Christmas time!!

I wrote on a facebook group for Naxos and asked if someone had time and interest in meeting us. When you are in one place for a longer periode this is a nice thing to do. And we got one answer from a couple from South-Africa/UK with two kids. We met them first on a cafe for a coffee and a couple of days later we invited them for lunch/waffels in our boat.

It was beautiful weather outside

The day after we did a hike together to Mt. Zas/Zeus. Since we had two cars we could park one car at the church on the easy trail and the other on the hard trail close to Zas cave.

This sign met us at the beginning. We have walked here before so we knew what to expect. It is not that hard. But if you have never done a hike before, don`t start with this one!

Our new friends Jo-Anne and Adam, and Astor and me. Mt. Zas in the background at 1004 masl.

From the trail it is an amazing view!

The view from Zas cave. All of us, exept me went inside the cave (check the video). I didn`t bring my normal glasses so everything was dark inside.

A small break outside the cave (most for the kids) . Here we also met the american girl Courtney (with the Scandinavian name Knudsen) who joined us for the rest of the hike. Right after this break, Isabelle (their oldest daughter) felt and hurt her leg and she and Adam went back to the car. We still had two cars since also Courtney was driving 🙂

On the way to the top.

Olivia was brave and walked all the way to the top, but we needed some small breaks on the way. (also for me)

It is not any problem to have a break with this great view!

Finally on the top!

Courtney, Jo-Anne, Olivia, me and Astor.

Astor took some photos with the drone. It is not easy to see us…

On the way down again. We didn`t take that many photos this way since we did this trail only a week earlier.

Didn`t you see our previous post about hiking to Mt. Zas? Read it here:

Hiking to the highest mountain on Naxos, and walking trail nr 7

Finally back to the other car on the other side of the mountain.

Here is the track of this trail:

Here is a video from this hike:

In Norway we celebrate Christmas on 24th in the evening so were ready for a Christmas dinner. Since Courtney was alone on Naxos for holiday we invited her for dinner. We made the Norwegian dish “potetball”, made of potato and flour, served with sausage, bacon and carrots. Normally we use smoked or salt meat but it is so hard to find here. (and Courtney said she liked it!)

Jummy! The closest I can come our real Christmas Eve dish!

The next day we invited Courtney to an evening meal and hot chocolate.

Courtney and me. Really nice to meet you!

The next day Jo-Anne and Adam invited us and Courtney for lunch/dinner, Also the Swiss couple, Maggi and Didi was there. I brought some bacondates. A lot of amazing food!

The next we did only a short hike to a monastery behind the town of Naxos. It was beautiful down by the sea.

There is a small church built into the mountain.

This is on the way up to the monastery.

Someone had been there before us to light the candle.

It is like going inside the mountain.

The view from the church towards Naxos town. Looks very small from here.

The marina is between the cargoship and town, so we can`t see the boat from here.

St. John Chrysostomos’s Monastery

It was not open so we didn`t get inside.

And we continue exploring Naxos, it is so much to see here!