The day started with a big breakfast, it was exactly the same breakfast as the day before but we just ate more. We had a plan that if we filled ourselves up with bread rolls, meat and cheese that we could probably skip lunch and save some money. The cats were around again and Sally was feeding them my ham so I had to reload the plate several times.
After breakfast we set off on what became a long walk along the beach, we walked south past the village and down to the sand dunes and white sandy beaches. There were some interesting sculptured rocks and we stopped to explore and to sunbathe for a while. There were rock pools with tiddlers, small crabs and other marine life. This reminded me of seaside holidays when I was a boy when rock pools were the highlight of holiday entertainment. We walked on; past a busy little harbour with an assortment of tiny fishing boats and onto a little church built on the top of a hill, painted brilliant white and with a ragged flag performing acrobatics in the wind. From the top we could see the beach stretching out invitingly before us and as we walked further out of town we came across the naturist beach.
Here is a question I’d really like the answer to? Why don’t super models sunbathe in the nude? I have never seen so much pubic untidiness! Natural sunbathing is really quite nice however and swimming in the sea with the water around the places where the sun doesn’t normally shine is a really nice experience, once in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands I enjoyed a whole week of naturist beach life and it was liberating and good.
When I was a boy there used to be a top shelf magazine called ‘Health and Efficiency’ which showcased people who were committed naturists. As adolescents, it was always a joy to come across a discarded copy of this magazine, it wasn’t the pursuit of naturism that interested us because we were only really interested in seeing pictures of ladies bare breasts, but I remember now that the photographs were usually of people doing ordinary everyday things but without any clothes on. I’m talking about the sort of things that normal people usually wear their clothes to do. Shopping at the supermarket for example and let’s be honest you don’t see that sort of thing everyday at Sainsburys and what about cooking sausages on a BBQ? You’d certainly need your wits about you to do that and avoid serious misfortune and permanent genital damage.
A good website – take a look: dare2bare.co.uk
And another one I have just come across: http://nakedatmonuments.com/
On the way back we choose a bar for a drink and got the drinks order in a bit of a muddle. As usual my instruction was very straight forward; “I’ll have a Mythos please” but the request for two ice teas brought forth a pot of steaming PG tips, just the thing for a red hot day in a beach bar in Greece. Anyway we sorted it all out and finally got what we wanted except they didn’t have any Mythos and I had to have an Amstel, which I don’t like very much, well not as much as Mythos!
After the walk we went back to the beach for a swim and this time I kept my eye on Sally to make sure she didn’t attempt an Olympic long distance swim to Paros or Santorini and later we spent an afternoon around the pool and on the room terrace. I had some more Mythos!
I like sunsets and wanted to see the town from the ancient monument. I estimated the time of the sunset to be about half past seven so later that afternoon we took the bus into Naxos town to see it while the sun went down. By now it was very windy and the sea was full of big white waves, which was a bit of a surprise to us being used as we are to the Aegean being flat and blue and calm. To reach the ancient monument we had to cross a hundred metre long causeway to the islet of Palatia and the waves were literally crashing over the top of it. I started to worry already about tomorrow’s ferry crossing to Ios. We had to run across the causeway to avoid getting wet by the crashing waves that were covering it in salty spray.
It was a very fine sunset. The sun slipped gracefully into the sea and illuminated the town with a satisfyingly warm orange glow. The edifice is said to be the unfinished Temple of Apollo and the famous Portara, the temple’s gate and Naxos’ trademark doubles as a sun worshipping monument and it certainly looked spectacular tonight framed against the burning sky.
To get back again we had to sprint across the causeway for a second time to avoid the waves and having negotiated the passage and stayed dry we went into the town for our evening meal. We sat on the sea front in a taverna near the one with nice tablecloths and we had a very good meal for only €21 for all of us, and that included my squid, which was the special of the day.
Naxos is a very nice place indeed and I am sure that I will come back one day soon. We took the bus back to the hotel and had one last drink on the terrace. Tonight it was Sally’s turn to be tired so I gave her the one-minute challenge, which she achieved effortlessly.
Greece 2009 Ios beaches and naturists
First of all I just want to say that I do not support your attitude to the kind of people who are Naturists. Naturism is liberating and enjoyed by many people of all shapes and sizes. If you took time to get to know some of these so called imperfect people you will be pleasantly suprised at how normal they are, just like me and you. I have been a Naturist for many years and have an apartment in Vera Playa, Spain, a Naturist resort, would you believe. Please feel free to visit my website, have a look round and if you really want to see what Naturists are like, then come on over, You may actually have the best holiday ever and lose your body bigotry along with your inhibitions.
Sorry John, it wasn’t my intention to offend! I have made some amendments to the post, thanks for pointing these things out. Good website. Thanks for the invitation!