The view from the southern end of Plaka beach on Naxos. This beautiful long strand of light-brown sand and dunes is the perfect place to avoid crowds, since the beach extends for approximately 4 kilometers and offers plenty of space for peace, solitude and privacy. People were few and far between on the beach yesterday (May 21), so they probably felt as though they had the entire shoreline all to themselves.
A view of Naxos Town during sunset on October 12 2013
Return trip: When a friend was asked why she travels to Greece every year, she replied: “Because you can never get enough of a really good thing.”
That’s exactly why we’re making a return trip to Naxos tomorrow — the island that we named our Destination of the Year for 2013 is calling us back to experience more of “a really good thing.”
This will be our sixth visit to Naxos so far, and we’re thrilled to be going back. We can’t wait to see some familiar faces and favourite places, and we’re looking forward to exploring parts of the island we haven’t yet seen (there are plenty, and we probably won’t even get to them all).
Want to see why we love Naxos so much? Click here to check out our Naxos photo collection on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page. The collection includes a whopping 37 albums from our October 2013 holiday, 8 from our visit in May 2013, 6 sets showing the hotels we have stayed at, and several more individual albums.
I hope you enjoy viewing the pics as much as we enjoyed taking them!
Koronos is built on the horseshoe-shaped slopes of a mountainside 30 km east of Naxos Town. The village descends hundreds of feet into the valley, and most homes are accessible only on foot.
Stair masters: I have three very specific and vivid memories of our brief visit to the Naxos mountain village of Koronos last October: a taverna tout, a man with a gun, and stairs. Lots and lots of stairs.
I’ll tell you the stories about the restaurant promoter and the guy with the gun some other time. For now I’ll stick to the stairs to keep with a common theme I’ve been posting about this week — walking around mountain villages on Naxos.
In my May 15 post I published a videoclip from our visit to Filoti, while my May 13 report included film of our walkabout in Apeiranthos. We had to climb a lot of stairs in both villages, but the workouts we got there were nothing compared to the stairclimbing challenge that awaited us in Koronos.
Popular tavernas are located far down the hillside
This village is built in a horseshoe shape on a mountainside, and descends deep into the valley. Koronos has several cafes and restaurants that are popular with tourists — including Taverna Platsa Matina & Stavros (which friends and other travellers have urged us to visit) and Taverna Dalas. The “downside” to both of these places, no pun intended, is their location on lower levels of the village. To reach them, you must walk down dozens of stairs. That’s the easy part. Getting back up to your car or the bus stop after a meal or drink will require a lot more effort as you can probably imagine.
Below are several photos showing just a few of the many sets of stairs we encountered while walking around Koronos. Those are followed by three videos. I shot the first clip while walking along a lane that wasn’t as far down the valley as the two tavernas. I filmed the next video while walking up one “street” that was basically a long, steep staircase. Dan took the third video of me walking up the steps while I was filming my climb.
We’re physically active and do a lot of walking and stair climbing whenever we’re in Greece, but I felt more winded than I expected by the end of that uphill hike. I would not want to walk all those stairs after a big meal and a few glasses of wine!
View of Koronos from the side of the highway where the Naxos bus dropped us off. This sloped road leads only part way into the village, perhaps 30 to 50 meters. Then the fun stair climbing begins!
A tourist strolls down the road leading into Koronos. One series after another of thigh-burning stair climbs awaits him.
This was the first set of steps we walked down. We climbed back up a short time later after we finished exploring the left-hand side of the village.
A streak of sunlight illuminates a set of steps
Yet another flight of steps in Koronos
Several flights of steps were under renovation on the day we visited Koronos. Workers had closed off two lanes while they laid stones in place. Work on this particular staircase wasn’t complete, but it had been reopened to traffic.
Looking down a long, curving set of steps. This was the last staircase we climbed on our way to the Koronos bus stop to catch our ride back to Naxos Town.
These buildings were surrounded by stairs on two sides
I filmed this clip while walking along one of the streets in Koronos
I shot this clip while climbing a long flight of stairs. I counted 102 steps during the minute and 20 seconds it took me to walk up.
Dan filmed me going up the stairs while I was filming my climb. You don’t need to go to a gym to get exercise on Naxos … just visit a mountain village like Koronos and you’re guaranteed a rigorous cardio workout!
A sign with an illustration of seagulls, sunbeds and palm trees points the way to Golden Beach on Kos island, while the one below indicates the access road to another beach on the north coast of the island. We saw numerous markers like these while bike riding from Kos Town to the Tigaki resort area in May 2010. At bottom is a photo of one of the beaches we passed near Tigaki.
I don’t recall seeing palm trees on or near any of the beaches we cycled past on Kos, but this sign suggests that they do exist
One of the beautiful white sand beaches we passed near Tigaki
Apeiranthos is sometimes referred to as “the marble village” because many of its buildings, lanes and public squares have been constructed from marble and stone. Click on the photo to see a full-size image.
Marble marvel: One of our memorable excursions on Naxos last October was a visit to Apeiranthos, described in many travel guides and websites as one of the island’s prettiest mountain villages.
Literally made of stone, Apeiranthos is often called “the marble village” since many of its squares, streets and buildings have been constructed with slabs and sheets of the crystalline rock.
The village is home to four separate museums (Archaeological, Folk Art, Geological and Natural History), the Zevgoli Tower (which dates to the 17th Century), several tavernas and cafés, and some local artcraft and gift shops.
Village is situated 28 km from Naxos Town
We got to Apeiranthos by taking one of the local buses which, at that time of season, operated only a few return trips per day on the 28 km route between Chora (Naxos Town) and the village. Return fare cost €12.40 — a price of €3.10 per person each way. The highlight of the ride was the tremendous scenery we got to enjoy, particularly the mountain and valley views on the twisting section of highway above Filoti village (check out the post below for a videoclip showing some of the fabulous views from the bus). Despite the limited departure and return bus trips, we still had several hours at Apeiranthos — plenty of time to explore the village and vicinity, as well as stop for a drink and snack at Samaradiko Café.
The village was fairly quiet during the several hours we spent visiting the museums and walking around. We saw several small tour groups and perhaps three dozen other tourists (at most) wandering through the village or having coffee or lunch in one of the cafés. Besides the people working in restaurants and shops, we saw just a handful of local residents plus a few cats and dogs. We had most of the village entirely to ourselves which was wonderful, since we don’t like crowded places.
A video walk along the marble-paved streets
Below is a two and a half-minute videoclip that I shot while we were walking through passageways and up some of the marble- and stone-paved steps. I think it will give you a reasonably good impression of what it’s like to actually wander the village’s residential hillside streets.
To see more of this charming mountain village, click here to view over 300 photos in the Apeiranthos album on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page.
If you would like to learn more about Apeiranthos, click here to read a richly detailed article that was written by Konstantinos Toubakaris and published on the travel website This is Naxos. Take note that if you plan to do further research, you will probably encounter several variations in the spelling of the village name. Besides Apeiranthos, I have seen guides, maps and websites use Apiranthos, Aperanthos, Aperathos and Aperathou. They’re all one and the same place.
Here’s a 2.5-minute videoclip I shot while walking around “the marble village” of Apeiranthos on October 9 2013.
Aenaon Villas sits nestled against the side of a rugged cliff on Santorini’s spectacular caldera. Designed in traditional Cycladic architecture, Aenaon’s seven luxury villas boast breathtaking views of nearby Thirasia island (upper left) …
… as well as Imerovigli village and Skaros Rock (upper left), the Nea Kameni volcano island (top center) and of course the mesmerizing blue waters of the Aegean Sea. Click on the image to view a larger-size photo.
Perfect fit: Spectacular scenery and magnificent views are the top two natural attractions that always take my breath away on Santorini. But the island’s outstanding architecture can leave me almost as speechless — particularly some of the traditionally-designed homes and hotels perched precariously on the crests and sides of the precipitous caldera cliffs.
In fact, one of the things I enjoy most about walking the scenic clifftop path from Fira to Oia is admiring the architecture and design of buildings we pass along the way. I am absolutely fascinated by the sight of hotel suites, terraces and infinity swimming pools built into the sides of sheer cliff walls that rise hundreds of feet above the sea. I am also amazed to see villas and boutique hotels under construction on cliffside real estate I would have considered to be unlikely places for new building development.
Captivating views on the Fira to Oia cliff walk
We haven’t done a cliff walk since our last visit to Santorini in 2006, but I know I will blown away by the natural and man-made scenery whenever we return to take the hike again. The views of the caldera, the sea, the Nea Kameni volcano and nearby Thirasia island are timeless, and will eternally be captivating. The four cliffside villages (Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia) will still be impressive, too. And some new (since our last visit) developments along the caldera — like Aenaon Villas near Imerovigli — will be waiting to “wow” me.
A complex of seven luxurious villas, Aenaon was built in 2009 and occupies a superb vantage point along the cliff path between Imerovigli and Oia. Its traditional Cycladic architecture, designed by Giorgos Zacharopoulos, features natural elements including boulders and stone walls that enable the villas to blend perfectly into their surroundings. Though they’re certainly eye-catching and beguiling, the brilliant white buildings don’t detract from the spectacular scenery or appear out of place — they actually complement the rocky, rugged terrain and add drama to the location’s imposing landscape.
Killer views from terraces and the infinity pool
But Aenaon isn’t just beautiful buildings with killer views from the villas, terraces, infinity pool and other points on the property. According to travellers who have reviewed the villas on sites like TripAdvisor.com, Aenaon is a “paradise” and a place “dreams are made of.” As of May 10, Aenaon was the #1 B&B and Inn property on the TripAdvisor chart for Imerovigli (out of 23 listings). It had 297 reviews, 293 of which rated it “excellent” and the other four “very good.”
Below is a series of photos of Aenaon Villas which proprietors Giorgos and Alexandra have kindly permitted me to republish on my blog. Check the Aenaon Villas website for further information about the villas as well as more stunning photos of the property, including the interiors of the suites. The website includes a chart listing rates for the four main travel seasons that Aenaon is open, and has a section where you can check availability and book online. Dozens more beautiful photos of the villas can be seen on the Aenaon Villas Facebook page, or by clicking on this link to the Aenaon Villas Pinterest profile.
An evening view of the villas from the terrace next to the infinity pool. Click the image to view a full-size photo.
A panoramic view from the infinity pool terrace at sunset
Villa view from the far side of the infinity pool
Villa Elidami, one of the seven luxury villas at Aenaon
I love the sharp colour contrasts between the brown volcanic landscape, the cobalt sky, the turquoise pool water and the stark white buildings and grounds
This photo by Vangelis Beltzenitis captures the infinity pool and terrace at sunset. The pool and deck offer jaw-dropping views of Imerovigli village and Skaros Rock (left) as well as the volcanic isles Nea Kameni and Palia Kameni (center).
Swimming pool and terrace view toward Thirasia island
I could admire the scenery from one of those lounge chairs for hours on end
The caldera cliffs loom large to the south of the infinity pool
This photo by Vangelis Beltzenitis shows two of the beautiful pools and a view of the marvellous caldera scenery
Photographer Louisa Nikolaidou captured this side view of Aenaon Villas with part of Oia village visible in the background.
The entrance to a quiet courtyard sitting area
Another view from the swimming pool
A Vangelis Beltzenitis photo capturing the sky, one of the villas, and some of the surrounding landscape
Twilight view from the seaview terrace
Twilight view of one of the villas
The villas and a large stone wall behind the swimming pool
A breathtaking view from the swimming pool at sunset
This photo of a surreal cloud formation passing above the infinity pool was posted on the Aenaon Villas Facebook page on May 3
Giorgos and Alexandra are the proprietors and hosts at Aenaon Villas
Succulent vegetation on the rugged landscape beside the villas
Just one of the many exhilarating views from Aenaon Villas
This is my favourite photo of Aenaon Villas because it highlights the buildings’ traditional Cycladic architecture while clouds provide a dramatic backdrop. The villa complex was designed by Giorgos Zacharopoulos.
