Frommer's Review
In Venetian times, the grandees lived at the top of the kill, in Kastro, and the Greeks lived down the hill, in Bourgo. To get to the Kastro, wend your way up through Bourgo, along one of the streets that snakes uphill from the Mitropolis .
The Kastro had three main entryways, of which the most impressive today is the north entry, known as the Trani Porta (Strong Gate), signposted on Apollon St. This narrow marble arched threshold marks the transition from the commercial bustle of Bourgo to the Kastro's medieval world. Look for the incision on the right column of the arch, which marks the length of a Venetian yard, and was used to measure the cloth brought here for aristocratic Venetian ladies to consider purchasing. Exploring the Kastro's by-ways, it's hard not to wish to be able to levitate up over the lofty walls and have a look inside one of these Venetian mansions, with their walled gardens and coats of arms carved over doorways. Fortunately, one typical aristocratic Venetian house, the 800-year-old Della Roca family home, located just inside the Trani Porta, is open to the public. The 40-minute tour, offered in English and Greek, of the Domus Venetian Museum is a wonderful chance to get an inside look at one of the surviving great Venetian homes; you'll see and learn about the reception rooms, chapel, and vaults, and end in a small shop with local produce and handicrafts.
Be sure to find out whether any concerts are being given in the Venetian Museum's garden while you are on Naxos. You can ask at the museum or at the Naxos Tourist Information Center; or keep an eye out for posters. If there is a concert, you may get to spend a pleasant evening listening to Greek music, a string quartet, or some jazz. Whatever you hear, the setting could not be nicer.
At the center of the Kastro is the perhaps too heavily restored 13th-century Catholic cathedral, with its brilliant marble facade. To the right behind the cathedral is the French School of Commerce and the former Ursuline Convent and School, where young ladies of the Venetian aristocracy were educated. The nearby French School has housed schools run by several religious orders, and among its more famous students was the (famous irreligious) Cretan writer Nikos Kazantzakis, who studied here in 1896. The school now houses the Archaeological Museum. One of the highlights here is the group of white marble Cycladic figurines. These are the often violin-shaped marble figurines (dating from as long ago as 3000 B.C.) whose stark outlines some have compared to figures painted by Modigliani. The museum also has an extensive collection of late-Mycenaean-period (1400 B.C.-1100 B.C.) pottery found near Grotta, a district in the northern part of Hora, including vessels with the octopus motif that still appears in local art. The museum has a great view from its terrace and balconies to the hills of Naxos.
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