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 | Naxos Downtown car rental - Travel Guide |  |
A long causeway, built to protect the harbor to the north, connects NÁXOS TOWN (or Hóra) with the islet of Palátia - the place where, according to legend, Theseus abandoned Ariadne on his way home from Crete. The famous stone Portára that has greeted visitors for 2500 years is the portal of a temple of Apollo, built on the orders of the tyrant Lygdamis in the sixth century BC, but never completed. Most of the town's life goes on down by the crowded port esplanade or just behind it; back streets and alleys behind the harbour lead up through low arches of the old town, Boúrgos, to the fortified kástro, from where Marco Sanudo and his successors ruled over the Cyclades. Only two of the kástro's original seven towers remain, though the north gate (approached from Apóllonos) survives as a splendid example of a medieval fort entrance. The Venetians' Catholic descendants, now much declined in numbers, still live in the old mansions which encircle the site, many with ancient coats of arms above crumbling doorways. One of these, the Domus Della-Rocca-Barozzi (opening hours vary; ?1.50), is open to the public; the tour even includes a tasting from the family's wine cellar. Other brooding relics survive in the same area: a seventeenth-century Ursuline convent and the Roman Catholic cathedral, restored in questionable taste in the 1950s, though still displaying a thirteenth-century crest inside. Nearby was one of Ottoman Greece's first schools, the French School; opened in 1627 for Catholic and Orthodox students alike, its pupils included, briefly, Nikos Kazantzakis. The school building now houses an excellent archeological museum (Tues-Sun 8.30am-2.30pm; ?3), with finds from Náxos, Koufoníssi, Keros and Dhonoússa, including an important collection of Early Cycladic figurines. Archaic and Classical sculpture and pottery dating from Neolithic through to Roman times are also on display. On the roof terrace a Hellenistic mosaic floor shows a nereid surrounded by deer and peacocks.
As well as archeological treasures, Náxos has some very good sandal-makers - try the Markos store on Papavassilíou. The island is also renowned for its cheese - sharp kefalotíri and milder graviéra - wines and kítron, a sweet citron liqueur. |
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