By now we've become experienced ferry riders. We know how to avoid the crush of passengers loading their own luggage, and we've become reasonably good at predicting where the intermediate stops will be. We've taken all high speed jet cats so far, and will do so for all our ferry legs except our return to Pireaus from Crete. The high speed ferries don' take vehicles and make their trips in roughly half the time as the regular ferries. We're met at the port in Naxos--Hora, same name as in Tinos--and driven to our apartment. This one is right on the beach at the south end of town. It's got two bedrooms and a bathroom in between, with kitchen facilities in one of them. We're on the second (top) floor with a balcony that would have a nice view of the beach except for a small restaurant in front of us. It doesn't take us long to figure out how to walk into town and where the nearest grocery store is. About the only complaint we had about the apartment was the number of mosquitos. We had to keep our windows closed and the air conditioner on at night or be buzzed all night by the vicious little suckers. The first night we decorated the walls with mosquito splatter!

Naxos has few attractions, the main one being the (unfinished?) Temple of Apollo. People come to Naxos to shop and go to the beaches. The Old Market is replete with narrow little streets, quaint shops, and lots of great seafood tavernas. The waterfront is lined with tour agencies, restaurants and souvenir shops seemingly without end. We found a tour office and purchased all our ferry tickets for the rest of the trip (Naxos to Paros, Paros to Crete, and Crete to Pireaus.) We spent five nights here as well; mostly wandering the little streets, sunning on the beach, and deciding which restaurants to try next. Prices here were very good, both for food and shopping.

As we did in Tinos, we rented a car for a day to explore the island. Well, not really a car--a dune buggy! It looked like fun, so we figured what the heck! Big mistake!! They're probably great on the sand, but on the mountain roads of the island, it left a lot to be disired. The ride is bumpy, and, since it's an open vehicle, you're subject to whatever the vehicles in front of you kick up. The worst was from a truck that went through a puddle. We used the thing for only a couple of hours of our one-day rental period.

Since our trip to Oz last year, Rick tries to meet as many Aussies as he can. He says he "collects" them. One afternoon after lunch, we climbed the path to the Temple of Apollo where we met Wendy and Greg from Sydney, Australia. Fifteen minutes of photographing the Temple was plenty and we agreed that a couple of beers were in order. Greg and Wendy had come to Naxos for the day from Paros (45 minutes by ferry) so we sat with them until it was time for their return trip. Great couple!!

After 5 nights on Naxos, we were ready to move on to Paros. Our ride to the pier was right on time--even if the ferry was a little late.

To get the most out of the photos below, we suggest you check out our Naxos journal. Otherwise, just click on any photo below to enlarge it. (Note that they are not necessarily presented in the order they were taken.)