The mountain roads of Naxos

Hired a car so that we could make the most of our one day on Naxos. It's a bit weird driving on the wrong side of the road, but even stranger to be changing mirrored gears. Fortunately the pedals remain in the same order! It's also quite... exhilirating driving on the island's little roads, as mokies whizz by and other cars come flying at you when there's only room for one at a time.

First we drove inland, getting lost a few times, to an abandoned ancient quarry. This is now covered with orchards, and smells divine - orange and lemon blossoms. At the quarry, there are a couple of half-made kouros (young male figure) statues. These apparently cracked while they were being carved and were abandoned. It's easy to miss them, we almost walked past the first - sheltered as it was in the corner of a small field under a tree. Very interesting actually - all the more so because there are almost no other tourists. You have to climb about on your own at random (the signs are non-existent). Makes you feel like you're the first person to find it!

Similar theme of exploration at the Cave of Zeus, though we never actually found this. We scaled a path up the mountains, following a posse of friendly mountain goats, until the path disappeared under a rockslide - and it didn't reappear on the other side! Weird. The goats were undeterred but we were forced to admit defeat and turn back. (It makes us feel better that a couple of keen German tourists, who ventured further, also had to come back unsatisfied.)

We also set out on foot through a small town in seach of a tiny Byzantine church, hidden down overgrown narrow paths between farmplots. The way was littered with brightly coloured skinks, which at least made the trip worthwhile because the church was closed. Lots of places are closed!

Another big drive and we caught the view atop the island's highest mountain, before going cross-country to the Temple of Demeter. This was also off-season, so the museum was closed, but we could walk around the site unhindered and alone. Wonderful!

Unfortunately we couldn't get into the also-closed Sanctuary of Dionysos. And after we beat a path through the wildnerness to get to it. Sigh...

All in all a big day, which we topped off with a visit to the Venetian museum at the kastro, and a classical guitar concert by an extremely talented player (who looked like Gary).