On the main street of Hora I found a brochure for the
‘Hidden Naxos Tour’. It turned out to be a tour of the island by professional photographer Stuart Thorpe (
blog). He has lived for more than 25 years on the island, so he knows all the ins and outs! The tour gives you a chance to see parts of Naxos you would normally not see. You can ask Stuart all sorts of photography questions, but you do not need to be a photographer to join the tour.
Do take a look at his web site on
http://naxos-photoworkshop.com/Hidden_Naxos_Tours.html
He also started a blog on
http://naxos-photoworkshop.com/Blog.html
This is quite an achievement, since he told me he lives somewhere remote on the island, with no electricity, land line or high speed Internet.
We decided to join one of his hidden Naxos Tour. Here you can see some of the photos we made.
Stuart picked us up in his own mini bus, together with two other couples. Both couples visited the island of Naxos many times and had joined the tour multiple times. We drove inland to see some deserted land and, of course, a church.
Deserted land on Naxos
Very old olive trees
Inside a church
After a coffee we went to visit the distillery of the
Kitron lemon liqueur. It is made from the leaves of the
citron tree. It is very difficult to buy the liqueur outside Naxos due to the limited number of citron trees available.
Entrance Kitron distillery
Kitron liqueur is available in several varieties. Colours are used to distinguish them. The green liqueur is the sweetest and contains less alcohol. The yellow liqueur is the strongest and has the least sugar. Clear Kitron is somewhere in between.
Several varieties of Kitron liqueur
The history of Naxos Citron and the making of citron distillate
Citron distillate is made as follows (from the photo, bottom right corner):
- Collection of leaves
The citron producer collects the healthy citron leaves from the end of October until February. Following the collection, the leaves are dried out in a dry room and then dampened with a small quantity of water.
The collection of leaves is an arduous task, due to the thorns on the trees and, hence, time consuming. Great care must be given not to gather too many leaves which could lead to the destruction of the tree.
- Distillation phase
In the shortest time possible after the collection, the leaves are placed in the boiler in low heat, along with pure alcohol and water. This is where the distillation process takes place.
Depending on the quality of the extract which is being sought, a second or third distillation may take place, in which case the first extract is boiled along with new leaves. In that way the flavour and taste of the Citron liqueur becomes stronger.
- Further processing
In the distillate, water and sugar are added. Colouring agents are also added for the production of different types of Citron distillate (white-33 vol, green-30 vol., yellow-36 vol.)
Boiler room
Boiler and citron
In case you want to buy the stuff: in the town of Hora, along the water front, you can find the Kitron store.
Kitron Store at Hora / Naxos City
After the distillery we drove to the Monastery of Fotodotis.
Naxos Highway
Monastery of Fotodotis
Monastery of Fotodotis
Next stop: Lunch at a local restaurant 'Taverna Floraka' in the village of Danakos.
The owner
Mr. Floraka (The Hobbit of Naxos) prepared everything fresh.
You eat in his garden under pomegranate trees
The last stop was the Naxos marble quarry
I want to thank Stuart for giving us a wonderful time, bringing us to the best places and having lunch at a delicious restaurant!
