Naxos - 19 - 24/10/15

Kalimera from Naxos,

After a rather pleasant ferry ride, our host Nikos picked us up from the dock and drove us to the very cool Nikos Verikokos in the Old Town of Naxos.

This was actually only about a 10-minute walk from the dock, but with suitcases and cobblestones, it was much easier for us to get picked up.

Nikos drove us around town and gave us a mini-tour because Jen wanted to know where to buy good wine. Most places were shut because it was Sunday - and then he told us how to get to the beach, the old town, the port, the castle, etc...

We checked into our digs for the next four days and we were very impressed. A huge bed, a kitchenette, a great balcony with ocean views and one of the best showers I've ever seen - but more on that later. 

After we unpacked and got sorted, we spent a little while walking around before we hit the wildly popular Yosouvlaki restaurant on the waterfront for lunch. I went for a gyros (of course) and Jen had a beef/mushroom/truffle mayo burger that was epic.

We spent the rest of the quiet Sunday meandering through the cobbled laneways between white concrete buildings that housed bars, restaurants, boutiques, salons, souvenir dens and everything in between. The vibe of the place was very cool, very safe and very chilled.  

We booked a cheese tasting for the next day and ended up having cocktails in a bar called Flamingo Bar on the water. Apparently, there are flamingos in Naxos, so that's something we decided that we should investigate!! Coincidentally, I was wearing my flamingo shirt!! Surely it's a sign!!

We ended up playing guitar in the old town in a bar called Cafe Naxos - which was a bar that was like a big lounge room. We were the only ones there, and the dude let me take his guitar off the wall and jam along to some tunes on the stereo. Something clicked, and I was jamming solos that sounded pretty good. I finally turned 50, and all of a sudden, I can play lead guitar??? WTF. Naxos, more like Roxos!!

Monday dawned bright, and we walked all around the old town and checked out this joint. Naxos has a good feel, and the old town is so cool. The labyrinth alleys are so cool, and we spent a good amount of time getting lost. Tres' Cool.

At 4pm we did a cheese tasting in a shop and they gave us a glass of red wine, some dried fruit, crackers, meats and about 12 types of cheese. I can't remember them all, but they were ok - mainly hard cow and sheep cheeses. It was OK, but nothing too special. Dinner that night was at a place that Nikos suggested called Scirocco - which is a local's favourite. We were lucky to get a table, but we snuck in and read the story about how it was a family restaurant started by two brothers 20 years ago and is still going strong - post-COVID. Jen had an amazing chicken orzo pasta dish, and I had Yaiya's lemon lamb and fried potatoes. Cool point - Naxos is the potato capital of Greece and all of the seed potatoes for the country originate here. The potatoes have so much flavour and are incredible. Anyway, we rolled into bed for a much deserved kip - many steps on the counter today.

We woke up Tuesday morning, and the rain had set in. It rained all day until about 4pm. We had a chill day before we had a swim in the harbour in the most beautiful, clear water. We then checked out the iconic Apollo's Gate, which is the most famous symbol of Naxos. We went there for sunset and then took pics after dark too. The power of this mega-tonne marble gate is incredible, and we loved it -  as did about 200 touros... This joint must be mental in the high-season. I reckon that we've picked the perfect time, because the water is still warm, souvenirs are discounted and there aren't that many people, so there is no wait for restaurants or bars. Perfecto! 

After a cocktail or two, we went to a seafood restaurant called Fi and Pi - which we'd passed numerous times, and the girl had tried to get us in there every time. We finally went and had a fisherman's basket. It had sardines, calamari, mussels, prawns and chips - plus lots of local wine. It wasn't what we thought we were ordering, but it was pretty epic anyway. We rolled home, watched some Diplomat Season 3 on Netflix and crashed out!

On Wednesday, we hired a car from the port and - after an initial stuff up about where we were picking the car up from - we were away. We wanted a swim pretty badly, and the day was one of those clean, bright ones that often appear after a day of rain. We headed about 10 km south to the crystal clear waters of Agios Georgios. There was no one around and we jumped on sun lounges under brollies and had the entire beach to ourselves for about half an hour until a few families arrived. It was pristine in the water, and we soaked up the magic.

We then looked at Google maps and discovered that further down the beach there was a little town so we drove to the cool Macau Beach and the even cooler Kahlua Bar. We found the pink coloured creek that is the flamingo sanctuary, but it must be the wrong season, cause there were none there.

Anyway we spent the majority of the morning - eating, drinking, swimming, and lounging on the sun lounges at the Kahlua bar. So cool, so posh, so European!!

After lunch, we drove the car up the mountain to the cute village of Chalki - pronounced without the C. We walked around the beautiful village before coffee and a snack. I finally tried sour cherry juice - not bad - and Jen had the best ice cream ever - a scoop of pistachio accompanied by a scoop of cinnamon. Incredible!

We got lost a bit looking for an old church before we got back to the car and drove back to the dock to drop it off. Dinner was in the port again, but this time at a place called Capriccio. I went for stuffed sardines and salad, and Jen had mushroom rigatoni. We tried some local vino before we went back to Cafe Naxos, where we sang about half a dozen tunes, and then headed home after a pretty big day!

Thursday was overcast and we had another chill day, but I did meet a bloke called Aristos who was VERY impressed with the shower in our room. He even made a video about this shower, which went viral... YAMAS!

Friday morning, we checked out, thanked Nikos and jumped on the ferry to Santorini.

I know it sounds like a cliché, but each place just keeps on getting better.

The vibe on Naxos - even though it was the end of the season - was very cool and we could defo see ourselves renting a place here for a month or more...I wonder what Crete will be like.

Ciao