Naxos



Although the modern sailor upon the Hellenic seas need not worry of Scylla and Charybdis, this is not to say that the waters are always calm. In summer especially, Poseidon seems bent upon churning the waves. Of course, he is doing this only so that he can sit back and laugh at the hundreds of stranded backpackers who - as a result of the now canceled ferries - throw themselves in shock and horror at the overwhelmed ticket officers and try to finagle their ways onto anything with a hull. Thick clots of tired and frustrated travelers beat their breasts in the finest tradition of Greek tragedy as they whinge their woes of transportation unrealized. This was the scene that met me when I tried to leave Santorini.

It was with some luck that I managed a boat to my next destination, Mykonos, that day. It would take longer than originally planned, but there were two unexpected bonuses to this redirection. First, I met again a number of fellow backpackers whom I had met earlier in my voyages, and second the ferry made a brief stop on the island of Naxos.



Naxos, though a central island of the Cyclades, was reputed to be quiet and uneventful, so I had given the island a miss on my itinerary. I soon came to appreciate, however, how nice these quiet islands are and Naxos in particular! I disembarked with a couple fellow Americans (one of whom was actually Greek American, and so had greater access to the country through her language abilities) and explored the main town. It was a very charming place with small winding alleys and quaint shops. The three of us bought bread, olives, cheese, and house wine for an impromptu picnic.





This we shared at the Temple to Apollo, the sun god.





I really liked this temple. rather than an enclosure to a god, this temple serves more as a Japanese Torii. It enframes Apollo's chariot as it advances its fiery course at sunset into the sea, and thus serves to honor the god directly. I certainly enjoyed this opportunity to take a quiet break with food and company and worship the sun, and appreciated yet another beautiful Greek sunset. Shortly thereafter, the ferry was ready to leave. I felt more refreshed than I had the entire journey thus far in Greece, and was thankful both to Poseidon and Apollo for making the circumstances turn out as they did, allowing me the opportunity to pay proper respect to both sea and sun.