Naxos, Greece

We arrived in Naxos late Friday afternoon. Jack was so happy to have a sandy beach to play on!

We stayed in a hotel at St. George beach. I had read that it was a very family friendly place and indeed it was a great beach. There were several restaurants right at the beach so we could eat lunch or dinner while Jack played in the sand

Sunset our first night in Naxos

The main center of Naxos town was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We really liked this town as it didn't feel "touristy." It seemed that we were mingling with mostly Greeks and their families. 

There were several little rides set up along the boardwalk for the kids

Looking for a place to eat dinner

The two main beers in Greece were Alfa and Mythos.
Luke preferred the Mythos. 

At the edge of town you can walk along a causeway to the Portara, one of the many ancient sights on this island. 

Walking down the causeway with Naxos city in the background

The Portara was built 2,500 years ago and at that time it was built on a hill at the edge of the island. Since then, the Mediterranean has risen a significant amount and now the little hill is actually an island connected to the main city by this causeway

Naxos city in the background

The Portara is the doorway to what remains of an unfinished temple either dedicated to Apollo or Dionysus (protector of the island)

Mythical Naxos was supposedly the island where young Zeus was raised, thus the largest mountain on the island is named for him. Naxos is also one of the largest of the Greek islands so we rented a car to drive to see some of the other famous sights. We had intended to see many of the sights, but the signs were so confusing and the roads were very undeveloped so it turned out we only got to visit one, the Temple of Demeter which dates from the 6th century BC. 

Walking back to the car

Our rental car

After visiting the temple, we drove to a secluded beach that our car rental agent recommended.

The sand dunes and the cyprus trees lead right up to the water

It was indeed secluded, but it was also really windy so we didn't stay long

Jack thinks its funny to beg Luke to carry him and then rough
house with daddy while Luke is trying to carry him. 

We spent the rest of our afternoon driving around looking for "Aquaparc" (a water park we had seen advertised all over town). Jack was so excited to go on some water slides so we spent hours driving around desperately trying to find it. Sadly we couldn't find it and had to come home with one very upset little boy. 

Back in town we walked around a bit and explored the back streets to see what we could find

Just about every night we ate dinner at this Pizzaria which served some of the best Italian food we have ever eaten

By far the best pizza ever!

We also found a place that makes our favorite Greek dessert, loukoumades.

They are small fried donuts covered in a honey cinnamon sauce

Another favorite stop of ours was the "Waffle house." Here they made fresh waffle cones hot off the press. They also made homeade ice cream every day

Luke and I would share a big waffle topped with two scoops of ice cream and chocolate syrup

The rest of our time on Naxos was spent at our hotel swimming pool or at the beach. Jack seemed to prefer the swimming pool because he loved being able to swim freely with his floaty arms on and the pool was a bit warmer than the ocean 

But since we were in Greece, we also wanted to get in some beach time

Short walk to the beach

Sandy feet

This was the perfect beach for kids because the water was very shallow

St. Georges beach

Jack spotted the slide boats across the beach and said "there's Aquaparc." He was so excited to go on a slide so we rented the boat for 30 minutes and took him out

The water was still pretty chilly so Jack was ready to come back after our 30 minutes was up

Our time on Naxos was great! I only wish we had skipped the cruise and stayed here for the entire time. I can't wait to come back again.