Discovering True Greece - Athens, Naxos, Milos

Naxos, Naxos, Naxos - WOW! We were blown away by this little island. It is one of the "Lesser Cyclades" but don't let that qualifier fool you. For one, the FOOD. It is to die for. The best food I have probably ever had in my life. I will give some suggestions here, but actually recommend that you find a few of your own spots that look good to you, becuase truly nothing we ate was even only ok.
STAY: We stayed at Hotel Naxos Beach and CANNOT recommend it enough. It was cheap, so cozy, and we literally had our own little isolated cottage with a balcony basically a 60 second walk from the main beach in town, the beach bars, and anything else we needed.

Across the 3 days in Naxos, we pretty evenly split our full relaxing time with a bit of structure or adventure. For this island, our primary goal was beaching and milk exploring, as Milos was going to provide more adventure for us. We went to so many of Naxos' beaches, to include:

Agios Georgios
Plaka Beach (had incredible, incredible food here at Nomad Beach Bar, but it was pricey)
Apollonas Beach (this was part of our bus tour we did)

Essentially, we posted up on all these beaches to swim, relax, eat and drink, and just be unhurried and unworried. You can reach Agios Georgios by foot from Naxos Town or Chora, Plaka easily by bus from Naxos Town, and Apollonos by car, scooter, or tour from Naxos Town. Highly recommend at least one day of being in Naxos posting up on the beach, or even beach hopping!

Our personal favorite was Agios Georgios, even though Plaka is usually considered more beautiful because of the long stretches of uninterrupted beach. We liked the vibe of AG being right in town, had less sunbed rentals taking up sand space, and just is a nice vibe. But, Plaka is a great vibe if you want to get away from the slight bustle of the city .

Other things you MUST do while in Naxos:

• - Explore Chora, and the Old Market in Naxos old Town / main center. This is your typical Cylades cobblestoned walkways, whitewashed walls, and blue tones. Beautiful boutiques, stores, bars, and restaraunts line the tiny streets, and the old market is exactly that - the historic area where the market used to be, now run with modern shops. The nightlife in Naxos is quite lively as well.

• - Eat at the Flamingo. Book a table in advance and tell them you want to be in sight of the Greek music and dancing. They have live Greek traditional music and dancing, and youc an join in if you want. You can even buy plates to smash! The food was also excellent.

• - Visit the Portada - Apollo's Temple on the hill overlooking the sea and main center of Naxos. We went at sunset, and it was beautiful, but if you want to miss the crowds, go at literally ANY other time. The sunset view was worth, but our pictures have hudreds of people in them

• - Have Naxian potatoes - they are literally geographically protected becuase they are so special and taste amazing.

Highlight Bus Tour of Naxos Island - For one day we took a tour to the highlights of Naxos, and while group bus tours are not always my favorite, this one we actually LOVED. I highly recommend it. They take you from Naxos Town to the Temple of Demeter, then to Halki - a cute, historic village with one of the oldest distilleries, to Apeiranthos, a traditional Greek Mountain village, to Apollonas - one of Naxos' smaller, quaint village beach towns. with a stunning coastline.You will visit a traditional old olive press, a generational pottery workshop, and stop in all of these villages for food, drink, swimming, etc. It truly was a trip of highlights!

We happened to be in Naxos during the festival of St John as well, so we rented a scooter and headed to the small town of Galini where they were hosting a traditional (ALL NIGHT) festival in honor of the patron Saint. This meant street food, wine, greek dancing, live music, and hundreds of happy Greeks. We were about the only people speaking English there, but everyone was so kind! It was a true cultural experience.

Overall, Naxos really surprised us. We absolutely loved this little island and had a hard time leaving it at the end of the day! You will not go wrong exploring any of the villages, and if you prefer adventure, Naxos is known for windsurfing, hiking, and other water sports. You cannot have a bad time here!

Milos - the perfect pairing to relaxing Naxos. While Milos is becoming much more touristy (bit of a bummer, but you would see why if you went), it offers a bit more rugged adventure than Naxos. The primary way to get around on Milos? ATVs & Scooters. It is SO fun.

For Milos, we had a bit less time as the ferry travel took up half of our first day, but we made the most of 2.5 days on ground there! It is much less populated and developed than Naxos, though, so be prepared to have differences in food availability, transport, etc.

MUST DOS IN MILOS:

• - rent a scooter or MTV, or rent a car. Be mindful that petrol for scooters and ATVs can be expensive as they dont have big tanks, but they are soooo fun. This is the easiest way to access everywhere on the island

• - Boat tour to Kleftiko. We opted for an afternoon, half day tour. They provide you a full meal, snorkel gear, unlimited drink, and a 5 hour boat excurstion to Kleftiko - amazing rock and cliff formations overlooking crystal clear water. They are only reached by boat and are truly stunning. It is pricey, but you MUST do this!

• - Sarakiniko Beach - a "beach" made of cooled lava. It is bright white and looks like the moon. literally. I have never seen anything like it

• - Tsigrado beach - more of a hidden gem, climbing down a ladder to get to it, with some of the clearest water you will ever see, caves, cliffs, and snorkeling! tiny beach, so be prepared to wait for a spot on the sand a bit if it is busy. we did not have a problem

• - Plaka to see the Ancient Roman Theater overlooking Klima, the GORGEOUS and historic fishing village, with the colored garage doors you see all over socials. The catacombs are here as well, but we forewent them as they were pricey and we did not feel a need to go

• - Mandrakia - another historic fishing village with the colored garages, but the main attraction here is a restaraunt called Medusa, FAMOUS for their sundried octopus. The food there was pricey, and the wait long, but PHENOMENAL. Get your name on the waitlist, go swim and hang for an hour, and come back for your seaside lunch.

Adamantes is small, but this is where we stayed. It does not take long to explore, and honeslty, there is not much there. Plaka is worth exploring and walking up to the old, tiny castle on the hill for a lovely view. Whilst in Milos, try the Freddd Espressos - Greece's traditional coffe. It is to die!! Most of the food we had in Milos was amazing, but Naxos held the cake here.

This may sound like a lot, but Milos is a small island and renting an ATV or car gets you anywehre really quickly. Rent your ATVs in advance and make sure you bring an International Driver's Permit.

Like Naxos, you truly cannot have a bad time with whatever you decide to do on Milos. While it is smaller and less populated, it is more touristy due to everything on this list, so go in expecting crowds depending on the time of year you visit.

Athens - again!

Back to Athens to end our our trip. We had 1 full last day here and used it for the Acropolis and the National Archeological Museum. The Acroplis was incredible, albeit the most touristy thing we did. It will be crowded, and semi expensive, but worth it. The history and culture is astounding. You must go!

The museum was a choice mostly due to extreme heat, and going somewhere with A/C, but actually it was also incredibly interesting to see, and had so much histroy behind every exhibit. Highly recommend if you are into archeology, Greek mythology, or culture.

We sadly did not spend a crazy amount of time in Athens past that, but there is soooooooooo much to do and see there, and so much amazing food and choice. By this point, Greece had firmly planted itself as one of our favorite countries, and we were not happy at all about wanting to leave.