It is no exaggeration to say that you can go back to the beginnings of European civilisation on Naxos: The island was already visited by humans in the Early to Middle Stone Age – which constitutes one of the earliest evidences of seafaring worldwide. The Early Bronze Age “Cycladic civilisation” was the first higher culture in Europe and one of the starting points for the cultural development of the entire continent. The island continued to play an important role in later millennia. Today’s visitors to Naxos can explore the many sights on the island, which bear witness to all eras of its five-thousand-year history.
The more recent past, usually quite neglected, is also very interesting: Until the middle of the twentieth century, the traditional self-sufficient agricultural economy was still alive on Naxos, traces of which can also be found all over the island.