Naxos

The ruins of a Greek colony near Taormina, Sicily

Naxos was Greece's beachhead in Sicily—the very first Greek colony established on the island, in 735 BC.

However, another Sicilian Greek city-state—Naxos's arch-rival Siracusa—destroyed the city in 403 BC, at which point the survivors decamped to a more defensible cliftop position 5km to the north and founded the colony that would become Taormina.

The Naxos archaeological park (tel. +39-0942-51-001, www.comune.giardini-naxos.me.it) truly lives up to the name "ruins." Don't go out of your way to visit here unless you're a serious ancient Greece buff or are just aching to get off the beach and see something of historical importance.

A veiled statuette of Hera at the Museo Archeologico di Naxos. (photo by Verity Cridland) Very little remains of Sicily's earliest Greek city other than the barest outlines of buildings and streets formed by walls little more than a foot or two high.

But if you look closely, the black basalt masonry on the city walls is exquisite, and the little museum has some fine painted architraves and vases.

The entrance to the archaeological site is off Via Stracina just east of where it crosses S. Venera stream.

Admission is free.

The site is open daily 9am to dusk; the museum 9am to 2pm (1pm on Sunday).

The nearby modern beach resort town of Giardini-Naxos has its own tourist office on the coastal Lungomare Tysandros 54 (tel. +39-0942-51-010, www.comune.giardini-naxos.me.it).

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