The This morning is every bit as stormy as they predicted. Rainy, windy and cloudy so we take our time with breakfast and getting ready. This morning at breakfast, I learn that Karimara is the greek greeting for good morning.
We leave with our rental car to visit some of the typical villages that were pointed to us, the Kytron distillery and the Zeus summit.
We drive towards Ano Sagkri and a temple in that area. After driving on a dirt road, we find instead the archeological site dating back to 500 BC, Yiroulia Sangri. On the same ground, a christian church was built as well. Great view from up there.

We continue on to Halki for the distillery. We find it in a small alleyway for pedestrians only. All the tools and machinery from 120 years ago are on the display as well the what they call “citron” which is not at all the same as our lemon.  It is a very large sour lemon and we discover that the liquor is made of the leaves and not the fruit! We get to taste the 3 different types, green for the sweetest, yellow for the most bitter and the transparent one in between. The transparent one is my favorite.

From there we continue on through Filoti on our way to Zeus cave and summit. The legend says that after Zeus was born on Mykonos, he was brought here to hide from the gods while growing up. We turn right at the sign and come face to face with a very skinny road going up a cliff and no guardrail. I am so glad I am not the one driving…Chuck is wishing he was not driving! Cars coming from the opposite direction would be really bad!
Finally we arrive at the spot where the road ends and there is a small area to leave the car. We walk to the towards a fountain and a sign that point up a very narrow trail with a gate that is close. We decide to risk it and open the gate and start climbing. I definitely am not wearing the proper shoes! The view is fantastic! Luckily while we are there, the sun is out and it is not raining….

We make our way down just as the rain starts and begin the drive down on the skinny road.
Our plan is now to make it up to Rotondo, the restaurant perched up high with the best panoramic view towards Paros.
Again up a narrow road, we finally arrive there. It is quite spectacular but windy and some rain so we have to eat inside.

The food is also excellent but when we want to pay we are informed that it is cash only but not to worry, we can come back anytime later on. Don’t change your plans, just come back when you can…Wow! We are thankful that we needed to find an ATM as we end up in Apiranthos, the village of marble.  It is so neat to go up the marble stairs and walk on the small roads. Again the view there is wonderful.

Naxos’ reputation as the island of many typical village is well earned. One could spend a few days driving up and down discovering new villages and tavernas and enjoying a great view atop the hills.
We return to the hotel and settle in to watch the storm…strong winds, lots of rain…no sunset tonight! Glad we enjoyed that yesterday.  We review the weather forecast with the receptionist for tomorrow and it appears that they expect some rain but a milder and nicer day with wind of only 6 in strength…what does that mean? Well strong winds but not the end of the world, we should be able to get out on the ferry back to Athens…cross our fingers. We are told that the ferry left tonight and the wind speed is 7 so we should be good.
We are told that the Cyclades are named after the gods of wind and that is a good example. Within the span of one hour, the wind can change direction 3 times. We witnessed the gods of wind in action tonight!