From Santorini we caught the afternoon ferry back to Naxos, arriving just in time to check in to our hotel and walk back into town for dinner. We stayed here for four nights - our longest stay in the islands. Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades, and large and quiet enough to make a good cycling destination. In our time here we took a full day rugged (52 mile, 5800 feet of climbing) cycling loop around the northern end of the island; a pair of 10 mile day hikes starting from a bus to the interior village Filoti; and a short 30 mile ride down the south coast and back before catching the late afternoon ferry to Paros.
As is obvious by now, we really loved these islands. We found Naxos to be amazing also, and well worth the longer stay we gave it. We could happily have spent a full week here.
Naxos Town. We loved this island - great cycling, great hiking, great food.
Oleanders on Naxos. I learned two things about oleander on this trip - how to identify it, and that it seeks out water. Typically you see them like this, lining streambeds.
