Sightseeing in Naxos Town (Chora)

We woke up this morning planning a family walk into the Kastro, the Venetian castle area that tops the hill at the center of old-town Chora (from looking at guidebooks, it appears that the main town on a number of different Aegean Island is named Chora.  I gather that this is a practice followed when the official name of the town is the same as the island -- it  enables them to distinguish between the name of the town and the name of the island).  We had our usual Greek breakfast—yogurt (Greek-style yogurt, of course, but creamier and without the somewhat sharp bite that Greek yogurt often has in the United States) with granola and fruit.  Then, we were on our way. 

The free map that our apartment host had provided to us was barely adequate to the task, so I picked up a much better map for 3 euros, showing detail including street names in Chora (and apart from our own neighborhood, the streets were signed, to some extent, in some other parts of the old city below with Kastro (the Bourgos) and within the Kastro itself.

We passed by these churches

and then we were into the narrow lanes of the Bourgos, trying to find our way to one of the two gates into the Kastro.

ducking through tunnels connecting buildings over the lanes

Near this tunnel was a sign warning against public urination.

Then there was this sign, warning (in several languages other than Greek) of  a strike against functioning ferry and tourist boats on this very day, July 3 (I don’t know whether the strike was effective)

Even with the map, and the existence of some street-name signs, the streets were so twisty and turny that it was hard to find our way, we had to ask directions several times

Here was the view to the sea below

some of the doorways had decorations chiseled into the door lintels

Our way was aided by some small signs pointing to the “castle” and the “museum”

Finally, we made it to this gate, with a heavy wooden door

The guidebooks spoke of an incision in the marble pilaster of the door, used as a standard measurement for bolts of cloth sold to the nobility living in the Kastro.  I THINK that this detail from the photo above is the incision

An interesting feature of the Kastro, as well as parts of the Bourgos just below it, was the presence of coats of arms over the doorways, denoting the families that once lived within

The Tower of Sanoudo represented the residence of Marco Sanoudo, the Venetian who conquered Naxos, forming the Duchy of the Archipelago under Venetian rule

A shield with his initials was incised into the courtyard outside his tower

 between his tower and the nearby church

Before entering the church itself, an elderly man sitting on a chair down an alley beckoned us to enter a small monastery

The church itself contained the chapel used by Marco Sonoudo after his conquest of the island during the early part of the 13th century; he was leading troops as part of the Fourth Crusade and, and George Washington Plunkett would put it, he seen his opportunities and he took ‘em.

while the outer portion of the church had been added by the Jesuits at a later date

The highlight of our time in the Kastro was a visit to the Naxos Archeological Museum, located in the former School of Commerce
Having seen several Cycladic figurines during our visit to the National Archeological Museum in Athens, and having been much taken by them, I was looking forward to seeing more here in Naxos, and I was not disapppointed.  These are but a few of large collection of Cycladic figurines from the third millennium BC.

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But there was much. much more
These octopus vases are from the Mycenaean period in the Cyclades, in the late 2d millennium BC

Moving to the Greek archaic period, we enjoyed this Geometric vase

shards from Geometric vases

We had learned at the National Archeological Museum in Athens that, in the bas reliefs of Greek funerary steles and lekythoi, the deceased person was usually shown in a seated position, saying goodbye to friends and family who were depicted standing; those themes were reflected in the grave stele from the Archaic period

These vases were from the 7th century BC, as styles developed in Athens began to dominate

These kouroi are from the 6th and 7th centuries AD

Stepping out of the air-conditioned museum into the heat of the museum’s veranda, we saw this mosaic

and these as-yet unlabeled reliefs

as well as this coat of arms above a door opening onto the veranda

There was a rooftop garden just below the veranda, for the 1739 Café; exploring the bourgos the following day, we learned that the easy way to get into the Kastro was to take an elevator into the Café for 50 cents each way
Back inside, here are some examples of lovely glassware from the roman period, from the 1st to 2d centuries AD

and these early Christian grave steles, still compliant with the traditional Greek formats despite the change in the dominant faith

We had lunch at Meze2 along the waterfront.  There was an excellent fish salad made with skate, a specialty of the house, served with potato salad made with Naxian potatoes.  The people of Naxos consistently praised their local potatoes, and understandably; they reminded us of Yukon Gold for tastiness.  Indeed, Naxos has a rich agricultural interior that made the island self-sufficient before local property-owners chose to join the flood of touristic enterprises; in addition to the local potatoes, the major sources of revenue and local pride include lemons, several varieties of cheese, and Kitron liquor.

Our other lunch dishes included a rocket salad (whose dressing Nancy salty for Nancy), sanagaki with one of the local cheeses (graviera).  I had a citrus cocktail made with kitron, lemon juice, and mint leaves.  Our “treat” was yogurt with carrot jam.  Delicious.

After lunch, Nancy and I made inquiries at Zas Travel about touring Naxos by car, and getting to Delos by boat, in the coming days.  Then we met up with the rest of the family for a walk to the Portara, a “gate to nowhere” spitting on the island of Palatia, at the end of a spit of land jutting out into the Aegean (here is a view down from the Kastro

and here from the waterfront)

The gate was originally part of a temple of Apollo, begun by Naxos’ ruler Lydamis, in 530 BC, but left unfinished after Naxos got into a war with Samos. The story is that the slabs used to make the temple were raided lover the years for its stones, to be used in other buildings, but that the slabs making up the portara were too massive to be hauled away for that purpose

On the way, we passed this recently erected statue of Ariadne

According to myth, she was the daughter of King Minos, who showed Theseus how to find his way safely through the maze and kill the minotaur, who ran away with Theseus, and whom Theseus abandoned on Naxos.  The Richard Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos is based on this story.

Here is the view FROM the Portara – on the left is a finger of Naxos land, but on the right is the island of Paros, whose port is only a thirty-minute ferry ride from Naxos port               

For dinner, we looked at various restaurant possibilities – we found Apostolis and the well-concealed Labyrinth (it was hard to locate, and we had to ask our way; later I noticed this teasing sign advertising the restaurant.

But, as usual, we were trying to sit down for dinner by 6 or 6:30 at the latest, to accommodate the need to get the children to bed at a reasonable hour.  These places did not open until 7 and 8, respectively, the time when restaurant attendance generally picks up (kitchens close at aroumd 11 or 11:30).   So we went back to Doukato, https://www.facebook.com/doukatonaxos/ , the first place where we had looked at a menu, and what a meal we had!
The wall separating the dining garden from the courtyard outside the kitchen had a coat of arms beside the arch

One of the waiters explained its contents–  the old family that once owned the house had its roots both in medicine (the cross and the snake) and the military (the sword).
        
I had the Doukato salad (containing tabouleh, walnuts, Naxian cheese, and caramelized onions

and marinated pork on spit, with Naxian potatoes

The children had chicken nuggets in a creamy mushroom sauce with Naxian potatoes (and rice on the side); Sam had dorado served in parchment

Nafisa found the rib steak to be less successful.  We got a bottle of red wine: Epilinios from Nemea.  It was the best wine we had drunk in Greece.  Our after dinner treat was a wonderful lemon cream.

The place was nearly empty when we arrived, and one of the young waitresses entertained the children, keeping them busy throughout the meal, making it much more pleasant for the adults.  And, following firmly in his the footsteps of his father, whose crush on “Elenora” at a restaurant in the mountains above Forte di Marmi we still recall, developed a bit of a crush on Lena

(to the extent that a three-and-a-half year-old be said to have a crush)
The sunset on the waterfront was lovely as we headed home from our first full day on Naxos
The rest of the family headed home for be; Nancy and I stopped by Zas to make arrangements for a family road trip.  As we headed back to our apartment, the sunset was lovely.

This puppet performance caught our eye.

It was too bad Abe was not there to see it.

We were making plans for some substantial touring for the next couple of days, but the following morning  walking around narrow streets and alleys of the  Bourgos, the old-town area below the Kastro. 

This signs actually did mark a barbershop

We had lunch at Popi's, a place along the waterfront that was recommended by one of our guidebooks.  It was the first time the guidebooks led us astray:  their house win was pretty good, but the food was unremarkable.

In the late afternoon, we headed down to the St. George Beach just south of downtown.  It was heavily occupied by local families; there was virtually no surf, though it was nice to get into the water.

We had dinner heading back from the beach at Sergiani; a place with great service but, for me, indifferent food.  Nancy very much liked her fried squid, and  Sam’s grilled sea bream was good.   Nafisa liked her seafood pasta but even I found it too salty, as was my lamb shank braised with rosemary.