After traipsing the Greek mainland to visit various historical and archaeological sights, we figured it was time to treat ourselves (errr….Jess) with a bit of the glamorous side of Greece: its islands. In doing so, however, we wanted to avoid the most popular (and expensive) Greek islands (most notably, Santorini and Mykonos) while also positioning ourselves to have a good jumping off point to visit Crete thereafter to spend time with my family. Based on these considerations, we decided to split a week pretty evenly between Naxos and Paros, neighboring Cycladic islands.
We departed for our first stop, Naxos, by catching a ferry from the Piraeus port in Athens. Given that Jess was has lived her entire life on islands of one form or another, she was excited for the familiarity of the ferry ride and didn’t think much of it. That all changed, however, when we saw how massive the ferry was that was schlepping us to Naxos. It easily dwarfed the ferry that Jess took regularly between Seattle and Bainbridge Island while growing up, which provided us some insight about how popular the Greek islands are during tourist season. [Editor’s note: This thing was basically an enormous cruise ship with 8 decks, indoor cabins for VIP passengers, and even a dog kennel. Not what I am used to. Of course, we (and all the other folks with the cheap seats) were left to scramble to find a spot out on the decks. Luckily, the weather was beautiful and it was a lovely ride, despite the chilly breeze.] The ferry ride took several hours, was shockingly cold (the breeze was chilling for such a hot day) and stopped at a couple of islands along the way, but ultimately deposited us on Naxos in the early evening for our first taste of island life.
View off the back of the giant ferry from Athens to Naxos. I can’t resist a good sunset.
The plan for Naxos was to figure out the best combination of beach and town time, so we ended up finding a cute hotel that put us walking distance in between those two items. Further, with a little balcony off of our room, we were able to continue our Greek (and life) tradition of me running out to get breakfast/coffee while Jess sleeps so that she can have a bleary-eyed morning beverage on the balcony. Again, it’s easily my favorite way to start the day. [Editor’s note: Coffee delivered to a bedside balcony? My favorite, too!] Our first full day in Naxos was fairly quiet – we walked down to the crowded beach near our hotel, rented a couple of chairs and whiled away the day. That evening we made our way into town to grab dinner at one of the many cute restaurants along the port, but not before dashing up to the nearby Temple of Apollo to enjoy some beautiful sunset views. As far as first nights on an island go, it was a strong win.
View of Naxos Town from the Temple of Apollo at sunset our first evening
The Temple of Apollo at sunset
A long jetty near Naxos Town
For our second day on the island, we decided to venture further inland (away from the popular town) to find a more remote beach to relax for the day. Fortunately, Naxos is renowned as having arguably the best beaches among all the Greek islands and, just as importantly, it has a decently extensive/reliable bus system to transport folks to them. Therefore, we caught a cheap (but stiflingly hot) bus to a beach roughly 45 minutes away and were able to have a much more pleasant beach day with far fewer tourists around. After returning to the main town (aptly named Naxos Town), we again enjoyed a great dinner at one of the many restaurants along the port, all of which were equipped with outdoor televisions tuned into the World Cup matches that evening, which is the perfect way to experience them. We followed that up with a stroll into the adorable white-washed walls of the town only to discover our grave mistake – we didn’t explore it sooner before leaving the island! Inside we found tangled paths and narrow tunnels, all full of cute shops and restaurants. We tried our best to enjoy them, as this was our last night in Naxos, but were kicking ourselves for not exploring them sooner.
Lounge chairs, palm frond umbrellas, and clear water – not too shabby for a cheap bus ride away!
How cute is this cafe in a random alleyway?
A fruit stand tucked into the cute back alleys of Naxos’ Old Town
In case you had doubts about how fresh the calamari is….
Jess set out for the beach on our last day in Naxos in order to maximize her beach/sun time, while I begged out and instead spent my time at a cafe. Though the Greek islands are extremely cute and an idyllic setting with sandy beaches and beautiful, blue water, we’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just a weirdo who doesn’t enjoy those things. I’m apparently not a beach guy at all. Who would’ve thunk it? I readily acknowledge that this is my shortcoming and not the normal/correct reaction, but such is life. Despite my abnormal feelings towards beaches, I have to unequivocally say that Naxos was an adorable island and well worth our visit. It’s a little more geared towards tourists than we’d maybe normally like, but it had wonderful beaches, an adorable old quarter with white-washed walls and stalls/restaurants, and a vibrant port full of restaurants where it was fun to walk around. Coupled with the ruins of Temple of Apollo which mere footsteps from Naxos Town where you could see the great sunset and feel less guilty about luxuriating for multiple days (“we saw ancient ruins today, so we definitely earned our beach time!”), it was a great place to stay. [Editor’s note: I totally agree! I wasn’t exactly sure what we’d be getting when we decided to forego Mykonos and Santorini in favor of “less touristy” places, but I think Naxos was a really nice alternative! Definitely touristy, but not too expensive and as Rorie mentioned, still had a lot of the “old town” ambiance and quiet back streets that made it really fun to wander around without feeling constantly bombarded by other tourists.]
There are so many of these stunningly beautiful flowers and white walls everywhere it’s just silly.
Late that afternoon we caught a very quick ferry ride to the neighboring island of Paros, which was only about 45 minutes away. Our hotel was adorable (a recurring theme) and though it didn’t have a balcony for our morning coffee, we were satisfied to maintain our morning ritual in its well-appointed courtyard surrounded by pink trees and vine-covered walls. A hard life, huh? For our first main day in Paros, we took a 12 minute walk to the nearby beach, fully expecting it to be a repeat of the experiences we had at the beach closest to Naxos Town (quite crowded with expensive food and chairs). Instead, we were pleased to find it only moderately crowded and the chairs free. Refreshing! While Jess enjoyed it for the entire day, I tapped out midway through the day – I had officially reached my capacity of beach lounging. I’m just not built for it. [Editor’s note: I am! I was definitely not bored after four or so straight days of beach time. The Greek islands have it figured out, too – they have the perfect combination of white sand and cool clear water, plus they understand the art of beach lounge chairs and chair-side food and drink service. I get that this is why they’re so incredibly popular with tourists, but while we’ve been to some beautiful beaches around the world, these were some of the most relaxing and comfortable to me overall, if lounging is what you’re after. I felt like I’d earned it after all our more adventurous travels recently!]
Looking down at our hotel courtyard, a.k.a. our breakfast spot every morning.
Near a church in the old winding alleyways of Paros.
Regarding Naxos and Paros, our research of each left us concerned that Naxos and Paros would be too similar to be worthwhile. We were pleased, however, to discover that they are different in meaningful ways. Though Paros isn’t quite as cute as Naxos (though it is still plenty cute!), it also feels a bit less contrived and more authentic as a place where Greeks vacation and live. This authenticity made me feel a bit more comfortable there and, notably, helped bring the prices for the island down much closer to our backpacker levels, rather than at the inflated tourist levels of Naxos and other spots. Though I enjoyed Paros more than Naxos, I thought both were great places to visit and would eagerly recommend them each to future visitors of the Greek islands. [Editor’s note: And, Paros had twisty old whitewashed alleyways too, so it all worked out as I was able to explore them several times while on the island. All good.]
How can you not love a town that looks like this?
Unfortunately, our first morning on Paros marked the last “normal” day of our backpacking travels. That evening another family emergency arose, which caused us to abort the remainder of our travels and return to America immediately. We managed to carve out one final full day on Paros so that we could salvage some semblance of a normal goodbye for the whole trip, which Jess spent at the beach and shopping while I took care of some travel logistics. As terrible as the circumstances were, we ended our time there as well as possible by having a phenomenal waterfront dinner while watching the sunset. The ending of our remarkable journey isn’t exactly how we drew it up, but at least our final dinner gave it the send-off it deserved.
[Editor’s note. This is the hard part. On the one hand, we’ve had an incredible experience, and missing out on what would have been just the last three or so weeks of it is a relatively small portion of the whole. On the other hand, we weren’t prepared for it to end at all, and I certainly wasn’t ready to come back to the States for good this time. It was definitely a tough last day or so (for both of us, for different reasons), and something hard to put into words. We have lots more adventures to come once back in the States though, so don’t worry – no “settling down” for us just yet! Enjoying the beautiful and comfortable Greek islands was a fantastic, if unintentional, end to our jaunt abroad, and after a long journey home we are now able to look forward to our next adventures.]
This paragraph won’t include a sneak preview of the next leg of our travels. Instead, we’ll merely promise a follow-up post in the coming days where we’ll share some final thoughts about our epic yearlong journey around the world, which was truly a remarkable and transformative experience.
The marina of Naxos Town at sunset
