General information:

Naxos, the largest and most fertile island of the Cyclades is in the centre of the Aegean Archiple. Fields that stretch until endless sandy beaches, rocks that seem to sink in the sea, rough mountains between the fertile valleys and natural sources are distinct features of this island.

Naxos is an island for relaxing and has a mediocre nightlife. The island is famous for its marble and the special lemon liquor and is contrary to many other Cyclade islands quite green. The coast of Naxos is steep in the north but in the west sheltered by many bays. The highest mountain Zas (difficult to reach the top) is more than 1 kilometer high and gives a great view over Naxos and the surrounding Cyclades. Nice sandy beaches are mainly found on the southwest coast of the island at the searesorts Agia Prokopios, Agia Anna and Plaka.

Naxos has an airport, from which daily flights leave for Athens. Naxos town can be reached by boat from Santorini, Heraklion, Ios, Paros, Syros, Patmos, Ikaria, Kos, Amorgos and Donoussa. Naxos is accessible with public transportation, but in order to visit the island it is recommended to rent a car or a scooter.

Nightlife:

The nightlife in Naxos town is mediocre, but not as lively as on Mykonos or Ios for example. Yet, there are plenty of nice bars, and there are some big clubs, such as the Cream club and the Ocean club. The Naxos on the rocks bar, Med bar, Karma cafe pub and Veggera cocktailbar are popular.

Sightseeing:

Naxos-town (Chora) is one of the most beautiful cyclade-towns. From the harbour till the Venetian castle uphill, it is lively with narrow steep shopping streets. The boulevard has many terraces and tourists come and go here. There are several excursions such as an island tour, a daytrip to the islands Mykonos and Delos, Santorini or Koufinissia.

Naxos-town is also the capital of Naxos and was built like an amphitheatre against the slopes of a hill on the northwest side of the island. Important curiosities are the churches (Mitropoli Zodochi Pigis 18th century and the 13th century cathedral), the Venetian castle and the remains at Gkrota from the Mycenean period. The archeological museum harbours beautiful Cyclade marble statues and Roman mosaics. By a dam north of the town you arrive at the Portara (522 B.C.) at the island of Palatia. It is the entrance to a never finished temple of Apollo. Do you want to have a good picture of the sunset? Go to the Portara just before sunset and wait until the sun is in the middle of the gate. In the summertime you can see all the popular movies in the open air cinema Cine Astra, on the south side of the Naxos-town. All movies are English spoken, with Greek subtitles and air at 21.00 and 23.00.

Apollonia: nice coastal town where marble is dug. Especially interesting is the enormous half finished Kouros statue (6th century). Above the village is a staircase leading to the antique marble mine and the Kouros statue. On August 28, people celebrate a John the Baptist festival.

Apirathos: is a traditional village where some people still wear the traditional costumes. There are some beautiful towers (14th century) and mostly traditional art from Naxos. Furthermore there is an archeological and geological museum.

Melanes villages: in the similar valley are the villages Kournochori and Mylo. that are definitely worth a visit. In Kournochori is a Venetian tower Della Rocca and in Mylo two marble statues and the old marble mines of Flerio that are worth seeing.

Moni: a small villge in the Tragaia valley with a very special church. The Panagia Drosiani church has domes that were made in the 6th century.

History:

Around 3000 BC the first settlements were founded on Naxos, which became the dominant centre of the so called Cyclade culture. It was one of the first Greek islands where marble was used. This marble was of the highest quality and was also exported to the south to Minoan Crete, where a whole trade depot has been found on the north coast. There, archeologists found the same kind of pots that were used on Naxos, which could indicate a further colonisation southwards.

Around 2000 BC there were burned earth layers to be found on all islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Also on Naxos, sites have been detroyed. After the volcanic eruption on Santorini, nowadays dated around 1613 and 1615 BC, the north south connection by Crete was destroyed. The fleets and harbours had been completely wiped out after a tsunami of 28 meter high.

At the end of the Mycenean period, around 1000 BC, Naxos was colonised by the Ionians from Attica, who also founded the city of Naxos and fertilised the surrounding plains. Around 735 BC, poor inhabitants of Naxos and their fellow sufferers of Chalkis (from Euboea), founded another colony on Naxos, at the foot of the Etna.

The island of Naxos prospered remarkably in the 6th and 7th century BC, mostly under the tiranny of Lygdamis. In those days, there was a famous artschool on Naxos. Lygdamis, belonging to the aristocracy himself, inspired the people to rise against the aristocracy, who originally possessed all the land and were called the fat ones by Herodotus. Consequently, Lygdamis seized the power, supported by the tirans Pisistratus from Athens and Polycrates from Samos, who he could call his friends. Lygdamis rules Naxos from 550 to 524 BC. Just as arch-rival Paros, with which it was at war frequently, Naxos had a lot of marble. One finds it here on this island everywhere on the surface. It comes as no surrise that here a local school of marble workers and sculptors developed. The Naxians loved to display their wealth and their craftsmanship on busy places everywhere in Greece. There they built impressive monuments and buildings such as the Stoa and the Lion's Terrace but also the Sfinx of Naxos in Delphi.

In 501 BC, Naxos supported the Ionian revolution and was destroyed by a Persian expeditian army in 490 as retalliation. The island would never fully recover from this catastrophe. In the battles of Salamis and Plataeae it fought side by side with the united Greeks. After this it was an obstinate member of the Delian-Attic Sea Union: the fact that this alliance against the Persians ware under the hegemony of Athens was not appreciated by the Naxians. After a long siege they lost their independence and had to watch the Athenian clergymen settling on their island. The Athenian guard of the fleet Chabria defeated the Spartan fleet in the strait between Naxos and Paros. In 376, Naxos entered the second Delian-Attic Sea Union, and in the Diadochic time it was a member of and island union that was successively under Egyptian, Macedonian and Rhodian influence, until finally in 41 BC it was incorporated in the Roman Empire.

In the first years of the Christian calender, the cyclades were more and more depopulated: in the time of Strabo (19 AC), only Naxos, Paros, Tinos and Andros were of any importance. After, the island fluently slided into the Byzantine period, which left many tracks in several large and small churches, spread over the island. In the 9th century, the Cyclades were attacked by the Saracens, who used Crete as their home base.

For Naxos a second period of prosper came in 1207 when the Venetian noble man Marco Sanudo founded the County of the Aegean Sea and made Chora its capital. His offspring (and later the Crispi family) ruled the island until 1566: then the Turks came, who stayed until 1829.