Agia Anna

 

    Agia (meaning Saint) Anna is the village where we stayed. It is right on the beach - 20 steps from Averil's front door, with its golden sand and clear blue water. In July and August, the height of the tourist season, it can be crowded and busy but for us we had plenty of room to enjoy it.  Many of the restaurants line the beach and it is a matter of being spoilt for choice.  Our favourite, Akrogali literally meaning where the sand meets the water, belongs to Averil's extended family, and we returned several times to enjoy their food. Our favourite dish was the Aubergine Special - stuffed in a similar manner to a moussaka.  On warm summer evenings many of the tables and chairs are on the sand and extending out from the restaurant itself.  

Aubergine special.

     

   

As well as dining out, Averil cooked for us.  The main meal is served mid afternoon and often its around 3pm.  Following their meal they still have a short rest or siesta before resuming their day's activities around 6pmish.     Many of the meals Averil cooks are vegetarian and our favourite would have to be stuffed the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants that are grown by Theopolis in his many veggie plots.  The meal also always includes some red wine, bread and a salad. A local yellow cheese was also often served.    

    Agia Anna has a small sheltered harbour that fishing boats, yachts and cruise boats use.  The very first time we visited Naxos, in 2001, we saw the 'rock shark'. It is still there but someone has added some added features.    

  The roads in the area are very narrow but motor bikes and cars seems to get down them all. The buses use the main road and even it is narrow by NZ standards. Add a mix of pedestrians and it is a wonder there aren't a lot of accidents. Evidently they are few and far between.  

  Agia Anna is only busy in the summer months. Even during the week we were staying the tourist numbers had reduced dramatically and so the businesses started closing down.  By the middle of October it becomes a ghost town.  Averil and her family are one of only a few who live out there all year round and they find it very quiet. But come June they will all return for another busy season.  

  If you are ever intending to visit the Greek Islands make sure you put Naxos, and Agia Anna on your list. We think it is the perfect place for a holiday. Averil even has accommodation - four very comfortable apartments.     

Our room at Ave's while we stayed.

   

The view from our balcony.

    PS. I wrote this post on the ferry on our journey home but had no wifi to post it!!  

Chora - Naxos town

 

 

Yesterday we went for a walk and had only intended walking in the area by the beach. But we got carried away and ended up walking into town, along another beach and a distance of 6 km.  It was very pleasant and it was interesting to see all the wind surfers out making the most of the northerly winds that have blown up over the last day or so.    

 

 

Notice the ferry in the background. These come into port on a regular basis every day.

   

 

One of the many narrow streets in the town.

      After an enjoyable lunch in one of the many restaurants on the waterfront/main shopping street, we wandered around some of the narrow streets looking in the boutique shops before catching the bus home. The bus service is  excellent, running between the town and Agia Anna.   

 

 

 

 

Today we said goodbye to Carol, Brian and Sally as they were heading down to Santorini for a few days and they won't be back until after we have left. We went back into town to watch them get on the ferry. We then walked up the hill to the castle, which dates back to the 1200's when the Venetian used the area. One information board suggested some of the fresh water installations dated back to 3 BC.    

   It's hard to get a good photo but some of the next ones show you just how some of it looks. In amongst it there are small shops as well as some residential buildings.     

 

   

   

   

 Click on HISTORY to find out more about this building and the town.    

      It's amazing how narrow the streets are. No room for cars here and although motor bikes do make their way through some of them it's mostly pedestrian. The bougainvilleas are such a picture.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View out over the town from the top.

   

Out and about on Naxos

 

Click here for HISTORY 

 

 

This structure, Portara is the symbol of Naxos, and is visible as you enter the port of Naxos.  It is the doorway that goes nowhere and was part of a temple started over 2500 years ago but never completed. We have visited it before but decided to go back again yesterday, long with the other NZ family staying here with Ave.  We caught the bus in from Agia Anna where we are staying, a trip of about 6km and after a wander along the waterfront we indulged in some late afternoon drinks before walking out across the causeway to the Portara. There has been a lot of development in the form of paths etc since we first visited and also in line with many other archeological sites visitors are no longer allowed to climb all over them. Or even touch them in fact.  This is also a great spot to watch the sun set though last night wasn't as spectacular as it could be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Today we did something quite different!!!! We got on a boat and cruised along the coast of Naxos.  It was a local tourist venture and quite popular. It was the last trip of the season so was well supported.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great day out, along with Carol, Brian, Sally and Sylvia. We couldn't persuade  Ave to come too.

The boat left at 10am and we headed south. We made two stops before lunch where we could get off the boat and swim. The water was beautiful.  While lunch was being prepared we had yet another swim which included going into a cave on the side of the hill. Lunch was a barbecue, cooked over charcoal on the back of the boat. It was all very delicious and there were liquid refreshments to accompany it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch being prepared over the charcoal barbecue.

 

 

 

On the return trip back to Agia Anna the skipper made another two stops for more swimming before returning by 5pm. We had a lovely day and saw a lot of sun. I think we will all sleep well tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view from the boat as we were coming back into Agia Anna, the beach we are staying at.

 

Naxos

We arrived in Naxos on Sunday evening after two good flights and a short stopover in Athens airport. Our suitcase had been checked right through from Split so we were very pleased to see it arrive on Naxos with us! My friend Averil was there to meet us and take us back to her place.  After getting settled and a bit of a catch up we went to her brother in law's restaurant for a meal. The restaurant is right on the beach and at night they even put some of the tables on the sand. We had a beautiful meal - such wonderful flavours. Ave turned up after we had finished eating so we shared another glass of wine with her.

The view from our balcony down to the beach.

      Averil has accommodation units here and we are staying in one of them. Her sister Carol and husband Brian and friend Sally are here from NZ too so there are no other guests while we are here.  The place is beautiful and it is only 20 steps to the beach.    

Yesterday we had breakfast on our balcony, did more 'talking' had a swim and lie on the beach, had a home cooked meal late in the afternoon and generally had a relaxing time. It will be more of the same today!!

Farewell Croatia

We got Liisa, our yacht back safely to the Marina in Kastela late afternoon on Friday. All the charter yachts are to be back by 6pm so the staff can check them for any damage etc.  What a spectacle. Rob reckons the marina holds about 600 yachts and most of them are charter yachts. The place was a hive of industry with staff checking, customers cleaning up and packing up. They even had a frogman under the yachts checking the keels. We were allowed to stay onboard until 9am the next morning. By this time there was an army of cleaners standing around ready to clean them all, inside and out ready for the next charters at 5pm.      

      We headed off for some breakfast, said our goodbyes to the others and then walked to our accommodation in the next village.  This is another Kastela and the castle here is in much better condition than the others along the coast.       

    We had a quiet day relaxing in the sun and I even had a swim.     

      Not wanting to cook we went looking for a restaurant which was quite a mission. We eventually found this family owned one which had some good reviews on the internet but we were a little concerned we were the only ones dining. It was our gain and their loss as it was just lovely. We got some real Croatian food and it was extremely cheap. Stephen had what we would call a casserole called pasticada.  And it was delicious. I had had it once before but this was so much nicer. I had stuffed cabbage rolls with potatoes and they were also lovely. We both had dessert too - baklava for me and a cheesecake for Stephen.  Much of the food along the way was very much westernised to suit the tourists palates which I feel is a shame. Some of their traditional dishes were to be found but not always easily.  Some that we tried were Black Risotto made with cuttlefish. I found it had a similar taste to our NZ paua. We also tried some little fish which are slightly bigger than our whitebait. They are fried and were beautifully presented in an old roof tile!  Quite yummy too.    

    As so on Sunday morning we got ourselves to the airport on the public bus system and checked in for our flights to Greece for the last leg of our journey.

Our last day on the yacht.

 

  It's hard to believe that our two week sailing trip is almost over. Today is our last on the yacht and we will be sorry to have to return to land!!!!  The weather hasn't been quite as kind to us as we had hoped for but that also brings its own rewards as well as challenges.   Too much wind means just the motor as it can be too difficult and takes too long with the sails. But it does mean the washing dries!!

    A couple of nights ago we were in what was supposed to be a very sheltered marina for Hvar.  It was the worst night's sleep for the whole trip as the yacht moved and crashed and banged!! Poor Rob was up through the night checking nothing was being damaged.   

Havr is a beautiful town and once again has a large fortification, this time up on the hill above the town. It has been restored in recent times and is now used as a tourist attraction, as well as for functions such as weddings. It is a good walk but worth it for the views over the town.  

 

A wedding party in the town which was destined for the fortifications for the party.      

Next stop was Milna.  A very sheltered little bay where we were able to get some much needed sleep, after the night before.  From here we sailed to Split where we have spent the night in the marina. We are so glad we did as our first experience into Split at the start of the trip was wet, and very crowded. We were able to walk from the marina into the main part of town where we wandered the streets, soaked up the atmosphere and then enjoyed a meal. The waterfront has been redeveloped with lots of seating and wide promenades. Auckland could learn a lot.

   

 

 

We sailed from Kastela, Solta, Vis, Vela Luka, Rascise, Korcula, Vela Luka, Hvar, Milna, Split and back to Kastela.