Tuesday September 24, 2019
NAXOS, Greece – We always accuse ourselves of pushing the envelope. It’s common for us to go 12, 14 hours on any given day and try and pack as much as we can.
On Tuesday, that was a good example.
In the morning, we rediscovered “history,” hit the beach in the afternoon and took in some culture at night.
We started off by returning the car, and that actually worked out well. No questions from the car rental girl, returned the key on time and took off for The Portara gateway to the unfinished Temple of Apollo. This is an arch overlooking the harbor and remains the iconic image of Naxos. To reach the site, we navigated a small causeway and walked up an incline. The arch seems indestructible and the site revealed a rather small structure.
This was a structure was never finished but remains a classic example of a gateway arch from Greek antiquity.
What we found in exploring venues of Greek antiquity is that pieces lay where they fall. There is no effort to reconstruct at the site and no attempt to discard or haul off to a museum. Because there is no historic marker on the site, one can only guess its construction date. Because we found structures of other archaeological sites on Naxos dating to the 5th and 6th century B.C., one can assume the Portara is representative of the same time period.
We managed to take pictures from many angles, and that included the ruins left to fall to history.
Next stop was the archaeological museum but when we arrived, the museum was dark on Tuesday, Still, we manged on discover The Tower of Sanoudos, a Venetian castle erected in 1207.
On the way to the museum, we came across an older women, dressed like a nun and selling crosses. I gave her 1 euro but she held up four fingers for the cross. Shook my head that I was not interested but keep the money, At first glance, he looked like a nun and as we walked, I turned to Waynette, “this women can’t be a nun and begs for money, There’s no way she’s a member of any church and a fraud right out of central casting in Hollywood.” Here to work the tourist trade, we agreed.
After securing breakfast from a bakery/coffee chain, which we have discovered throughout Greece, we headed to Plaka beach.
We’re waiting for the bus outside of apartment and guess who walks along? Yes, the nun lady and wanted to sell more crosses. I smiled at her, and said, “honey, you’re such as fraud.” She had no idea what I said, smiled and proceeded to pester two girls also waiting for the bus.
At Plaka, Waynette found the conditions reversed from our previous visit. This time, the water seemed turbulent and the wind died. When she said she would like to move, that was fine with me. Instead, she took off down the beach and I unfolded my beach lounge. After an hour, she returned and said the water, about one kilometer away, was calmer and we could have packed our staff and journeyed. I said I was willing to do that, and by the time our discussion unfolded, clouds rolled in and the sun disappeared. We caught the 4 p.m, bus back to town, showered and grabbed a chicken gyro.
Then, the third leg of the trifecta after the Temple of Apollo and the beach.
After the gyro, we headed up an incline to the Catholic Center and the film, “Zorba, the Greek,” the classic 1964 film, which won four Oscars. The film was shown in a small community hall, slated to begin at 8:30 p.m. and the cost was 10 euros each. Around 8:30, the guy collecting the money told us the projectionist was caught in an elevator and the film would begin as soon as he was extricated.
Sure enough, the guy showed up and the film began about 15 minutes late. This was the original in English, with Greek subtitles. The sound was terrible and barely audible. Still, we were happy to see images of Crete, where the film was entirely shot and where we just left, and the final scene of Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates dancing on the beach at Stavros, where we spent two beach days.
After the film, we had to stop at our new, favorite ice cream place on Naxos, the Waffle House. It’s 2 euros for one scoop so, of course, we each had to have two scoops. After about a 15 minute walk, we arrived back at the apartment and knew Wednesday is a travel day. We have a 10:40 a.m. ferry to Mykonos, but too tired to pack. Our landlord is scheduled to pick us up at 9 a .m. and drive us to the dock. So we set the alarm for 7:30 to pack in the morning.
WEATHER – low 80s, cloudy in the afternoon. First measurable rain, slight showers for a brief time, and humid, at night.
PICTURES – Tempe of Apollo, images of Naxos, the Tower of Sanoudos, the begging “nun”
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