It’s becoming kind of a ritual, making Greece part of our yearly summer holidays. Within Europe it’s one of those countries, where we easily feel at home. Is it the Greek people, their climate, their food? Or it’s just maybe a bit of everything thrown together, that convinces us as a whole. This year, it would be our third visit to the Cyclades within a two year period. We don’t ever get tired of it.
Naxos.
As usual, we landed in Athens. Our favorite taxi driver Dimitris would pick us up at the airport, and bring us to the same bargain hotel, where we stay at every time we set food in Athens. Dimitris became part of our journey in Greece, as he picks us up, and drops us wherever, and whenever we need his service. Such a gentleman!
We only spent 1 night in Athens, but we tried as much food as we could on the first day. We can’t get enough, the food scene in Athens is a one of a kind.
Our new destination within the Cyclades would be Naxos this year. We heard lots about it, read its name in many reviews and blogs. However we still didn’t know what to expect, as beating Paros would be a though challenge. Funnily this year, the ferry ride was more entertaining, as our daughter Valentina, was socialising with everybody on the boat. It wasn’t as relaxing for us, compared to having a nap for the following three hours. But we got to meet a young couple from Athens, and a few other parents with their kids.
Three hours later we hit Naxos. At first sight it didn’t look as cozy as Paros (Nausa). We still were ready to give it a chance. The temperatures on the island were very summer-ish. We enjoyed the white houses surrounded by hills and the sea. That’s what we were looking for. While walking along the biggest pedestrian road, leading to our hotel, we noticed the countless restaurants and bars, and we couldn’t wait any longer to try them all. This year, compared to 2021, the prices of the hotels had doubled. You could notice the difference.
As we were traveling with a one year old kid, we didn’t plan to visit any sights outside of the city center, as we only stayed for 3 nights. Nearby our hotel, we checked out the Agios Georgios Beach. It wasn’t an eyercatcher, however we just wouldn’t mind, as we were enjoying our time in Greece.
The center of Naxos has its nice parts. You will get some descent places for dinner. There aren’t too many appealing bars. Our two favorite ones were the funky “Swing” and the rather cosy “Kitron” (where all the drinks were mixed with a local liquor that is made with the plant …guess the name… Kitron). Having a drink at Swing , we run into the couple that we met on the boat.
On our last day we discovered the Old Town Market. It looks typically greek, like the shopping alleys in Mykonos and Nausa. In the white maze, we randomly discovered the cute restaurant “Apostolis”, definitely an eye catcher, and so was the food.
As we stayed 3 days in Naxos, there’s plenty of choice from wine bars, cocktail bars, fish restaurants, Greek taverns. At night it gets really touristy, as thousands of people are walking up and down the pedestrian street. Lots of pretty people though. We enjoyed our drinks with a seaview.
As for myself, my favorite part in Naxos would but the bathing place, right next to the harbor, and in front of the Portara monument. It’s a place where many locals jump into the water to cool down, during the hot afternoons. It’s the place where old and young people meet. To me it just felt authentically greek. No bars, no shops, just salted water and a rocky landscape that surrounds it. The cruiser boats just next it, just diminishes its charm, however it really didn’t really bother me during my swimming session.
Naxos passed the test. It just wouldn’t compete against our still favorite place in Greece (Paros), however we noticed that there’s something likeable about Naxos. It’s most definitely touristic, and it doesn’t offer the vibe of our favorite island, however you can spend some lovely days in Naxos, and enjoy everything that we love about Greece: kind people, amazing food, the sun and the sea. And of course visiting neighbouring islands during the day would be another option, if you spend more days in Naxos.
Paros, mon amour.
Visiting one place for a second time, can be daring at some point. Usually if you do get back to a city, it’s because you loved it so much, and just can’t wait to feel that emotion of joy and pleasure again. However if we won’t feel the same joy again on the second trip, it could end up as a disappointment. Normally the second trip needs to convince as much, or even more, to make it a worthy comeback. Paros just wouldn’t disappoint this year.
We changed the hotel, as our previous one (from last year) was fully booked. Kind of disappointed we thought the new one wouldn’t fulfill our expectations, but we were wrong. The charming guesthouse “Rivière Residence” was perfectly located in the very center of Naousa. The breakfast was the best, we had ever experienced in Greece. The whole place was just super cosy and it came with a pool. Everybody was happy.
The nightly dinners were just perfect, we felt happy at the right place. We opted to check out different places, instead of the harbor restaurants. “Kapari” was one of the better places, that we discovered in Greece. Great service, excellent food, and the hanging lanterns gave the whole a magnificent vibe after sunset.
Actually we didn’t do that much within the city. We just relaxed with our daughter in the pool, went for some walks through out the city center.
We booked a rental car for one afternoon, as we wanted to explore Anti-Paros. The nice part of the trip to Anti-Paros is, that you drive straight onto the ferry without geting out of the car, and it will bring you to the other side of the ocean within 5-7 minutes. Hassle-free for 10€. Be aware that you only have a bad internet connection on the island. We were looking for some touristic spots on google maps, however we had a hard time making our internet work. The island just looks like any other deserted landscape on the Cyclades. The city center during the day was quite pretty, but because of the high temperatures and barely no shadows along the street, we rushed through it. I can imagine that Anti-Paros is more enjoyable at night, however you always have to rely on your car. So drinking wine and driving back to Naussa, isn’t the best option. We were told by our taxi driver, that Tom Hanks and Monica Bellucci own a villa on Anti-Paros, with the reason that it’s super quiet, and far away from the crowd, as it is less busy or populated than Paros.
As this was already our 3rd holiday-trip on the Cyclades I just would keep repeating myself about our fascination of the islands with its white houses and the blue rooftops. You either love them, or you don’t. While we were meeting up with a friend in Athens, he told us, that he was less impressed with the dry landscapes in Greece, and that he’d rather visit Korfu because of its green natural surrounding. That would definitely be a point, that I could understand.
But once again, we loved Paros (well Naussa) that much, that we decided to get back for summer ‘23.