The ferry was late (as usual) and we arrived in the late afternoon. I had just enough time to leave my suitcase at the hotel and go to the most famous spot of the island, in time to catch the sunset!
Portara is not just a 2500 years old monument, it is a landmark for Naxos that can be seen from miles away and every visitor of the island just can't ignore it!
Not to mention that the sunset from that spot is mesmerising :)
Maybe more impressive is the fact that this is only the door of a temple that was designed to be one of the greatest in Ancient Greece but was never completed!
The history of this extraordinary project is a bit vague. Most researchers believe that it was supposed to be a temple of Apollo, the god of music but others believe that it was dedicated to the god Dionysus, the god of wine, festivity and theatre.
In any case it was a superhuman task, those are 20 tones (more than 40.000 pounds) pieces of marble that you see in the pictures, standing there, as millenniums pass by!
Of course the men's creations can be spectacular and admirable but will never compete with the magnificence of nature!
When the time came for the sun to make its daily dive in the sea, all the looks were turned to the west :)
But a few minutes later it was the time to look to the east. To the monumental great door lit by the warm afternoon light and the town of Naxos behind it, glowing in the magic of dusk!
It was the time to give it all my photographic attention and explore every possible angle!
The location itself used to be a small island but now it is connected with Naxos with a pathway, a very convenient addition for all the visitors!
As I was leaving the islet, I took one last shot from afar. The artificial light was now on and Portara will be shining all night long, the majestic remain of an even more majestic piece of work that was never meant to be!
All the pictures and the words are mine.
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