A Week of Doing Nothing in Naxos
No itinerary, no sights, no plan beyond lunch — the most restorative holiday I’ve taken in years.
We arrived on Naxos with a list of things to see and, by the third day, had quietly abandoned all of it.
The island rewards the unambitious. There is a beach, and a village above it, and a taverna between the two, and that is genuinely enough for a week.
Learning to be bored again
We swam in the morning, ate too long at lunch, slept through the heat, and walked in the evening. Nothing else happened, and it was perfect.
A few things I learned, in no particular order:
- Rent nothing for the first two days — walk until you know your corner.
- Eat where the menus are handwritten and change daily.
- Save one evening for the far side of the island at sunset.
We had come to see Naxos and ended up simply living on it for a while, which was far better.
I came home browner, slower, and convinced that doing nothing, properly, is an underrated skill.