Greece, Part Deux

On our second to last day on Naxos, we hired a convertible and set off to tour the interior of the island. Naxos is famous for its marble and also for an alcoholic drink called citron, which is very sweet and potent.

The kids were excited to ride in a convertible for the first time. We aimed in the general direction of the partially restored Temple of Demeter, and wound up stopping by a taverna for lunch. Outside were two former windmills and a donkey. You can just about see the donk's back in the picture below. Click for large.

It was very hot in the interior, away from the meltemi (famous Greek sea breeze). Our next stop was the Temple of Demeter, which was accessed by a walk up a lizard-infested path. We all loved watching the little guys dart here and there, and even saw several HUGE lizards.

This little fella was small/medium size.

After a short hike, we reached the partially-restored temple. It was neat to walk around the site, even though the museum was closed that day. From there, we carried on to Halki, the former capital, and enjoyed ice cream and cool drinks in a taverna across from the local school. Then we drove further up and further in.

We passed this amazing marble quarry. Remember how I said Naxos is famous for its marble? There was SO much of it around! We kept going, in search of the famous Kouros statues...

Aha, a clue.

A short hike past orange groves led us to this, the first Kouros. B has strong memories of visiting one of these statues with his parents, back when he was around E's age. There are three of these amazing, abandoned statues. They date from the 6th-8th centuries BC. The second one we visited required a bit of a hike, but it was picturesque and enjoyable.

After finding the Kouros, we drove back and then went out for a wonderful taverna supper in Agia Anna, where the kids could wander on and off the beach, which was two steps away. The sunset was beyond gorgeous. We could see the island of Paros from where we were.

The next day, we packed up, drove into Chora, and caught the ferry to Santorini. We arrived late afternoon, took a hotel shuttle from the port, up the steep hill into Fira, and immediately stepped out to explore the city.

Not a bad view, eh?

We only had a few nights in Santorini, since 1) It's expensive and 2) It's not as beach-y as other islands, and slightly less child-friendly since, y'know, huge cliffs and all. So the next day, we were up and at'em, having scheduled a tour of the volcano. The volcano was the big reason we came to Santorini, since E is fascinated with them. So the next morning, we boarded the cable cars...

...and boarded our boat, the Odysseus, which took us to Nea Kameni, the volcano.

From the port, it was a 1km hike up a fairly steep and sometimes slippery path. The kids managed it, all the way to the top. E was FASCINATED by the fact that, if you dug a little bit, you'd encounter very, very hot rock. He put his hand near a hole to test this.

At the top, we listened to our guide (the guy in the blue shirt, who was a superbly nice guy!) give a short talk on the history of the volcano and of Santorini/Thira.

On the way down, we saw a hat-eating crater. This crater, which spewed pumice stones in one of its eruptions, had at least five hats inside it! Not ours, mind you. We kept our hands on ours!

 We hiked back down to the Odysseus, which took us around the island to where the magma bubbles up under the sea, feeding a hot springs. B and E jumped off the boat to swim to the hot springs!

(Out of a slight abundance of caution, we packed waterwings for him.) C and I stayed on the boat, mainly because I was feeling slightly under the weather, and also because it was good to have someone stay with the valuables (camera, wallet, etc). In any case, I did this very same swim eight years ago, and you can find those pictures in the very first posts of this blog. Later, C did have a quick dip into the sea but to everyone's amusement, clawed her way to the top of B's head and back up the ladder. That child does not like the cold, and the hot springs don't begin until you have a little swim through the sea first.

Our next stop was the small island of Thirasia, where we had a taverna lunch.

E had souvlaki. Then the children went scavenging on the beach and found pumice stones to float. This made them very excited. (Our boat is one of the three in the background there.)

We could have ridden donkeys to the top of the island, but opted to stay below, where the kids continued to putter around, making a statue from rock, and ultimately partaking in huge ice creams.

I'm afraid this post may be getting a little long, so I'll stop for now. Next up: the conclusion to our time in Santorini, including a mule/donkey ride, and our time in Crete.