Náxos

Náxos marina   

With BV secured in the marina we quickly got in touch with my sister Julie. She had just arrived for her holiday on Náxos with her boyfriend, Mark, and youngest son, Duncan. After a bus trip into town from their hotel they met us on board BV before we all went out to lunch together.

That gave us an opportunity to explore some of the really attractive bits of Náxos town which is a rabbit warren of twisting narrow streets. At times it felt as if we were underground because the houses have been connected across the top of the alleyways.

Hilltop Venetian castle    

After a late and lazy lunch, we walked up to the old Venetian area on top of the hill and wandered around the ‘kastro’ area. In its day, this was the more exclusive part of town and the remaining houses which date from that era still have the coats of arms for the families who lived there displayed on the outside of them.

Back in the lower town, as you would expect, tourism is big business and there were souvenir shops of every kind. Julie, Charlotte and Nicky were all tempted and left clutching new jewellery, bags and clothes [Ed: gifts!].

Eating out became a theme and we shared a couple of really good evening meals out together. The evenings always started with drinks on board BV before we went out to a restaurant so our whole time in Náxos turned out to be very sociable.

One of those meals was particularly special because it was to celebrate Charlotte’s 22 birthday. The restaurant kindly produced a birthday cake for her, distributed sparklers and got the whole restaurant to sing her Happy Birthday.

We also had an excellent meal of traditional Greek food, sitting outside the restaurant in one of the narrow lanes……..

……by night Náxos town comes alive; it’s a fun, buzzing place to walk around.

Larking about in the hotel pool   

But it wasn’t all about eating! On one of the days we visited Julie et al at their hotel and enjoyed the use of the swimming pool. It was a little strange swimming in fresh water having got so used to jumping off the back of BV and swimming in the sea.

And, of course, we walked out over the causeway to visit the ruins of the temple of Apollo. Charlotte was delighted because when she was last here (just before she joined us in Alikí in Paros) the waves had been so large that they were breaking over the top of the causeway and it had been closed to visitors and so she hadn’t seen the temple up close. We were very pleased that we had left and run for shelter off Alikí.

Apparently the temple was never fininshed and all that remains now is the outine of the foundations and the entrance.

Naxos’ iconic landmark   

We had a lovely few days in Naxos and very much enjoyed meeting up with family members we see only too rarely. However, with Charlotte’s holiday coming to an end and the wind (for once) not blowing to strongly, it seemed only right to move on to see a couple more anchorages before she had to leave BV.

Náxos, Greece