There was no direct ferry to Santorini, so we changed at Naxos. It was clearly more popular with tourists than Amorgos, but so late in the season, we could wander the streets of Naxos in relative peace. Our first stop was the archeology museum, which had a collection of pieces dug up from various islands. We were particularly taken with a small stone carved on both sides, one inscribed with hieroglyphics and the other with tiny figures, which looked to have Egyptian influence.

We enjoyed getting lost in the winding streets, eventually finding our way to Apollo’s gate via the only statue carving we ever saw of a naked female figure. While the men were regularly naked, the women were almost always covered up. Unfortunately, we never discovered the reason for this, though a search on the internet suggested that the naked male was considered heroic, and that there were plenty of naked female statues from the same era.

Apollo’s gate is simple, but impressive in its size and for the fact that it’s still upright despite a lack of any visible structural support. Apparently it was to be the door to a temple, but the temple was never completed.