Walking the Naxos Strada, where the streets are paved with marble

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calder’s Travel email Get Simon Calder’s Travel email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. I’m walking the Naxos Strada, a 52km trail across the Greek island of Naxos, most of it along ancient mulepaths that were once the vital veins connecting its whitewashed villages. Waymarked with posts and red paint splodges on the dry-stone walls flanking it, the Strada is maintained by a band of enthusiasts who hope it can help preserve Naxos’ precious history and biodiversity. open image in gallery A helpful strada waymarking sign on Naxos I’m soon on the square of Lower Potamia, one of three stream-fed villages hidden among orchards of orange trees whose fruits I pray will drop onto my path. At Upper Potamia I make a brief detour north across wild scrub dotted with bee orchids and ocean-blue lupins to view one of the island’s kouros, supersized marble statues depicting idealised youths that were sculpted some 2,500 years ago.