Beaches of south-west Naxos

Agios Georgios, just down the road from our studio apartment

We woke to another blue sky day, with only a little strip of whipped cream clouds on the horizon, so we called it a beach day and set off in our little C1 to see what we could see. Being an island, we felt pretty sure Naxos wouldn’t let us down in the beach department. First beach of the day was our local, Agios Georgios, otherwise known as St George Beach. The sun worshippers were already setting themselves up on the beach lounges, ready for a balmy 17 degrees or so.

It’s good to have a car and to be independent, and it also allows us to take extra bits and pieces with us for those necessary contingencies. Jeans and an extra layer if the weather turns cold, the umbrella in case of rain, thongs if we happen to find the beaches sufficiently inviting for a barefoot walk, and of course the truckload of Epipens we need to carry in case hubby has an inadvertent encounter with a hostile Greek bee. Although if the taste of the Greek island honey is anything to go by, the bees here are very mild-mannered, chilled and contented - their honey is so incredibly smooth.

We set off mid-morning, having targeted Agiassos Beach in Google maps, and using GPS to navigate us there. Our initial route took us through familiar roads towards Galanado, with those same amazing views of the stunning landscape along the way.

Although our aim was the beaches of Naxos, we were still happy to meander along the way. So, seeing a sign for an “ancient Christian basilica” we decided to take the detour, coming to a tiny village of unknown name, but possibly Ano Sagri.

A tour bus came through the narrow streets from the other direction, followed by two more going the same direction as us. We waited for them to pass then decided they were probably heading somewhere interesting, so followed them and before long we came to the Temple of Dimitras, constructed from marble around 530 BC, where the ancients worshipped deities associated with the fertility of the earth. During the early years of Christianity, the temple was converted into a church, and then in the 6th century AD, under the rule of the emperor Justinian, the first church was demolished to make way for a basilica. We’ve seen many sites such as this, where one type of building has replaced another, and another.

In spite of the groups of tourists who poured off the buses, we decided this was worth a stop. A short climb up the hill, and there it was, much smaller than some of the temples we’ve seen in other parts of the country, but still worth the effort, if not so much for the temple itself then definitely for the beautiful landscape around it.

Departing before we got stuck behind the buses, we decided to take the “scenic route” to rejoin the main road. This took us along a bit of a narrow, bumpy, dirt road, through rural areas that were quite lovely - cow, goat and sheep country, lush and green (the sheep skittered away as soon as we got near, and all we got was a photo of blurry sheep butts).

Eventually we came back to the main road and continued on to Agiassos, discovering when we got there that it was just a tiny destination, with very few houses and one taverna, which was not yet open for “the season”.

The beach was pretty though, so we took a few snaps and then headed back the way we’d come, up through the mountains again and back to Galanado, soon after which we took a left and headed through Glinado, to Agios Arsenios, apparently the home of the Naxos potato (and not near any beaches). We didn’t see any potatoes, just several butcher shops within quite a small area, and lots of really narrow streets that made us thankful for the tiny car we were driving.

Onward we went to Agia Anna, another beachside village. By this time the sea breeze had come in and it was becoming more overcast, the water had a certain “choppiness” to it, but still quite pretty.

After a brief walk on the jetty we settled on the Gorgona Greek Family Tavern for lunch. Good decision too, as the spanakopita and oven baked vegetables were delicious.

From Agia Anna we drove south-east a little further, stopping at Plaka Beach. The sun had come out again and although it was a little windy, we decided not to pass up the opportunity for a beach walk. Once we got over the initial chill of the water, it was lovely to walk barefoot in the shallows. Plaka Beach is very pretty, and at this time of year it was pretty much deserted, so we had the beach to ourselves.

Heading back via Agia Anna, we drove on to Agios Prokopios, stopping for coffee overlooking the pretty beach, the sun still bestowing favour upon us. And the benefits of having a teeny weeny car are that you can park pretty much anywhere!

Continuing on, we headed around the little peninsula to the church of St Prokopios, but it has an unfortunate and ugly shade structure on the front, so we gave the photos a miss.

The wildflowers (and not-so-wild flowers) are blooming everywhere on Naxos at the moment. This vivid pink frequenter of coastal areas caught the eye, but it took us a while to remember the name. Pig’s foot (hubby’s guess)? It didn’t sound quite right to me. Some other kind of foot? Eventually we got it. Pigface!!

Heading back around the little peninsula and across the causeway, we stopped to watch a couple of men fishing from the beach. One was casting, then immediately whipping the line back quickly. I guess he was hoping the fish would think “there’s something I could eat” and take the bait. It was not to be, at least not while we were watching. In my humble opinion he definitely should have been taking it more slowly, because the fish would have been thinking “that’s way too fast for me, I’m gonna wait for something slower.” Hubby was thinking the exact same thing.

The causeway gave us a few beach glimpses too.

Almost done with our little car, it was time to fill up the tank. That in itself was an interesting exercise, on a Sunday, at an unmanned, fully automated fuel station where we had to guess the amount of fuel we’d need to get the tank full again. One attempt of 10 euros, another 5, another 5, and one more for luck. Full at last!!

And then we were back where we started, Agios Georgios, in the afternoon sunshine. The morning sun worshippers had all packed up and gone home.

Finally it was time to relinquish our little gem of a car that has gotten us through many typical Greek villages with their super narrow streets, reversing to yield to other cars and especially to buses, around many tight hairpin bends, up steep mountain climbs, and along the odd confusing Greek street or three.

We had a simple dinner in our apartment, then strolled to the Portara to join everyone else taking in the Naxos sunset over the neighbouring islands. It was rather stunning.