NAXOS & SMALL CYCLADES | Graf hiking guide

hiking guide

This book describes the loveliest old walking trails. With detailed maps, GPS data and route fotos of outstanding points for better orientation. And lots of interesting facts worth knowing about the Islands of Dionysos.

Already when you sail into the harbour, you can sense the island's tremendous cultural diversity. On the left, you peer up at the enormous portal of a classical temple; on the right, you glide past a small Byzantine chapel and, towering above the huddled Cycladic city, a Venetian kástro from the Middle Ages. The city, dating back 5000 years, is one of the oldest inhabited places in the world.

When you penetrate further in to the island, you are surprised by the diversity of the fertile landscapes. An enormous rugged mountain massif – consisting of granite, gneiss and marble with three peaks rising to an altitude of almost 1000 metres – forms the background for the green heart of the island, the Tragéa plains, covered with olive groves and ancient oaks. Stretching further westwards is extensive farming land, until it meets a never-ending landscape of dunes along the seaside. Connoisseurs of small bathing bays can find wonderful spots along the rocky east coast.

However, it is not just nature which surprises with its enormous abundance. People have also left outstanding buildings during their long habitation of the island. Except in the lively Mediterranean harbour city, they tended – for reasons of security – to live in compact mountain villages which allow us, even today, to trace the tracks of old Greece. In addition to the white-washed cube houses, there are also a great number of castle-like residences from the Venetian nobility of the Middle Ages as well as fortress-like Orthodox and even Catholic monasteries. Art-lovers find not only the remains of classical temple complexes, but also monumental statues worked on by artists and left behind in ancient quarries. The Byzantine chapels from a later period house Early Medieval frescoes. Many finds from the numerous excavations on Náxos can be admired in the local museums.

For many visitors Náxos is the most beautiful island of the Cyclades, not least because it has been spared mass tourism. The pleasantly relaxed hospitality extended here will remain in the memory for a long while. Even the gods of the Greek Pantheon felt extremely comfortable here.