A Journey :: Naxos

After almost four days touring Santorini, we hopped a ferry and headed north to the large island of Naxos. Naxos was completely different and an excellent contrast to Santorini. It had a mountainous interior dotted with small villages and smelled of citrus. There were few, if any, tourists on the island. Just us, a few Naxonian's, and at least one Greek Orthodox church for every man, woman, goat, and piece of marble. I seriously have no clue how they fill them all.

We stayed in the main town by the port, imaginatively named Naxos Town. We were told Naxos had amazing food, however we constantly struck out when trying to find a satisfying meal. Maybe it was the octopus. They were much too fresh for my liking.

However we did continue to delight in Greece's scrumptious fried cheese appetizer, which we ate every night for a week. Even once, when the cheese had a very noticeable squeak, it was still delicious. We also found a local bakery, and in the mornings would pick up fresh bread to get us through till lunch.

The Greeks are nothing if not hospitable. At our hotel, the Pension Sofia, we were offered food every time we entered the door. We were given olives, pickled eggs, and candies, and each time they were offered with such pride you had to eat them. Downing that pickled egg was an immense challenge. Had they presented me with a cheese pizza, it would have been a different story.

And then there's the marble. If you have future plans to remodel your bathroom, you may want to consider a visit here first. There are slabs everywhere. If nothing else, you can grab a small piece on which to place some cheese, or soap, or other delightful goodies. That's what we did.

And lastly, this is how we spent our evenings, playing ping pong on the world's smallest table. We were trying desperately to be quiet, not to wake our fellow borders, but it was impossible. I couldn't stop laughing at the nuttiness of such a small table, plus we'd all lost it by this point. I blame the Vitamin D.