Day 2: Mykonos to Naxos

Ed and I met for breakfast at 9 am. After a decent meal and some strong coffee, we were ready to go to Naxos for the next two nights of our trip. Our ferry wasn’t until 12:30 pm, so I had time to review my drone recordings from the previous day and was pretty pleased with the results. Packing my case was a 5-minute job as I’d hardly removed anything since arriving, so I was soon ready to check out. I visited Naxos last year and loved it, but it would be Ed’s first time, so I was keen to see what he would think of the island.

Walking to the port with my suitcase in tow was sweaty work – owing to the hilly terrain and uneven road surfaces – but we still made it in good time. While Ed queued to get our ferry tickets, I took refuge under some shade and tried to cool off – a difficult task as it was approaching midday and a gloriously sunny day!

We sighted the ferry just before its scheduled arrival time and were safely boarded and on our way just a few minutes later. The crossing to Naxos takes around 60 minutes: a perfect opportunity to sit on the top deck, enjoying the sunshine with a cold beer — okay, two cold beers — in hand.

Our next hotel, Xenia, was a short walk down the harbourfront and was a wonderful base for our stay. After a quick shower and changing clothes to rectify the earlier sweat situation, we spoke to the receptionist about hiring a car for our planned Mount Zas walk the following day. He kindly walked us to a rental shop just a few doors down from the hotel, where we secured a nice VW Polo. The owner was good enough to let us pick up the car later the same day with no extra charge so we could get started early the next morning.

We could relax and enjoy the rest of the day with plans for tomorrow sorted. We had a quick lunch at a nearby taverna, followed by a stroll around the Venetian fortress in the town centre – I’d seen most of this on my previous trip, but I was happy to enjoy the sights a second time so that Ed could explore. I then popped back to my room to pick up the drone, and we walked to Apollo’s gate at the harbour’s north end to take some photos and video (you can see the results at the top of the page). It was much less windy today, so I got to fly for quite a bit longer, which was really good fun. I had a great time circling the monument and flying a bit further afield to get some aerial shots of a ferry that had recently arrived at the port.

Feeling a little tired from the late night on Mykonos combined with the hot sun and travelling, we retreated to our hotel rooms for a much-needed afternoon nap.

After a good evening meal at another local taverna, we resisted the temptation to hit the local bars and enjoy the Naxian nightlife, remembering that we had an early start in the morning and didn’t want to wake up with a hangover!