Today we spent a great day exploring Naxos.

First, we ate breakfast at our rental (which is included in the stay). The wonderful property manager, Stefanos, serves the breakfast and does a great job making you feel relaxed and taken care of. He brought out a beautiful bread basket with pastries, fresh fruit, Greek yogurt with honey, muesli, and Quince marmalade, plus scrambled eggs. It was all wonderful and a great start to a long day.

After breakfast, we headed out to explore the island. Our first stop was Demetres Temple. I believe it was built in 560 bc (or around that) as a temple to a God for fertile land.

Next, we stopped at a handmade pottery/ ceramics shop. They had beautiful vases, flower pots, mugs etc. We bought a few things and watched the potter make a vase. Of course, James suggested that we order him a pottery wheel from Amazon when we get back. I’m sure the results will be about the same

After that, we stopped at a town called Chalki. We stopped at a distillery that makes an alcohol called Citron out of the leaves of a fruit plant.

We also stopped in a shop and sampled some Greek candies and honey.

After that, we headed to lunch at Poterou. It was a strange time (around 2-2:30). The place was empty with just an older Greek gentleman in there. He said that he could make us a Greek salad with some Tzatziki. Perfect. It hit the spot. James pretty much just ate a loaf of bread, but whatever. At the end, he brought out a complimentary dessert. It was a candied fruit (like a lemon rind) in a sweet syrup. I don’t know what it was, but we all loved it.

After lunch, we visited another town called Apiranthos. This is referred to as the marble town because all the walkways are made of marble stones.

Our next stop was Kouros. Here, there is an artifact statue. According to James, he was be excited to see this.

On our way back down the mountain, we saw a marble quarry. It’s hard to see in the picture, but I can’t imagine how many counter top slabs were cut out of this mountain.

Lastly, it was time for dinner. We ate at Georgis. It is a charming restaurant where husband and wife are the chef and waitor. It was delicious and we left totally stuffed. They even made James some fresh squeezed lemonade.

Back to the rental where James jumped in the pool for a little while then took a bath.

I think we are going to take it a little slower tomorrow and spend the first part of the day hanging at the beach.