Naxos turns out to be my favorite island out of all of the Cyclades Islands I visited. The vibe there was great and because of the warmth of its people, I will never forgot Naxos. I do have to note that we did get stalked by an older gentlemen in a red pickup truck because of our amazing look (-_^), but that didn't deter me from liking this island and placing it as my top island of my Greek Island Hopping Tour.

Naxos City
The people that makes up Naxos is what I believe make Naxos one of the popular island on the Cyclades. I spent most of my time chatting with the locals, and just having a grand old time. I also had the best food here as well. I took a lot of picture of what I ate over there, and I really want to share my experience about the food in Greece, so if you guys are not bored by my travel post, I'm really would like to share my experience with the food I had in Greece. Let me know by commenting below.

Apollo Temple's Entrance (Portara)
One of the main attractions in Naxos is the Portara. It's a towering door (some refer to as gate) that graces the island because of how massive it is. As soon as you arrive on the island, you can't help but be amazed how big that door is and wonder with amazement on how the heck they built that without the machinery we have today.

The Portara or what I like to refer to as "the door to nowhere" was a 6th century BC marble door to the temple that was previously built by a tyrant named Lygdamis. Many historians believe the main reason he wanted to build the largest temple was for Apollo (since the door is facing Delos Island, the birth place of Apollo), but once he was over thrown, the building of the largest temple was abandoned. It was later converted to a church.

Some of the locals may not knew the full story about the Portara though. While trying to find our hotel, we got lost somehow and end up walking to a police station. There we were greeted by very hot Greek male specie, who happens to be the cop on duty that day. He was very kind enough to call our hotel for a pick up, and while we were waiting, he told about the Portara. Apparently from what he knows of the Portara, an earth quake happen and that was all that was left of the temple -_- lol. Trust and believe when I say that was not the case (*chucking*). Even though the cop was super-hot, I'm have to admit that I was never the one to be distracted by a pretty face, I always do my research, and it turned out that the Portara was dismantled to build a castle. The doorway end up being too large and heavy to dismantled, so they decided to leave it where it is today.






Naxos Town ( Old Town)
I had a great time exploring Naxos town, which contains the old town as well. There I visit the Old World Market (which had a lot of historical structures) and the Venetian Castle. If you walk even further you are greeted by the causeway which leads to the Portara.






Venetian Museum
This Museum is really a house that used to be the home of the Della Rocca and Barozzi families, and it just recently opened to the public. It was built in 1207, during the same period when Marco Sanoudo constructed the Castle.  I highly recommend visiting this museum in the morning when the tour is available. Unless you have the tour, you will feel that this place is not worth the 5 euro you will be spending because it is just a bunch of rooms, with antique clothes and artifacts. If you go as part of the tour (which is included in the price) then it is really worth it. You get to immerse in the feel of how it was in the Venetians life hundreds years ago with well-maintained furniture, daily items and interior designs. Note: I have a picture of a hole in the basement of this old house, I thought it was interesting to share how when it rains, that hole was used to store up as much water for that day. Now imagine drinking that water at the time…you can’t... can you? Most human bodies today can't even handle that type of water without getting sick.






Naxos & Folegandros were my peace and relaxation islands. I have to admit that I had a much better time in Naxos then Folegandros. Both island did offered a nice change and break from the very busy island of Mykonos, Santorini, and the city of Athens.  This concluded my post about Naxos, I look forward to sharing more information about Foregrandos soon. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend.