Naxos has a wonderfully diverse landscape that ranges from the severe beauty of marble mountains and deep, Eden-like valleys to perfect and deserted beaches. It is Greece in microcosm, where walkers explore an infinite network of traditional paths and experience classic Greek countryside, coastlines and culture.
Because of the island’s size (about 750 sq km – the size of the Isle of Wight, for UK readers), soil, and plentiful water, it is self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables, meat and dairy produce, and produces its own wine, liqueurs, and olive oil. The seasonal rhythm of farming life evokes a sense of peace and continuity as you walk through tiny villages bordered by market garden terraces and citrus orchards, beside channels of sparkling water.
The island’s eventful past reaches far back to the myths of ancient Greece. Minotaur-slayer Theseus abandoned the Cretan princess Ariadne here. Some say that the wine god Dionysos was born in a cave high above the island’s north-east coast and that the Olympian god Zeus grew to manhood on the slopes of Mount Zas.
You see history around you as you walk, in the shaping of the land and in its art and architecture, or a pre-Classical temple commanding a broad valley of golden fields. Mysterious grave circles are set in a granite moonscape at the foot of a weathered tor – which is topped by the ruins of a fortified palace built by Venetian occupiers.
The walks take you to magical parts of the island that you would never discover on your own, along marble-paved mule-tracks and hidden valley paths, past the crumbling ruins of a vaulted monastery in a luxuriant, wild garden or a remote Byzantine chapel with rare frescoes.
The island remains extraordinarily beautiful, filled with ancient Greek remains and Venetian towers, its whitewashed villages and well-watered terraces clinging to the sides of mountains that soar above deep green valleys. Olive trees and vineyards flourish in the fertile soil that for 5,000 years has attracted settlers.
There can be few Greek islands more suited to walking than Naxos, where verdant valleys, orchards and vineyards temper the rocky Cycladic landscape – and where tour operator Walking Plus has introduced self-guided walks.
