minutes. The entire airport is smaller than the downstairs of my house in Ajijic. Baggage claim was a small conveyor belt that deposited luggage onto a platform, and everyone was pulling bags off the platform onto the floor to make room for more luggage. 

I got a taxi, which was exorbitantly expensive (23 Euros for the fifteen minutes ride to Naxos Town). My apartment was really nice, way too big for just me, but a great bargain ($258 USD for for nights). It was a ten minute walk to the waterfront where all the restaurants are. And on that ten minute walk, I passed all of these:

I heard from two different sources that there are either 500 or 700 of these little chapels on the island. I lean toward 700, and that might be low.

The town is a delight to get lost in. If I didn’t have Google Maps, I’d probably still be winding my way through the little alleyways, up and down stairs, dodging residents on motor scooters who are expert and navigating tight corners. 

And the cats. This time of year, there may be more cats than people! And they are not friendly. They would glare at me as I passed, and if I made the slightest maneuver to reach out and show affection, they would run away.

Since the tourist season is over, a lot of shops and restaurants were closed, but plenty were open, and since there were no crowds, it was easy to find a table for a meal any time of day. Surprisingly, there was not a lot of seafood. Which was okay with me, as I got my fill while on the tour. I had a great moussaka, a nice baked pasta dish, a club sandwich, a gyro, scrambled eggs or omelettes, and I skipped several meals because portions were large.

Naxos Town sort of surrounds a hill, and at the top of the hill, according to Google Maps and two tour guides, is a Venetian castle. I walked up there and didn’t find it. Only it turns out I maybe did find it. I just didn’t recognize it.

Naxos Island by eBike and by Car

I signed up for a five-hour tour of the island by eBike. This was a mistake. I don’t know what made me think I had the stamina (or the butt) to ride a bicycle (even one with an electric motor) for five hours.

It was really fabulous, but I struggled in part because I’d stayed up a good portion of the night before to await election returns. And as the news became grim, I stayed up because I couldn’t get to sleep.

Above where I mentioned scooter riders navigating tight corners expertly? I know whereof I speak. I did not navigate such corners expertly. I also rode off the side of a dirt road and fell. Bruised mostly my ego.

But really, it was fabulous. 

The next day (yesterday) I signed up for a four-hour tour of the island by car. This was so much more my speed. And of course we covered a lot more ground than on the bike.

As I said at the beginning of this post, the island is so varied in terrain. There are lots of pictures in my photo album. I’m going to pick just four to share with you here (two from the bike ride and two from the car tour). I don’t know yet which four. I’ll go through them and pick four that show how diverse the terrain and the character of the island is. But you should really look at all of them.

So I feel woefully insufficient in my selection of photos here. Seriously, look at my photos album. There’s only 116 items (a few are videos). It won’t take too long.

But you could always visit Naxos and see for yourself just how foolish Ariadne was in failing to appreciate the favor Theseus did her by leaving her there.