Our last couple of days in Naxos were filled with new adventures! We hired a car and went off to see the treasures that lay inland. First stop was to the small village of Halki in the heart of the Tragaea mountains and therefore another winding road that should have taken about 20 minutes from the harbour but, as expected with my navigational talents, took nearly double this! The village was a small but beautiful maze of galleries, craft shops and places to eat.

A further 20 minute walk out of the village through meadows and fields took us to the 11th Century Church of St Georgios Diasorites. It is so tiny I’m not sure how it ever functioned as a place of worship but the Frescos that have been uncovered were spectacular as was the unusual design of the church.

We then headed off to see what had been described as ‘discarded marble statues’. I think I had in mind something like Stonehenge that we would just see from the road but it turned out to be slightly more complicated than that and left me wishing we had brought our hiking boots!

Naxos is famed for its marble, there have been quarries here for thousands of years and it is still collected today. Driving around looking for the ‘discarded marble statues’ we could see the sliced open sides of the mountains. The look has been compared to huge slabs of feta!

At last we saw the small turning signposted to where we needed to be – ‘Kouros’ – which I always thought was an expensive men’s aftershave but apparently it means ‘youth’ in Greek! Kouros is the name given to the particular type of statues that had been discarded as they were both images of young men. Each one measures about 5.5 metres and are from the 6th and 7th centuries BC. The statutes would begin their creation up in the marble quarry with the sculptor making a rough shape of the statue before it was transported down the mountain for the final details to be carved out.

The belief is that these 2 Kouros were dropped on their descent and just left there! I can only imagine the pain, figurative and literal, of both the sculptor and the poor guys tasked with moving the statues!

The first example was just a 20 minute walk along fairly flat terrain mostly in the shade.

The second one was to be found after hiking another 20 minutes up the mountain!

Well that was quite enough tourist adventures for one day so back in the boiling hot car and winded our way back to the harbour and Mossy Joe, ate on board and gazed at the stunning sunset.

The next day was our final day and night in Naxos and we celebrated by going to buy a replacement wet and dry vacuum cleaner along with a shiny new electric kettle! Yay!

That night, after 5 days of saying we would walk up to the Castle, we did in fact walk up to the Castle! There is no actual castle to see as such, rather that castle buildings have been turned into museums or shops and at the very top this stunning church and a spectacular roof top restaurant.

Saying ‘Goodbye’ to Naxos the next morning was difficult but I have a hunch we will be back!

As an aside, you may remember that when we went to Sicily back in April to drop off Mossy Joe that I was very taken with the whole island and in particular fond memories of the day we went out to the Segesta temple and the incredible landscape, wild flowers and plants. I came across a report in the news of what the wildfires had done to that area and I was in disbelief!

This was a photo I took in April…..

And this is last week…..so sad.

Our crossing up to Naxos was an 18 mile, 2.5 hours hop and as we decided not to head straight into the Mykonos Metropolis, instead moored for 2 nights in a secluded bay on the small uninhabited island of Rineia next to Mykonos.

The only photo I have of this magical place seems to be this one of a rising moon as the backdrop to my washing airer!

We had to be on Mykonos ready to pick up our friends in 2 days time and we had not managed to secure a place in the Marina. This turned out to be the best outcome as we ended up in a bay closer to where Gary, Rosario, Kyle and Jake had been staying and as it offered a dinghy dock it was a perfect pick up point!

5 people and luggage was certainly a test for our dinghy but so happy to have our friends safely on board and for the next adventure to begin!

More Mykonos fun and frolics next time!

Take Care

Tracey xx