Around Naxos

Today we rented a car and discovered the hidden beauties of Naxos! We had a great day that began with finding two kouroi near the town Flerio. Next, we checked out Panaghia Drosiani, which is an early Byzantine Church with neat wall paintings. Unfortunately, we were unable to take photos inside of the church.

After we left the church we drove south to visit the Temple of Demeter. This is an Archaic temple that is partially reconstructed as you can see in the photo below. As Christianity spread, the temple was converted into a church.

 We stopped for lunch and a Kitron tasting at the small mountain village of Halki. It was an interesting little village with picturesque buildings and flowers around every turn.

The Kitron was delicious! It is made only on the island of Naxos with the leaves of the Kitron tree. There are three color-coded versions of this liquor: green is the most sweet, clear is medium in sweetness and alcohol, and yellow has the highest alcohol content.

Above is fun shot displaying the new and old forms of power on Naxos. Below, the final kouros of the day. This kouros is located at the northern tip of the island near the city of Apollonas and is thought to be a representation of Dionysis. Had it been completed it would have been the largest monolithic sculpture in classical times.

I can't think of a better way to end the day than with a glass of wine on the beach. Cheers!