A marble doorway as tall as a building stands out against the sky, alone on its islet at the harbour entrance. The Portara has greeted new arrivals this way for twenty-five centuries: a remnant of a temple of Apollo that was never completed, it heralds the largest and most fertile of the Cyclades. Passengers disembark on the Chora quay, a five-minute walk from this monument that has become the emblem of Naxos.

The Portara, first

Starting with the islet of Palatia is a must: a causeway links it to the quay, and the walk takes fifteen minutes. The marble portal, erected in the 6th century BCE under the tyrant Lygdamis, frames the sea, the hills or the town's façades depending on the time of day. Work on the sanctuary stopped for lack of funds, leaving this threshold open onto the void, one of the most striking shortcuts in Greek archaeology.

Chora and its Venetian quarter

Behind the waterfront, the town climbs in white lanes toward the Kastro, the fortified hill where the Venetian Dukes of the Archipelago established their capital in the 13th century. Coats of arms carved above doorways, Catholic mansions and an archaeological museum in the former commercial school where Nikos Kazantzakis studied: the climb offers a concentrate of Aegean history. Market Street, below, lines up jewellers' workshops, shops selling island products and tavernas beneath the vines.

An island that lives off its land

Unlike its arid neighbours, Naxos farms and raises livestock: potatoes renowned throughout the country, graviera made from the milk of mountain flocks, and citrus and olive trees in the valleys. Kitron, a liqueur made from citron leaves, has been distilled in Halki since the 19th century. This abundance can be tasted everywhere, from the town's cheese shops to family tables, and gives the port call a rustic flavour that the Cyclades rarely offer.

Marble villages and temples in the fields

Buses and taxis leave from the quay; a Halki–Apiranthos loop takes half a day and shows the island's inland face, that of olive groves, chapels and Mount Zas, the highest peak in the Cyclades, where mythology has Zeus grow up. Along the way, two unfinished kouroi, stone giants abandoned by their ancient sculptors, lie sleeping near the quarries of Melanes and Apollonas.

Feet in the water

For a lazier day, Agios Georgios Beach begins at the edge of town, within walking distance of the landing. Sandy bottom, shallow water and tavernas with tables in the sand: the quintessential family option. Those who want more space head to Plaka and its dunes, a few kilometres farther south.

When evening comes

Local ritual calls for watching the sun go down through the Portara, from the islet or from a waterfront terrace, with a glass of lemonade or island wine close at hand. The stone then turns from white to amber, and the harbour grows calm.

As you head back out to sea, the great doorway remains visible for a long time, an empty frame set on the horizon. Naxos leaves that particular feeling of a complete island, mountain and beach, Venice and Byzantium, fields and ancient marbles. A day here traces paths you promise yourself to extend someday, backpack on and no watch.