Vivlos Village Naxos

The Vivlos village also called Tripodes (in Greek three feet) is located in the south west part of Naxos about nine kilometers from the capital and near the beautiful Plaka beach.

The origin of the curious name Tripodes is linked to a beautiful story. It is said that the king of Naxos made a bet with two young men that consisted in creating an aqueduct capable of bringing water from Kampones to Chora and a tower all in one day, rewarding the hand of his daughter triumphantly. Both boys completed the mission at the same time and arrived at the castle at the same time, they had to fight to proclaim a winner, but fate wanted both of them to be killed. The beautiful princess with a heart broken by pain, decided to live forever in the tower and rely on the oracle. Every evening on a three foot stool he looked at the stars and during the day he went to the village to reveal to the inhabitants what he had seen and what would have happened. One day, however, the tower collapsed and there was no trace of the princess, only the stool was found and it was in this way that the population in honor of the girl called the Tripodes village.

Arriving in Vivlos, the first things you notice are the mills on the top of the hill which, especially at sunset, offer a postcard landscape. It is considered one of the largest and most particular villages on the Naxos island with its labyrinthine streets that flow by magic into a square shaded by large eucalyptus trees where you can stop perhaps in a typical kafenio (cafeteria) or in a tavern and taste the delicacies local thanks to the generous valley that offers excellent vegetables, fruit and wine. The whitewashed plastered houses and the slate-paved streets, reflect the classic and charming style of the Cyclades islands.

The agglomeration boasts about eight hundred inhabitants on a permanent basis and is a lively place all year round. Initially the Vivlos village was further downstream near Plaka beach as evidenced by the ruins of the Plaka tower and the Agios Mattheos chapel, but due to the continuous raids and attempts to raid the pirates who sailed the Aegean Sea, was moved in the medieval period during the Frankish domination until where it is now. It is said that the first settlement was in Kechires where the remains of the Agios Georgios tower can be found right above a precipice and built in an eagle's nest as a protective bulwark of the Ga tower, once the summer residence of Ioannis Ga a famous notary of Naxos.

There are many things to visit in the Vivlos village, at the beginning there is the Panagia Tripodiotissa church, dedicated to the patron Virgin Mary of the country dating back to the 16th century. Tradition says that the inhabitants began to build the monastery at a different point from where it is now but every morning, they found it collapsed. One day they saw a glow and digging to understand what it was, they found the icon of the Virgin deciding so that it was a divine sign and that at that point the church had to be erected in honor of the Madonna. The bells are still the original ones and are so heavy that even today we need three people to ring. On August 23, a beautiful celebration is held which attracts many devotees and visitors to the village.

The Vivlos village boasts many churches to visit if there are about forty like the Stayropigi chapel just outside. All white in color with oleanders, willows, plane trees and wild roses with an intense and intoxicating perfume where in the past the water considered to be blessed came out from the subsoil. Another with a spectacular view where you can see the Paros island and the majestic Aegean Sea from its unmistakable blue is the Agios Nektarios church above the hill with the picturesque mills right on the opposite side.

Another attraction of Vivlos is the Temple of Theotokou with beautiful and precious hand painted icons, and again the Folklore Museum inside an ancient oil mill restored to its magnificence after a restoration.

You will be spoiled for choice. If you have your own vehicle that is a car rather than a scooter just follow the road signs or get to Plaka beach and go inland, by bus, every day from the capital Chora at a cost of € 2 in twenty minutes you get there, or finally for lovers of long walks even on foot.

It should be noted in the list of things to see in Naxos, an unusual trip through the generous hinterland of the island to discover places of the past and where to satisfy senses and taste.