My mom and I were sad to leave Santorini, but now that I am in Naxos I couldn’t be happier! I think this is going to be my favorite island… but I probably shouldn’t speak too soon because who knows how I’ll feel about Paros. We wanted to experience a variety of Greek islands so we settled on 2 days in Santorini, 1 in Naxos and 1 in Paros. What was I thinking? This is not enough time!! I guess I never could’ve given up experiencing Italy but I could spend forever here on the islands.

After arriving in the Naxos Town port, we got a ride back to our hotel with the owner. He immediately gave us a Greek welcome with a citron liquor shot accompanied by his wife’s homemade breakfast cake. This is at 9 am, but to quote my mom, “Whatever, we need to get mellow.” Haha. The hotel is just as awesome as the warm welcome we got and the views from our front terrace are beautiful.

We got changed and headed into the old town. This section of Naxos sits upon a little hill. The entire old town is connected by walls and was built around a Venetian castle. Today it is filled with adorable little shops. Thanks to the recommendation of one of the shop owners, we grabbed a seaside lunch at a nice Greek restaurant. We split traditional Greek hummus (pureed fava beans?) and a Greek omelet. OMG this omelet… it was less egg and more grilled potato, onions tomatoes and feta cheese. I have yet to have a single Greek meal I haven’t liked!

And despite my expectations per “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” the servers don’t say, “Oh you’re a vegetarian? That’s okay we have lamb!!” They actually have tons of vegetarian dishes, so rather than order a big main entrée we get lots of smaller dishes. This has actually turned out to be a great way to sample a variety of their foods.

After lunch we walked to one of Naxos’ sand beaches. The beaches are little coves or pockets of water along the coast. Because of this the water remains shallow for a long distance, luckily for us, making it a little less chilly than the waters of Santorini’s caldera. I’m still kind of pink… ok, I’m actually full on sunburnt… so I had to sport a hat haha.

Naxos, like Santorini, has a gorgeous sunset. Right near our hotel is Apollo’s temple, or what’s left of it. We didn’t have enough time to walk out to the gate before the sun set so we watched from the port. We grabbed dinner at a restaurant right next to the water. As we ate our pizza and fried cheese (yeah this was kind of more of an Italian meal but I can only go so long without pizza) the colors from the sunset hung in the sky for at least another hour. I have never seen a sunset last so long. In the morning we are off to the island of Paros, but I wish we had more time in Naxos. I think we should quit our lives and stay here. I know one thing, I’ve fallen in love with Greece. I’ll probably be having my bachelorette, wedding and Honeymoon in Greece! I cannot wait to be back!