Naxos Photo Tour

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!

Polar Bears ‘Playing’ with Spy Video Cameras

BBC One has released unique footage how polar bears were filmed using spy video cameras. However, some spy video cameras got caught by the polar bears. Take a look at the video below:

A Tribute to Kodachrome: The Best Slide Film 1935-2010

Today (30 December 2010) is a sad day in photographic history. Kodachrome is no more.

Kodachrome is a colour reversal film and considered to have one of the finest grain and colour rendition. Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about it. There is even a Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Kodachrome film requires special chemicals only made by Kodak. Kodak stopped making these chemicals in 2009.  Dwayne’s Photo (the only shop in the world which has the last machine capable of processing Kodachrome) then determined that 30 December 2010 is the very last day that Kodachrome film will be processed. After this day the machine will be dismantled and sold as scrap.

Here is a tribute to the film which was used to make many iconic photos in photographic history.

The Island of Naxos

Naxos is the largest Greek island of the Cyclades island group in the Aegean. It has some  beautiful beaches like Agios Prokopios and Kastraki. The largest town and capital of the island is Hora or Naxos City.
When you get off the ferry, you will see one of Hora’s landmarks: the Naxos Gate of Bacchus or Portara.


Portara

You can walk around Old Market Street: a maze of little streets around the old Venetian castle.

Entrance Old Market Street


Map Old Market Street

I made lots of photos in this street:

Staircase


Side street


Perfect place to rest


Banister


Naxos cat
There are a lot of cats in Naxos. During the tourist season they flourish. It seems that out of season they have trouble finding food.

Naxos door

Dubai Fountain playing Michael Jackson

Take a look at these videos of the Dubai Fountain show with Michael Jackson “Thriller”.

The first video is shot a little higher than what you would normally see from ground level. On the ground it is very hard to see what is going on in the back. The second video gives a very good overview of the show and you can take a good look at the patterns.

Video 1

 
Video 2

Travelling to Naxos, Greece

After Meteora we went back to Athens. Using the toll roads we drove about 475 km in six hours back to the rental car drop off point.
Reaching the drop off point was a little difficult. The office was located at the left hand side of the main road we used to enter Athens. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take left turns until about 4 blocks into the city center. Luckily our Tomtom navigator plotted an alternative course to reach our destination.
The next morning we had to be very early at the port of Pireas to get on the ferry to Naxos.

Pireas


Our ferry from Blue Star Ferries

Storing your suitcases in the ferry is a little odd. Upon entering the ferry you will see metal racks where you can store your suitcase.

Cargo hold of the ferry. Notice the metal racks on the right.

At first we stored our suitcases there. But we were not happy with that since anyone could walk in and out of the hold. Later on we found a storage section on the upper deck. Still not ideal, but big warning signs for the closed circuit camera system at the entrance of the storage section should deter potential thieves.
Our travel company did not reserve any seats for us, so we selected a spot in the main restaurant.

Fast food restaurant in the ferry

At 6.23 in the morning, you can choose any spot you like. The place filled up fast, and by the time the ferry was leaving, every spot was taken.
 
Leaving Pireas

After departure I noticed there were better looking and more comfortable numbered seats in other parts of the ferry. It turned out that you could upgrade your ticket and get a comfortable reserved air seat. We decided to buy the upgrade. This way the surroundings was less noisy, and you could get up and walk around without the risk of losing your seat to someone else.
After about six hours we arrived at the first stop: Mykonos.
 
Approaching Mykonos

Much to our surprise the docking/undocking proceeded in an orderly fashion. In the building at the left hand side people wanting to board the ferry were patiently waiting, Also, you can see the cyclists and cars lined up and ready to board the ferry. First someone was taken off the ferry and put inside the ambulance. Then the people on board the ferry were allowed to disembark.

 
People leaving the ferry through the cargo hold and the walkway.

 
Next were the lorry drivers. Several tanks were unloaded and parked.

 
Finally people were allowed to board the ferry.
Two hours later, we arrived at Naxos, Agios Prokopios Beach

Meteora Valley - Roussanou Monastery

On this photo you can see in what kind of setting the Meteora monasteries were built. Massive rock formations rise up from the earth. All the monasteries have a beautiful view of their surroundings.

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Meteora Varlaam Monastery

The Meteora Varlaam Monastery is one of the larger monasteries. As you can see they are expanding the place.

This photo seems to be one of the iconic views of the monastery.

 
Transportation room


Terrace


Entrance

State of the E-Reader Landscape

Are you getting started with e-books? Wondering which device can read what format, and what application to use? This flowchart at gliffy gives a good overview of the various possibilities. Click here for a larger image.

Merry Christmas!

Meteora Holy Trinity Monastery

Walking up to the Holy Trinity Monastery was very interesting. From the distance you can see some kind of transportation system with horizontal ropes. I assumed that was the only access to the monastery and was preparing for a dangerous ride.

The rope transport system in action

It turned out the system is only used to carry goods. You park on a nearby cliff (left on the photo). You then walk down to the base of the cliff and go up the stairs to the monastery.

Walking up

I didn’t take many photos inside the monastery. The only one I can offer you is one from the transportation room.