Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Greece 2010 - July 9th - Riding Around Naxos

The 9th was our day to zoom around Naxos.

View from our hotel.  Our room was on the roof of sorts.

We set out hunting for a dune buggy, but they were all rented, so we settled for a full/partial-convertible in the form of a Citroën Pluriel.  (I'm not aware of any North-American equivalents to this type of vehicle - a knob in the roof essential slides the entire roof back into the trunk.)

Riding along the Northwestern coast to Apollonas, some ruins caught our attention.

Tower of Aghia.

Inside the tower.

Staircase to the tower.

Panoramic view from the road.

In Apollonas, there is a famous stone giant, which they surmise was never completed or moved because fissures would have prevented the statue from remaining in one piece.

Huge kouros from 7th century BC.

Small cat.

Naxos is pretty hilly and many villages are built on the slopes:

Village in the hills, which I think might be Koronos.

Before heading for Halki, we made a little detour by Mount Zeus to check out its cavern.

The path to the cavern.  The bald mountain can be seen in the background.

Entrance to the cave.

Inside the cave.

Vegetation grows in here, but only where there is light.

Reaching Halki, a very old city, we visited the Kitron liquor factory.  This was fascinating to the eyes, ears, and taste.

The sampling setup.  The fruit at the front is the Kitron.  The insides are fleshy and white.  The liquor comes in different strengths up to 36%.

Old scale.

Jar for mixing stuff up.

The sights are beautiful in that little town.

Front of a house, with bougainvillier.

Front of a ceramics museum housing works by Katharina Bolesch, unfortunately closed at the time.

Grapes overflowing their boundaries.

Pathways around Halki.

Church outside Halki.

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