Naxos: Greece's Most Popular Undiscovered Island
Naxos
would love to have the
high-class tourism and the big
bucks that comes with it like
their neighbor Mykonos, but
they have their fields and
their fruit and olive trees
and their fishing and are
content to be the kind of
place that is attractive not
only to those seeking
sunlight, bars and bikinis,
but also those looking for a
little Greek culture to go along
with it. Naxos is the greenest
island in the Cyclades with
impressively high mountains
and fertile valleys.
There are beaches
that are among the most
beautiful in Greece,
a few minutes drive from
villages where they still wear
traditional dress, weave on
old looms and live off the
fruit of the land. Naxos is
an island of beautiful old
churches, monasteries and
Venetian castles and homes. Naxos
has been continuously inhabited since the 4th Milennium BC and excavations
around the island bring to light ancient artifacts and buildings
almost daily. So
if Mykonos-style tourism
makes its way to Naxos and it
becomes the darling of the
Aegean jet-set crowd, hey
that's great, (I suppose). But in the
meantime Naxos is happy with
their reputation as a big
beautiful island, rich in
agriculture, tradition, some
of the finest beaches in the
Cyclades, and an interior
waiting to be
discovered.
