After spending a beautiful evening overlooking the caldera in Santorini and the flickering lights, we cruised overnight towards Delos Island—the center of the Cycladic Islands and a vast uninhabited island covered with ancient treasures. Apollo and his twin sister Artemis were born here near the sacred lake and ever since then the whole island became the most important place of worship in the Aegean.
We started our exploration by walking through the sacred area, the many Agoras, the sacred lake and after a short stop at the museum we headed towards the Theater and the residential area. In the small but outstanding museum we had a chance to admire the original “Naxian Lions” that guarded the lake for thousands of years and some of the authentic mosaic floors that have been detached from the impressive 4th century B.C. Hellenistic Houses. It seems that the wealthiest merchant seamen and bankers invested in a mansion on Delos! The ancient glory and prosperity of the island is obvious with every step we make.
It was almost noon time when we returned to Sea Cloud and just before lunch we had a pleasant surprise! In just a few minutes our lovely staff and crew organized a swim platform to cool us down after spending the morning under the hot sun! It was a refreshing moment, very appetizing, so right after we enjoyed another delicious meal.
Jim Kelley gave us a very informative afternoon talk about “Oceanic Circulation and Productivity in the Mediterranean.” Shortly after the talk we were already anchored near Naxos Island so we landed with our tenders at Naxos Chora to spend the evening here. Our guides walked us at the waterfront and after making the necessary recommendations for the best gelato in town, we climbed to the Venetia Castle. Besides being the biggest island in the Cyclades, Naxos also has the biggest and still active “Kastro,” which means castle. It has been the head of the “Duchy of the Archipelago” during the entire Venetian times. The Catholic Church tops the Kastro, and we stopped for a quick look at its interior that surprisingly had many ancient pieces taken from the unfinished Temple of Apollo at the port.
On our way down from the Kastro, we sampled the local liquor named “kitron” and some of us decided to have a closer inspection of Apollo’s Temple and its impressive gate that the locals call “Portara.” The sunset from there was more than rewarding! Many of us enjoyed dinner in town since we couldn’t resist the inviting sun-dried octopus hung on each tavern entrance.
Late at night the last tender returned to the Sea Cloud and a bit later we set sail to our next destination–Amorgos.
