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Villages in Naxos

Hi -

My husband and I (early 30s) are leaving for a 2 week trip to Greece (Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Naxos) and are spending 3 full days and nights in Naxos staying in Naxos Town. We would like to rent a car for a day and are looking for some suggestions on villages to visit - there are a lot of really wonderful places we have come across online but am looking for any insider tips on what could be a really authentic Greek village/experience. Also - will we have difficulty trying to communicate with people in these villages? Our Greek is limited to yes/no/hello etc....

Thanks!
Lisa - Philadelphia, PA

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1441 posts

There are several delightful mountain villages on Naxos but the teo we find ourselves returning to are Chalki and Aparanthos. Chalki is a lovely little village not too far from Naxos town. There is a hike around the village which takes you through Byzantine buildings, tower houses and several old churches. That hike ends up going up the mountain to another village but we don't bother with that uphill part. The hike will take a couple of hours so when you get back to Chalki find a nice taverna for a drink and a rest as you visit the village proper.
Aparanthos is much higher up in the mountains. It's upper levels are full of Venetian era buildings and the alleys are paved with marble.
The title page of this album was taken in Chalki. If you scroll through the 78th through 100 images are from Chalki and when you go to the second page of the album the first 11 images are also of Chalki
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157656336387898
This album covers all of Naxos and you will find images of Chalki number 48 through 53 and Aparanthos numbers 71 to 81.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157634605629689/
This last album was focused on the mountain villages
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/sets/72157632110674306/