Naxos

Only the marble doorframe of a temple to Apollo, abandoned unfinished in the sixth century BC, stands on an islet off the harbour. A causeway leads out, and at sunset crowds gather for the moment the sun sets within the frame, so claim a spot early.

A hilltop citadel quarter founded in the thirteenth century by the Venetian noble Sanudo, its crested mansions and a Catholic cathedral surviving among arched lanes. The alleys were built to bend like a deliberate maze, so steer by the walls, not the map.

The museum occupies a seventeenth century building inside the Kastro, where Kazantzakis studied when it served as a French commercial school. Its pride is the white Cycladic marble figurines with folded arms.

A sixth century BC marble temple in the Sangri fields of central Naxos, with some columns and the roofline put back from scattered pieces. It stands among barley fields, which makes plain why the goddess of grain was worshipped here.

In a quarry at the island's northern end lies a marble male figure over 10m long, never finished. Scholars date its abandonment to the sixth century BC, and a few stone steps up from the roadside at the village entrance reach it.

The old heart of Naxos, where neoclassical mansions and Byzantine churches cluster among olive groves. A long established distillery on the square makes the island's kitron liqueur, shows visitors round and pours a tasting glass.

A marble village clinging to the mountainside, with even the lane paving and steps laid in marble. Residents speak with an accent close to Cretan, and tradition says settlers from Crete founded it.

No Cycladic summit stands higher, and a cave partway up is where Zeus supposedly grew up. The path begins at a chapel above Filoti village, and the summit wind calls for a jacket even in summer.

Fine sand runs for kilometres along the west coast, backed by low dunes. The northern end, where hotels cluster, gets busy, and the further south you walk the fewer people you meet.

A small stone church below Moni village, among the few Greek churches keeping early Byzantine frescoes from the sixth to seventh centuries. It opens only when the caretaker is there, and instead of a ticket there is a donation box.

In an orchard by old quarries near Melanes lies an unfinished sixth century BC marble youth. A leg probably snapped in transit, and the carvers simply walked away. A short streamside path leads in from the road sign, and a second one rests on the slope nearby.

A long sandy beach a few kilometres south of Chora, with clear water and a gentle slope. Rooms and tavernas back the sand and town buses run often. Even on meltemi days the island shields it, so the water stays calmer.

Moutsouna, a small east coast harbour, is where emery dug in the mountains was loaded onto ships. Rusting pylons and buckets from the ore ropeway still line the road toward Koronos. The beach by the harbour is quiet, with only a few tavernas.