On our last night in Naxos Town we walked out to the Portara to see the sunset. This arch was built as a part of the temple to Apollo and has greeted arrivals from the sea since it was built 2,500 years ago.
After that we drove inland on Naxos where there are huge marble quarries. These were the original sources of the statues on Delos and elsewhere. The temple of Demeter below is said to be the proto type for the Parthenon.
There are heaps of white marble lying on the hillsides. They roughly hewed out the shape of the statues and pillars before shipping them out where they would be fine tuned on arrival. In two quarries you can find kouroi (statues of young men) abandoned when they were dropped or the marble was found to be flawed. The second of these would have been the largest statue in Greece but for the fact that it’s still lying where it was cut. It’s gripping to imagine the men who cut and worked on these statues 2,500 years ago only to have to leave them lying there. In the evening we ate at a taverna which was full of the young men who work in the quarries today.
On to Amorgos, a beautiful island with windmills, spectacular mountains and cliffs.
The village of Chora in the hills has wonderful views across the surrounding islands. Here is my drawing of sunset looking down on the sea from the windmills with the white village in the foreground.
It’s a tough life sitting in the tiny courtyard where we stayed. Below the leafy terrace and life with the glass(es) fully empty!
The most impressive sight on the island is the monastery of Panagias Chozoviotissa which was built in 812 by monks who had to leave their monastery in Palestine. They sailed to Greece and stopped her because the cliffs reminded them of home. We climbed up the 380 steps to get there where the trainee monk explained that they first started to build further down the cliff but there were several landfalls which made building impossible. They found a grotto cave higher up the cliff with an ancient chisel. They took this as a sign from the Virgin that they should build higher up so they did.
There are more steps inside.
Down in the harbour we sat and drew the boats. Alex’s drawing first and then mine.
Onwards to Folegrandos where we have met up with friends for a lovely week together. The sun has warmed up and the wind died down. In Chora there are 80 or so small churches all whitewashed some on small squares full of tamarisk trees, birds and cats. This is Alex’s drawing of one.
Alex has made a new map to show in more detail where we’ve been in the islands. We’ve been to seven so far and stopped on the ferry briefly at both Symi and Santorini.
