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The geography of Greece is interesting. Some time during our stay we learned that 80% of Greece is hilly or mountainous. It’s the same on Naxos. It rises quickly out of the sea with peaks in the middle of the island. The game plan for today was to get out away from the port and explore a little bit. There are some small villages up in the hills with various sites to see. Also, the highest and most significant peak on the island is Mt. Zeus, the site of the Greek God's birth. You can hike up there so we figured to tackle that first, work up an appetite and then go eat in one of the small towns. We had been told by the owner of a local bar that there were two ways to get to the top of the mountain, a long, steep, rugged way and a shorter, flatter, easier way. The latter sounded good and like something we could both tackle, so we drove in search of the head of that trail. We were told it was behind a small church. So we drove past where one of the trails started and continued up the road. We drove a couple of miles and then decided that we were getting too far away and we needed to go back to the trailhead that we had just passed. The confusion started because the original trail was also behind a church, albeit a large, white, domed Greek Orhodox Church. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they both start behind churches, right? We were about to find out. We parked and started walking up the road. The trailhead is quite a ways uphill from the parking area. After about 20 minutes we finally reached it and kept walking. The terrain falls off quickly from the road. The land is used for raising sheep. You can see them amongst the trees and shrubs and hear their bells tinkling.
The cool thing about the trail is that it passes a fresh water spring first. We drank deeply there and then refilled our bottles. It’s a pretty little oasis with a giant olive tree for shade and a stone wall all around to sit and rest. Later, when we were completely finished with our hike, we noticed a few people filling big jugs with the water. Some think it has healing properties. We started climbing. The path was rugged and the walking was hard due to irregular stones and some long steps. Susan was struggling right away. We hiked a little further before she decided that she wasn’t up for it and stopped, encouraging me to continue. It is a daunting climb. Some of the trail, in addition to being rugged, is quite steep and at times required you to climb with both hands and feet. It was slow going.
I fell in with a nice young couple and spent the day ascending and descending with them. She lives in Oklahoma and he in California. They were nice enough to allow the old man to tag along. The next stop on the trail was Zeus’s cave, a natural cave where supposedly the young Zeus was raised. I took one step inside and couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, so turned and headed back up the trail. It took probably two hours to ascend from there. It was challenging and a little bit bleak. The terrain is basically brown grass and barren rock. We finally reached the summit and were treated to a breathtaking 360 degree view of the ocean and dozens of islands all around. We hung out on top for awhile enjoying the cooling breezes and the scenery. There are hikers from all over- Australia, England, France, Germany and Americans to name a few.
Later, Susan told me about a group of three jovial young guys from Norway doing the walk barefoot. Why? I also ran into the French-Canadian couple that we had met on the beach yesterday. Later, when we went into town, we saw a gay couple from our hotel roaming around. Weird how we keep running into the same people.
I impressed myself with the fact that I tackled this rigorous hike and returned unscathed except for some scratches on my shins. Not bad for a soon-to-be septuagenarian with three artificial joints.
Heading back down, we decided to take the shortcut which, from the top, was plain to see. It too was extremely rugged for much of it and took a good hour+ to get all of the way down. Once we got down, we were still a couple of miles by road from our cars. So we trudged the edge of the narrow road all the way backto our cars. I clocked 6.5 miles all total by the time I got back.
By now it was mid afternoon and time to get something to eat. We headed for one of the towns on our list, Chalkio. It’s a tiny, charming little village of white stucco houses. We walked the narrow, tiled streets. We found a cool little cafe and bar and had a great lunch. Susan and I both had huge Greek salads with tons of fresh, beautiful tomatoes, cukes, red onion, olives and capers. We also had a small plate of the local Naxos baked cheese with hot pepper. Amazing. 
When we finished, we went next door to the distillery that makes Kitron, the tasty liquor made only on Naxos. The Kitron fruit is a very big, green thing. It's not considered edible by itself but the juice can be used to make liquor and jam. The distillery has been owned by the same family since 1908. They still use the same ancient distilling containers and the same techniques. Of course we got a sample and picked up a couple of bottles.
By now it was getting towards 4 pm and with sunset at 6:30 which meant we had to start hustling. We aborted other plans and drove to visit the remains of the Temple of Demetre, built in honor of the goddess of agriculture. Of course like everything else in Greece, the island had been overrun a few times by invading armies and the temple was damaged and then eventually turned into a cathedral. Finally it was demolished by the Turks and left in ruin. Archaeologists in the early 1900’s began excavating and cataloging it, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that it was partially reconstructed by a bunch of German scientists. The ruins lie off of the main road and a few miles down some narrow lanes. It’s a pretty, quiet drive. We arrived about 4:30 only to find that they had closed at 3:30! Seems a little arbitrary but what do you do? So we turned around, only partially upset, and headed back to our hotel, content to take a swim, have a refreshing beverage and watch the sun go down on our beach.
Then we showered and walked downtown to eat dinner. Tonight it was Niko’s, a family run business. We were the only ones there which was a little spooky, but being the end of the season and a bit early in the evening, understandable. Susan had pork marinated in lemon with a mountain of the local Naxos french fries and I had Lamb Kleftiko cooked in a crock with potatoes, peppers, onions, lamb, tomatoes and cheese. It was really fine. I’ve finally found my wheelhouse. Meat and veggies in some combination cooked together in a pot with feta cheese. It’s a winner. The waitress gave us a few free glasses of wine to top off the meal. She said that, after six months of non-stop work, they would be closing down for the season next week and would be taking a long awaited vacation. We left and took a nice, peaceful walk back to the hotel.
Had to have a night cap of beautiful baklava to complete the day and then we packed up for our early departure tomorrow and hit the hay.