Page 236 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Greek Islands

15 INSIDER TIP
NÁXOS In summer, Náxos is
Cultural Events

The Náxos Festival,
ΝΆΞΟΣ alive with festivals.
held in historic fortified
Bazeos Tower, cele­
k 2 km (1 mile) S of Náxos town g Náxos town brates contemporary
EXPERIENCE The Cyclades in 3000 BC and became a major centre of the Cycladic the original seven gate-towers
@ n Náxos town; www.naxos.gr
culture through art,
music and plays (www.
The largest of the Cyclades, Náxos was first settled
bazeostower.gr/eng).
civilization, famed for its marble. Náxos fell to the
Venetians in 1207, and numerous fortified towers
(pýrgoi) were built across the island; many are still
remain. Little is left of the
standing today. Náxos’s landscape is rich with grazing
13th-century outer walls,
flocks of sheep and olive groves. The island is also
spoken of in mythology as the place where the hero
protecting 19 impressive
houses, which each bear the
Theseus abandoned Cretan princess Ariadne. but the inner walls still stand,
coats of arms of the Venetian
nobles who lived there. The
1 Catholic nobility, and the nobles' remains are housed
medieval Boúrgos, where
in the Catholic cathedral in
Náxos Town the Orthodox population the kástro, which dates from
lived. The twisting alleys of the 14th century, beneath
g @ Harbourfront
n Harbourfront; www. the Boúrgos market area are marble slabs dating back to
naxos.gr lined with restaurants and 1619. In the kástro, many of
gift shops. The 18th-century the current residents are still
There are four distinct areas Orthodox cathedral, with the descended from these same
that make up Náxos Town, ancient agora revealed in its families. In the square is a
or Hóra: the harbour, Ágios court yard, is dedicated to tower, all that remains of the
Geórgios, kástro and Boúrgos. Ágios Nikódimos, the island’s Sanudo Palace, former seat
The harbour, bustling with patron saint. A festival is held of the dukes of Náxos.
cafés and fishermen at work, in his honour on 14 July. During the occupation by
is dominated by the huge Uphill lies the imposing the Ottomans, Náxos was
marble Portára gateway on medi eval north gate of the famous for its schools. The
the islet of Palátia. North of fortified kástro, built in 1207 French Commercial School,
the port and reached by a by Marco Sanudo. Only two of founded by Jesuits in 1627,
causeway, the gateway was provided education to
constructed in 530 BC and Orthodox and Catholic alike.
was designed as the entrance The most famous pupil was
for the unfinished Temple Níkos Kazantzákis, a
of Apollo. Cretan novelist who
To the south of the harbour, described his time here
Ágios Geórgios is a concrete
mass of hotels, apartments
and restaurants. Above the
harbour, the old town divides The ancient Portára
into the Venetian kástro gateway to the Temple
district, once home to the of Apollo, Náxos town

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