9th September - Twisting laneways of Naxos

 After breakfast we set off to check out old Naxos town (Hora). We took a wrong turn and ended up at the back of the Kastro (Venetian castle) where we took an elevator up to Avaton 1739 which is a cafe/bar we had on our list to visit. It was perfect timing for morning cuppa so David had an iced chocolate and I had my first Greek coffee (a double). We had wonderful views over the town and harbour. It also had a very unusual faucet in the bathroom.




Opposite the kitchen for Avaton 1739 was a window into the old Kastro kitchen set up to look like it did 500 years ago.
We wandered around the whole Kastro area which is full of ancient Venetian mansions, now in different states of repair.
Exterior side of Catholic cathedral


Inside an old mansion, now an art gallery

Inside cathedral

Front view of cathedral
It was amazing to pass through the old door into the castle with the chain deteriorated so much it has sunk into the wood. This is part of the castle that is under repair with scaffolding around the only tower still in existence.



We wandered the labyrinth of tiny laneways sometimes even having to duck to get under the archways.

Faucet with cute little duck on top
There are water outlets like this one all over the town to get drinking water from.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at this amazing traditional shop selling all sorts of local goods. We ended up buying some olives and a pumice stone on a string, but would love to have been able to buy more.



I was lucky to have found a few restaurants around the corner from our hotel that had gluten free food. Lunch we enjoyed sharing a savoury and a sweet crepe and for dinner we shared a pizza with a Naxion twist.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7th October - Sarandë, Albania

Image
 We overnighted in Corfu and when we woke and set out for our walk on the promenade deck we found a P&O ship docking next to us and MSC Explora I behind us with a Virgin ship next to it. After breakfast as the ship head off to Sarandë we called Chris, Bernie and Percy to have a chat. We showed Percy the model of the ship which kept him interested until he wanted to make us a coffee (an rock) and hot chocolate (a stick). Once we docked in Sarandë we set off for our excursion that took us to an old ruined castle, a ruined monastery and a stop at a restaurant to have local cheese and snacks with wine or beer and watch some traditional Albanian singing and dancing. Two of the 700,000 bunkers built throughout Albania during the Hoxhaist era (Dictatorship) View from the top of the castle View in other direction from castle Happy tourists on the bus Icons on the screen with murals on the wall behind the screen Church of St Nickolas - Mesopotamia in the grounds of the mostly destroyed ...
Read more

2nd October - Zadar, Croatia

Image
 We woke up in Zadar and went up to the top deck to take a look at the port. We met Veronica and Steven in the Lido for breakfast and then walked off the ship catch a shuttle bus into the city.  Sea organ The shuttle bus dropped us off just near the sea organ which was playing a loud tune as the water was quite choppy. Next we walk towards the forum which is the main square that has some Roman ruins. The huge church on the edge of the forum called Saint Donatus has many fallen columns and marble slabs in  foundations. We made it inside before the lady was there to collect the €3.50 fee. It is in quite a state of disrepair. We wondered around the streets and stopped in at the shop to purchase a Croatian flag. We also stopped at a little cafe bar and bought coffee and hot chocolate. We tried to find the Spinx which was the site of a grave but stumbled upon one of the city gates instead. We split up with Steven here and Veronica David and I decided to walk around the city wa...
Read more