Every year we used to go out to Greece, to visit Naxos
Naxos is the largest of the Aegean islands, halfway between Greece and Turkey.
It has some wonderful places to visit, and some fabulous beaches
The classic view is this temple seen here as a sun goes down

There is a fabulous approach to Naxos, past the temple,
seen on an island when the steamer comes in to the harbour

Here we are standing by the temple, with the town directly behind it and the harbour to the right.

The temple was built by the tyrant Lygdamis, who was a contemporary of Peisistratos in Athens in the second half of the 6th century BC

And here is a detail of the temple. It is known as the Portara which presumably means a big gate.

But Greek temples don’t have a gate at the front, just a row of columns – it is very odd.

Note too the ramshackle footings. It is often assumed that this is the result of a 19th century restoration, but they appear like this in the earliest drawings of the temple in the 17th and 18th centuries.

And here is a detail of the layout of the temple as seen today.

But one does wonder whether the temple was actually completed or whether the Portara is a spectacular gateway to a quite unorthodox temple that was never completed.

The tyrant Lygdamis was deposed quite unexpectedly in 524 BC and Naxos then became a more orthodox government that would not waste expenditure on a half-built monstrosity.

And here is a grand panorama showing the island linked to the town by a causeway.

At the end of the Causeway is the town with the castle at the centre, while to the right is the harbour where the Steamers land.

In the foreground is the crowd that have come to admire the temple at sunset