Naxos Villages III

Filoti Village
This largest Naxos village is built on the hillside above the main road, with old-style kafenia under big plane trees, an old traditional bakery (down a side street), and some tavernas, as well as a few shops and grocery stores. Many villagers in Filoti are shepherds, with large herds of goats and sheep in the mountainous part of the island to the south of the village, and there are a few local players of the old island bagpipe (tsambouna), a bagpipe made from the same animals, and even one local tsambouna maker. The nearby Cave of Zas, below the highest peak in the Cyclades (Mt. Zas), has some lovely springs near it in a flat grassy area with fine views. The hike up Zas is also a popular one, though hot in summer.

Apiranthos Village
Cretans , fleeing Ottoman oppression in their native land, settled this fascinating mountain village, which is paved with the famous Naxian marble, and with marble decorating many of the old houses. There are two very impressive towers in this village, one of them along the main street into town, with a taverna below it, the other up a little street beyond the square. Marble steps ascend into the upper village from the main street, which is also paved in stone and marble, this town remarkable for its scarcity of the cement that one sees in so many Greek villages these days.

In the kafenia by the main square one still sees the kind of villagers one would have seen a hundred and more years ago, though the tourist cafes and bars on the way there have also brought boh Greek and foreign tourists in large numbers. There are a couple of small museums in Apiranthos, one of them a Cycladic museum with Neolithic finds; the other is the folklore and geological museum in the old school building. The village is noted for its textiles, which are sold by the weavers (female) in a co-op which one passes on the way into the town. The local village dialect, and the traditional music played here, on violin and laouto (lute) as well as on tsambouna and a small drum hit by sticks (toumbaki) have also contributed to the reputation of Apiranthos as the most traditional village on the island. There are a few rooms for rent in Apiranthos.