Goodbye Nissaki Beach

Our last morning in Naxos was bittersweet. While we looked forward to new adventures, we loved our time in Naxos, had made so many good memories, and were so sad to leave. Leaving also meant we had gone past the midway point of our honeymoon and were that much closer to the end of our vacation. We tried not to think about it and attempted to extend the morning as much as possible before our ferry departure, even wading out into the shallow water at the beach one last time.

Before we left, we had one last breakfast at the hotel, which would also be our last meal in Naxos. We indulged in pasta salad, feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggs, and Greek pies. Not only did they have spinach pie this time, but also a hot dog pie. The breakfast spread at Nissaki Beach continued to be incredible day after day, and we were so happy we had chosen to stay there.

We also got our usual fresh squeezed orange juice, yogurt, and fruit. We certainly ate better breakfasts at the hotel than we ever do at home.

After breakfast and beach time, we bid farewell to the Nissaki Beach Hotel, and walked down the waterfront to the pier where we would catch our ferry to Santorini. (No need for a taxi this time since we knew where we were going and how close it was to the hotel.) Although we had high hopes for Santorini, we knew it was a lot more crowded there and would be a lot more touristy, so we were a little sad to leave quiet, peaceful, relaxed Naxos. We hope we'll be able to return someday. Until then, farewell Naxos and goodbye Nissaki Beach, and thank you for such an amazing time!

Goodbye Milkato

After our last dinner in Naxos, we decided to make another trip to Milkato to say goodbye and grab some more gelato. We had gone previously and gotten two flavors that were really tasty. We opted to try a couple different flavors this night, and from what we remember, they were stracciatella and cookies.

Stracciatella is vanilla gelato striped with chocolate and also flaked with chocolate within. It was incredibly creamy, and at the end of the day chocolate and vanilla are a great combination. The chocolate stripes on top were interesting because since it was striped melted chocolate it "froze" and became like a hard shell. The flakes within were softer and much more like regular chocolate chips you'd find in chocolate chip ice cream.

Cookies was, as we expected, just like cookies and cream ice cream. It was vanilla gelato studded with broken up cookies similar to Oreos. For all we knew it could actually have been Oreos. Cookies and cream is one of our favorite flavors overall, and this was definitely a good one.

We really enjoyed our trips to Milkato, and we hope that they're still around. Their Facebook page hasn't had a new post or picture in a little bit, and that worries us. If it is still there, we highly recommend that you sample the gelato they have to offer. We know we certainly will!

Potato-Free Meze Meze

For our last dinner in Naxos, we went back to Meze Meze, getting another table outside on a nice spring night. We had had such a good dinner the night before, and the menu had so many other things that sounded good, so we wanted to try more. But one thing was for sure - we were not ordering any more potatoes. The fries and potato salad from the night before were so good, but we had gotten our fill of delicious Naxian potatoes and now it was time for other stuff.

We started off with some drinks, a beer for A and some iced tea for M. Not too much to say about those.

The first thing to arrive was, just like last time, a basket of bread, which cost €0.80 for each of us. Same as the night before.

After all those potatoes, we wanted to get a potato-free salad, choosing to go with the traditional Greek salad - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion, caper, olives, xinomizithra local cheese, and Cretan crispy bread with olive oil and lemon sauce - for €7.50. This was very similar to the Naxian potato salad from the night before, but with the potatoes being replaced by lettuce, cucumber, and Cretan crispy bread. The Cretan bread was one of the things we were most interested in trying since we weren't going to Crete on that trip. Five years later, we remember the salad being good - light and clean and satisfying - but not too many specifics. It just didn't imprint in our memories the way the Naxian potato salad did. The bread also didn't leave a lasting impression on us.

Since we were in the Greek Islands, we also decided to get some fish, another thing we skipped the night before. We went with the grilled fresh mackerel for €8, which came on a platter with some rice. The issue with the mackerel was that it was a thinner fish than other fish we had eaten in Greece so it was harder for M to get much of anything skinned and also off the bone. The fish itself was very fresh, though, and most of the work went to A to get the meat out. Memories of the rice have sadly also faded over time.

The last thing we ordered came as a recommendation from the waiter. We weren't sure what to order between three types of fried seafood, and he offered to let us have some of all three just like some other tables were enjoying. What arrived was a giant platter of what looked like "popcorn seafood" - half orders of small fried fish, small fried squid, and small fried shrimp - for €12. You ate the fish and squid whole, but the shrimp, you tore the head off and then ate the rest. It doesn't look like an especially huge plate, and the size of the plate itself wasn't very different from some of the others, but it was packed full of really tiny pieces of seafood. It took us an hour to eat all of it, as it just seemed like a neverending plate. We had eaten so much shrimp, fish, and squid, yet every time we looked up, the plate still looked full. We were happy though that we had the option to try all three and weren't disappointed at all with any of them. Everything was really good, but it took forever to eat, an experience we certainly wouldn't forget from our last night. Good thing we weren't really in a rush to go back to the hotel to pack.

After we (finally) finished our dinner, they brought out more complimentary citron and yogurt to end the meal, which we appreciated. The hospitality and the food at Meze Meze were superb, and we were so happy that we had chosen to eat there twice to try a wide range of what they had to offer. We were trying not to overdo it for our last dinner since we wanted to make one last trip to Milkato to get some more gelato, so there were so many more things we didn't get to try. We would definitely return here if we have the chance to go back to Naxos.

Yialos

Five years ago today, we had an amazing day in Naxos, Greece on our honeymoon. After starting the day off with a giant breakfast at the hotel, which had such a fantastic spread every morning, we went over to Agios Prokopios Beach, spending our time basking in the sun and wading in the crystal clear water. It was incredibly relaxing. We continued our beach day after returning to the hotel since our hotel was next to another beach, Agios Georgios (Saint George). That one was pretty different because you could walk out for yards and the water would still only be knee deep. It was fantastic.

Since we ate such gigantic breakfasts every morning at our hotel, we rarely ate a full lunch on our days in Naxos (which is the opposite of how we usually travel, when we eat a granola bar for a breakfast and then focus on having a bigger lunch), instead choosing to get a couple of light snacks before dinner. Our local beach had a bunch of small beachside tavernas, and it seemed like the perfect extension of our beach day to get some food from one of them for our daily snack. The one we stopped at was called Yialos, and we got a table with a full view of the beach. It was glorious.

We decided to order two dishes - stuffed vine leaves and a dip (which we think is skordalia, but aren't 100% sure this many years later), which we ate with some bread - and a couple of Mythos beers. We don't really remember a ton of specifics about how the food tasted there, other than that we liked it, but we absolutely remember the experience. It was perfect, exactly what we wanted on our last afternoon in Naxos. There was good food, cold drinks, a great view, and just a super relaxed atmosphere. While we sat there, just people watching, relaxing, resting in the sun, we didn't have a care in the world. It's a feeling I think we both wish we could replicate on every vacation, but we're not always successful.

The entire experience only cost us €11 (no idea what it would be now, but that's what it was 5 years ago), and it was totally worth it for a relaxing afternoon on the beach with tasty snacks. Once we left, it was time to head into town to buy our tickets for our next destination, take in a last sunset over the Portara (an absolutely magical experience in our opinion), and try to enjoy every last minute of our final night in Naxos. That was truly our favorite island, and the relaxing vibe and good food we had at Yialos was pretty representative of why we loved it so much.

Another Good Breakfast

Day 4 in Naxos started in the usual way with a relaxing breakfast in the dining room at our hotel. We didn't take a lot of pictures that morning and I know we ate more than what's here since we're gluttons for tasty free breakfasts, but here's a glimpse of what we got before we went out for our beach day.

One thing which caught our eye was this little bowl which looked like custard. They hadn't had this on any other days, and when we tasted it, it was reminiscent of an ice cream sandwich. (Thank goodness for notes/photo captions, because I had zero recollection of how this tasted.)

On a bit of a more savory note, we got a bunch of other treats. There were tomato slices with blocks of feta and capers; toast with tuna and capers; some apple strudel type of thing; scrambled eggs with tomatoes; and some other type of pie thing. I'm not sure we even knew what those pies and things were when we were eating them, but they were good.

We tried to savor each of our breakfasts at Nissaki Beach because we were pretty sure that these were going to be the best complimentary breakfasts on our trip. The variety of salads and pies and savory snacks was just so much better than anything we'd had so far, and the spread changed daily. They're also much better breakfasts than we eat at home, plus they had fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. We really loved these breakfasts!

Meze Meze

One of the restaurants in Naxos we absolutely loved (and loved so much that we went twice) was Meze Meze (sometimes listed as Meze 2). During our first night in Naxos, after we dined at Popi's Grill, we strolled around the waterfront area, gazing at all the other restaurants to figure out where we might want to go during the remainder of our stay. Meze Meze was packed that night. It was packed again the next night when we walked by on our trip to Milkato. We definitely wanted to try it to see what all the fuss was about.

We decided to try a bunch of different dishes for our first dinner there, but one thing we definitely wanted to spotlight was the potato. Potatoes from Naxos are famous throughout Greece (not just our opinion, see here and here), so we couldn't wait to try them. We picked out 2 different dishes featuring the potato, but unintentionally ended up with even more potatoes on the table to try.

But first, we started with drinks. A opted for a large Mythos beer (€3, all prices are from 3 years ago, so it's likely they've changed, but we're including it to give you an idea of what things cost in Naxos) so it came in a large mug.

Bigger serving of beer

M got our standard bottle of Mythos beer (€2.50). Not much to say about these, since they're pretty much the same Mythos beers we got all through Greece. Fresh, crisp beer, perfect for a relaxing vacation. They also just taste better in Greece since they don't have very far to go after being bottled.

M loves this pic because of the gorgeous blue sky behind our white table

The first thing to arrive was the basket of bread. 3 years later, not really sure what type of bread it was, but it wasn't anything extraordinary. At this point, we didn't really know we could return the bread and not have to pay for it. (Is that a thing all over Europe or just in Greece?) It was only €1.60 so we didn't mind, and it was also useful for the saganaki that we ordered that night.

Bread and utensils basket

We ordered 5 different things that night. One was saganaki, which, in this case, was deep fried Naxian gruyere (€5). We love getting saganaki at home and this was our 4th (at least) saganaki on our honeymoon. We seriously love eating saganaki, whether it's griddled or baked or fried or lit on fire in front of our face. There's just something about cooked Greek cheeses that is so delicious. This one came in one deep fried block on top of a bed of lettuce, and it was really good.

Fried cheese = always good

The first of the potato dishes we tried was the fresh Naxian fried potatoes with kefalotiri local cheese (€3.30). Best cheese fries ever. The fries were relatively standard but seemed to be hand-cut, crisp on the outside, and meaty with potato on the inside. It was here that we first really first understood why Naxian potatoes are so highly praised. There is just this rich potato flavor that doesn't always come out in regular potatoes. The grated kefalotiri cheese was perfect for the fries, and much better than regular melted yellow cheese or cheese sauce. Like some other cheeses, it doesn't melt as easily, so it stays intact as you eat the fries. We really loved these cheese fries, but the amount of fries stuffed onto this little plate was massive.

Best cheese fries ever

We also got some taramosalata (€3.50), for which the bread also came in handy. This was pretty good, a little creamier and thinner than some of the other spreads we had gotten in Mykonos (this was the 3rd or 4th time we got taramosalata on the trip). While it was pretty good from what we remember, we were so distracted by the potatoes at this meal that we don't remember that much about the taramosalata and how it compared to the other ones on the trip.

Taramosalata

The plate of the day was octopus with tomato sauce and onion in the oven (€7). Considering that we were in the Greek islands, we definitely wanted to get some seafood. From the description, we didn't realize that we were ordering a third dish with potatoes, but there was a good amount of fries stuffed in next to the octopus. M isn't always a fan of octopus as sometimes it can be a bit tough and chewy, but this octopus was amazing. It was stewed (or braised) and it was so soft and tender. It almost melted in your mouth. The sauce was full of onions and other wonderful flavors, which made the fries at the bottom of the plate taste even better. The octopus was so incredibly fresh, which was no surprise, seeing as how later on in our trip, we saw one of the guys from the restaurant pulling octopus out of the water in the harbor. Can't beat that. Quite possibly one of the best octopus dishes we've ever eaten. Really glad this was the special.

Amazing octopus ... and fries

The last dish we ordered was the Naxian potato salad (boiled potato, tomato, pepper, onion, caper, olives, oregano, xinomizithra local cheese) (€7.50). This might look or sound familiar because it was on both of our favorite dishes of 2011 lists. We weren't really sure what to expect from this potato salad, but what we got was a gigantic (biggest plate on the table) bowl filled with chunks of potatoes, mixed with vegetables, cheese, seasonings, and dressing. There had to be at least 2 or 3 medium to large sized boiled potatoes in there. It was incredibly filling, but the potatoes were so amazing that we forced ourselves to try to finish it off. We couldn't leave potatoes this good abandoned in the bowl just because we were really full!

Amazing potato salad

This salad was really something else. Normally when we think of potato salad, we think of the small chunks of potatoes in either a mayo based or mustard based sauce. Yes, there were chunks of potatoes, but they were the most flavorful potatoes we ever had, and they had no heavy sauce to mask the flavor. The fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and green peppers added freshness and depth to the salad. The olives and cheese added a little saltiness, and the salad was dressed simply with olive oil and lemon. It was such an amazing salad that every time we see it, we wish we could have a bowl of it, but you can only really get this in Naxos if you want it this fresh and tasty. Nothing compares to those Naxian potatoes.

But the meal wasn't over yet. We thought we were done but then the server brought over a bowl of yogurt with honey and caramelized oranges, and 2 small shot glasses of green citron (which, if you remember from our citron visit, was our favorite variety of citron). We hadn't been expecting this after dinner treat, but it was a wonderful way to round out our meal, even if we were insanely full. It was also complimentary (unlike the bread), which we weren't used to at all, but welcomed. The citron is also a digestif so it worked perfectly.

After dinner provisions

We were pretty satisfied with our first meal at Meze Meze and completely understood why they had such crowds. The food was excellent, all around, and while we probably wouldn't get things like the taramosalata again because they were fairly standard, there were zero misses on the table and lots of outstanding plates. We had such a great variety - cheese, fish, spreads, seafood, and lots of potatoes. Meze Meze had 4 Naxian cheeses listed on the menu and we tried 3 in the meal (kefalotiri, gruyere, xinomizithra; only missing the xinotiro), so we got a pretty good sampling of Naxian specialties in our meal.

The total cost of our dinner was a little over €33 (in today's USD, that's only about $41). Not much more than our previous dinner at Taverna Lefteris which was far outside the main Naxos Town area, and we got a tremendous amount of delicious food. We were too full for Milkato (as much as we wanted more gelato) and did a good bit of walking around to digest before rolling ourselves back to the hotel for the night. We couldn't wait to return to Meze Meze for another meal, but we were sure of 1 thing. No matter how good those potatoes were and how much we loved them, we could not do another meal of potatoes. We had enough potatoes in one night to last us for the rest of our time in Naxos!

Meze Meze is located right off the waterfront in Naxos Town/Chora.

Κορρές

I always talk about how our trip memories are fading, and this post is definite proof. On our second full day in Naxos, we had a hearty breakfast at the hotel, did some sightseeing, relaxed in the hotel swimming pool, and then set out to watch the sunset from the famous Portara. We remembered doing most of that. But, until we looked through our photos from Naxos, we completely forgot that en route to the Portara we stopped for a snack at this souvlaki and gyro place called Κορρές (listed on Foursquare as σουβλατζίδικο (Κορρές)). 

That isn't because there was anything wrong with the food or because it wasn't good. From what we remember now that we've thought about it, we think it was good. But there were so many amazing and memorable places and meals in Naxos with Taverna Lefteris and Milkato and our hotel breakfast bar and the dinner place we're going to talk about next, that this one kind of got lost in the shuffle in our memories. Sadly that happens when we haven't committed our memories to record.

We do remember that we were hungry so we stopped for a quick snack, and we'd seen plenty of young people eating these on the waterfront. The shop had a grill and various meat spits, and we decided to split a pork gyro pita which only cost €2. Inside the pita, there was pork, lettuce, tomato, onion, fries, and tzatziki. It was tasty. We mimicked the other young people and ate it sitting on the waterfront while people watching, and it was a wonderful break. Naxos is really such a great escape.

Another Fantastic Nissaki Breakfast

We were excited to go to breakfast on our second full day in Naxos. Our first breakfast at the Nissaki Beach Hotel had been wonderful. Plentiful options and so much delicious food. We were especially delighted when we arrived at the breakfast buffet when we realized that many of the items were completely different from the day before. Even more to try!

For my first plate, I got bread with smoked salmon and cheese, a phyllo dough pie stuffed with cheese, a piece of crispy bread with tomatoes, cheese and capers, some potato and ham hash, a grilled omelette piece, and some Greek salad.

A got very similar things for his first plate - the same salad, salmon, tomato crispy bread, and potato and ham hash - along with some cold cut meats and some sort of pastry.

Of course, we both got the fresh squeezed orange juice. We love waking up to glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice. It's such a treat.

We honestly don't remember too much about our first breakfast plates except that the quality was good, just like all the food we got at the Nissaki Beach Hotel, and we really liked the potato and ham hash. That's one of the few buffet dishes we remembered.

But we can get a glimpse of what we liked best by our second plates. A got more smoked salmon with cheese and bread, more cheese pie, and a generous helping of the potato and ham hash. (Told you we liked it.)

I also got more potato and ham hash, along with more smoked salmon and cheese, cheese pie, and Greek salad. The hash, pie, and salmon were clearly the winners at breakfast this day. They're great breakfast foods and the type of savory breakfast I really love.

We also got yogurt on the side as usual. A got his with honey and some nuts.

I topped mine with some strawberries. I also picked up some cake topped with chocolate and strawberries that neither of us remember anything about. It's very unlike me to pick up a dessert and actually finish the whole thing though, so we both probably tried it.

After having a fantastic second breakfast at Nissaki Beach, we couldn't wait to see what the menu would bring for our third breakfast. Not only was this one of the best hotel breakfasts we'd had on the trip, but the menu changed every day. We could get used to this!

Milkato

Milkato is a gelateria that, to our knowledge, is only found on Naxos. All of its flavors are made fresh daily, and in the evenings it always seemed to have a crowd of people around enjoying their offerings.

So after eating an amazingly healthy and delicious dinner full of fresh vegetables, we returned to the city center for an entirely unhealthy dessert. There were so many flavors that looked amazing, and we had a hard time narrowing it down to two. In the end we opted for Lila Pause and Ferrero Rocher.

Lila Pause is a flavor based upon a chocolate bar offered by Milka and it has a strawberry base with chocolate swirled in and crispies. It was an interesting flavor that really worked well. It was like a creamy chocolate covered strawberry enhanced with some crispy pieces, and we really enjoyed it.

Ferroro Rocher (the nearly empty container) is exactly what it sounds like. It's a chocolate and hazelnut flavored gelato with crisped rice pieces and ground up hazelnuts. We knew we were going to like this flavor, and we were most definitely right. It was exactly as it was named, a Ferrero Rocher in gelato form. It was chocolatey, creamy, and nutty from the hazelnuts. It had great textural elements from the crisps and ground hazelnuts, and it's a can't miss flavor (if you like chocolate and hazelnut as we clearly do).

"2" scoops ended up being two massive blobs of gelato piled into a barely big enough cup. And it was only €3.1 (about US $4.25). For all that gelato! Such a good deal.

We gleefully savored our luscious treat while also wondering if it was socially acceptable to come back the next morning for breakfast when they opened at 10. (Although we knew we wouldn't since we had an amazing breakfast waiting for us at our hotel.) If you ever find yourself in Naxos, you would do yourself a great favor by visiting Milkato at least once for some of their wonderful gelato.

Taverna Lefteris

It's been 3 years now since our wonderful Naxian adventure day which included visits to the small villages of Halki and Filoti, sightseeing at the Temple of Demeter, and a harrowing drive on a narrow cliffside road in the direction of Mount Zeus. So many of our memories from our Aegean honeymoon are fading, and we certainly don't remember our next stop - the tiny village of Apiranthos high up in the mountains - as well as we used to, which is a shame. Although we may have forgotten a lot of details, we do remember our dinner at Taverna Lefteris. Not every dish, but the atmosphere, the freshness of the food, and of course, the stuffed vegetables that made both of our top 10 lists back in 2011.

Apiranthos is a small town in Naxos that's about 40 minutes or so from the city center.  It took us much longer to get there since we had been sightseeing and making frequent stops throughout the day. Apiranthos was going to be our last stop before heading back and was as far as we would take our little red car on the winding mountain roads. We had heard a lot about Taverna Lefteris and couldn't wait for some delicious dishes.

When we got to Apiranthos, it was really quiet and empty. Sure, it was early for dinner on Greek time, but it was still much emptier than we expected it to be. We figured there'd be more townspeople about, but we only saw a few on our way to the restaurant. We were the only customers at all while we were there, which was in stark contrast to reports we had read (and still see) about people needing to make reservations for dinner. Maybe we went on an off day. We loved the relaxed atmosphere though, just resting at a table as they prepared our dishes, listening to kids play soccer in the walkway outside the restaurant, and feeling the breeze blow in from the terrace.

Our meal started out with these little bread puffs. We're not sure if we ordered these or if this was similar to what we encountered all over Greece where they would bring you bread without asking but it wasn't complimentary. This time, we really didn't care and had no intentions of sending them back even if we didn't order them. They were worth the €0.70 each.

Since they weren't just bread - they were stuffed with spinach! This was our first look at the food at Taverna Lefteris, and it was a good start. 

We ordered a few different dishes but are not sure if we even saw a menu or if we just discussed our order with the guy at the restaurant. In any event, the next to arrive was our Greek salad (€7.5) also known as horiatiki, which had cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, red onions, mint, and feta cheese.

One of the things we remember most about our Lefteris visit was the freshness of all of the food. The vegetables tasted like they were just picked ripe from a garden and chopped up for our salad. You rarely get that type of freshness for a reasonable price at restaurants here. All the vegetables were crisp, the perfect ripeness and sweetness. The feta was creamy and so delicious.

We also ordered cheese-stuffed aubergines (€9), which we don't remember that much about, except for the same freshness of the eggplant. We also just love Greek cheese, so this was tasty.

Now for the star dish of the night, the one which made our top 10 lists easily. The stuffed vegetables were the special of the day (€10) and consisted of one tomato, one green pepper, and one aubergine, all plumply stuffed with a mixture of rice, tomato sauce, vegetables and herbs.

The salad and the aubergine dish showcased the fresh produce that Taverna Lefteris was known for, but the freshness was more clear than ever with these stuffed vegetables. They were the best stuffed vegetables we've ever had, and we're not sure anything will ever compare. The roasted vegetables were so tender, the filling was so delicious, and we were so happy. After our meal we both went to the bathroom in preparation for our trip back to the hotel (because of our long drive, not any ill effects from the food), and we realized why everything tasted so fresh. In the back of their restaurant was a small garden where they picked some of their produce. We kept seeing the chef go down some stairs behind the counter, and that certainly explained why.

Our meal at Taverna Lefteris cost us €30, and it was well worth every euro. You could get cheaper dishes at other restaurants in Naxos and their reputation for great food probably led to higher prices, but everything was so well done and presented that it was completely worth it. We were glad we visited and made the drive, as it was the perfect way to end our adventure that day. With our bellies full of delicious vegetables, we made the drive back to central Naxos as the sun set over the mountains, and the entire way, all we did was rave about those fresh vegetables!

A Filoti Layover

After a relaxing time in Halki where we had loucomades and citron, we continued along the winding road to the next town, Filoti. It was a cute town built on the side of the mountain, and looked like it was bigger than Halki. As we passed through the town on the main road, we saw a few cafes and it looked like the entire town was out having their afternoon coffee. We decided to join them and got a table at this cute little cafe. It was another relaxing stop.


A got a frappe. He ordered it without milk, and that was a mistake. Normally he doesn't take sugar with his coffee, but something about frappes scream out to need some sweetness. It tasted very good as a cold, frothed coffee drink, but it was just missing that sweetness to make it great. That doesn't take away from the fact that it was still excellent coffee, though.


Since M doesn't drink coffee (it puts her to sleep), she just got an orange juice. The juice was fine, not as good as the fresh squeezed juice we got that morning at the hotel, but it was refreshing.


Our stop in Filoti was a nice break before a harrowing drive to Mt. Zeus and then continuing along the winding mountain road to our furthest stop, Apiranthos. We loved taking part in the daily routine of the locals and treasured our brief stop in town.