Travels through History : The Peloponnese – The Island of Naxos

Naxos is another island in The Cyclades. It feels less off the beaten track than both Folegandros and Amorgos. Naxos also has an airport, though a more accurate description would be a large, cramped shed next to a runway. There are around 30 plastic seats but no duty free. I had great difficulty in getting the bus to stop at the airport turning, making me think I’d got on the wrong bus. Eventually, I persuaded the driver to stop, and I walked along the road to the departure gate.

In historic times, Naxos had the name Dionysia because of the density of its green orchards and vineyards. Lord Byron expressed a desire to stay here and settle. The island is most famous in mythology for being the island where Theseus left his wife of a few days, Ariadne. She was the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae of Crete. No one knows why Theseus left her behind. She’d helped him kill her monstrous half-brother, the Minotaur, in the labyrinth under Minos’s palace. She gave Theseus a ball of twine so he could find his way out of the maze. Maybe Theseus married her out of sheer gratitude, but whatever attracted her to him didn’t last long. Or perhaps he realised that politically, he’d not made a good marriage. King Minos had been an enemy of Athens. So, Theseus marooned Ariadne on Naxos, although the god Dionysus saw her sleeping soon afterwards and married her.    

I’d arrived on the hydrofoil from Amorgos, a journey of around 75 minutes, and disembarked at the ferry port in Hora (almost all islands have a town called Hora). I walked to my hotel near the Kastro. This Venetian citadel dates from the 13th Century AD. This area is absolutely fascinating with many narrow alleys, steps, passageways, small shops selling crafts, gardens, churches, a museum or two, and the community cats as described previously on Amorgos and Folegandros. Behind the Catholic cathedral is the Archaeological Museum, which is down a set of steps and may not be open when its opening hours state it should be. However, be persistent because the exhibits are superb, especially the local Cycladic idols dating from 3200 BC and the Mycenaean pottery from 1200 BC. 

The nearer I went to the port promenade, the more souvenir shops and restaurants I saw. Just past the bus station, visitors can see the gate of the former Temple of Apollo on the island of Palatia, now connected via a causeway to the rest of Naxos. The gate is massive, showing the scale of the original temple which was built in the 6th Century BC.     

The extensive bus network on Naxos has its hub at the bus station in Hora and the weekly timetables are available there. Agencies offer half-day and full-day excursions around the island. Car and scooter rentals are also available. Naxos is worth exploring as there are plenty of surprises in store for the adventurous.