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!

Naxos, Greece

Yesterday afternoon we left Paros and sailed for Naxos, the largest island in the Cyclades. Naxos has been a bit windy for the past few days but we've had plenty of sunshine and have even been able to go to the beach. Here are a few shots from our first day showing Naxos town and the Portara Gate.

Exploring the Cyclades!

Rob's mom, Cindy, came to visit us in Greece! She will be spending two weeks with us that began with two days in Athens. On Monday we hit the Aegean and explored the island of Paros for two days. The next few images are from our time spent in Paroikia, the main port city of Paros.

We took a city bus to the small town of Naoussa and had a great time exploring the wines of Paros!

To reward our dog, Ivana, for being such a good girl while we were away, we decided to adopt a gigantic dog for her that we found in Naoussa. Do you know what kind of dog this is? I REALLY want one!

Although we didn't have seafood in Naoussa, I had the best seafood of my life in Paroikia and it did include octopus. SO GOOD!

Kadıköy

On our final day in Istanbul we headed across the Bosphorus to the Asian shore. We spent the morning in the Kadıköy area exploring it's streets including their Tuesday market. There were an incredible amount of fruits and vegetables to be had. Cheese was sold on at least four trucks lining the edge of the market. For lunch we went to a kebab place called Ciya and had the best meal while in Istanbul. Delicious!

 

Bosphorus Cruise

We didn't have enough time to do the "full" Bosphorus cruise up to the Black Sea, so we opted for an hour and a half tour that went about half way to the Black Sea. It was a great way to check out the cool mansions along the waterfront and because it was Children's Day we saw a lot of cute kids in costume. Here are some of the images:

 

Kale: the cool breakfast stop that Anthony Bourdain visits while in Istanbul.

The Bosphorus Bridge: the first bridge to span two continents!

A view back to Sultanahment.

Here are a few images from the rest of our afternoon. We headed to the fish boats near the Galata Bridge for a sandwich:

Then we went to the Sensus wine bar for a quick drink:

And took a nice stroll along the pedestrian street up to Taksim Square:

Kariye Museum & Theodosian Walls

The Kariye Museum (aka Chora Church) is a actually a church that is located about three miles northwest of the Sultanahmet area. This church was built in the late 11th century and is well known for its frescoes and mosaics. The frescoes below are found in the side chapel or parecclesion and show the resurrection of Christ.

Although the journey to this church was a bit long on the crowded city bus, the mosaics make the journey worthwhile. The mosaic below depicts Mary and Joseph enrolling for taxation before governor Quirinius. 

In addition to Chora Church we made the trip to the suburb to check out the Theodosian walls. These walls were built between 408-450. We viewed the section of walls near the Edirne Gate where Mehmed II entered Constantinople in 1453 after the Byzantine armies had been defeated by the Ottoman forces.

On the journey back into town we passed and actually drove through Valens aqueduct. This aqueduct helped supply water to much of Constantinople including the Basilica Cistern.