Summer Holidays 2011, Part II

We arrived to the island of Naxos without a problem. I have a friend living there permanently and he gave us a lift to the studios we had booked with some tips regarding the island. Generally the island is big, the biggest of the Cyclades. There are lots of things to do including water sports, hiking, visiting archaeological dig sites or simply relaxing on the beach.

'Portara', part of the Apollo's Temple during sunset

The harbor's wave breaker

local shops near the port

The main village where the harbour is has all needed amenities from lovely small restaurants by the sea, shops and a nice sandy beach. However, we do like to explore, so we rented a car to drive around. What we generally did was stay on the beach relaxing till later on the afternoon and then drive around the island.

That's JJ in the back enjoying the water...

a lovely donkey trying to find a shade

The west coast is busy with lots of beach bars and people when the east coast is pretty much isolated. Locals believe that driving for 30 minutes to go to the east coast is too much for them! The centre of the island has picturesque little villages, interesting sites and great views of the sea and we tried to get a glimpse of everything. We stayed on the west coast where we enjoyed drinks and coffees in beach bars and we also tried skinny dipping in an amazing empty bay of the east.

danger...

The view from our balcony

store with local products

I even went diving. I left JJ on the beach to enjoy the sun and the sea and I went to a local diving centre. I hadn’t been scuba diving since last year June, so I selected a fairly easy dive, not too deep, to a reef in front of the beach. I wanted to remember the procedures and how to operate the equipment. They provided the gear and the guide. My diving buddy was Rolf, from Norway, who’s been visiting the island for years. Apparently Naxos is a very popular destination to Norwegians. We got along quite well and we had our fun. It was amazing being underwater for 45 minutes in clear blue waters! I simply loved it. I was thinking of organising a second dive on the second island we would visit but I didn’t like to leave JJ all alone on the beach. I also had a disposable underwater camera with me. When I get these photos, I’ll let you know…

That's the beach where we were left alone

Me, enjoying the sun...

We generally loved Naxos. It is not spoiled by excessive tourism and was perfectly combining sandy lovely beaches, good food, friendly locals and reasonable prices. It would definitely loved to go back.