A slow start to the day for us. We were picked up by Lambros at about 10am to go inland to Kaloxylos for an authentic Greek family type food cooking class.
We were driven to the centre of Naxos, near the old capital of the island, here we were met by the very friendly Katerina the founder of vioma.gr.
After a drink and some get to know you chat we discovered our menu for the day. We were going to be making Stuffed Zucchini, Cheese Pie and tzatziki.
Katerina guided us thoughtfully through each process gently correcting us as we went. We started by hollowing out the zucchinis and the chopping all the stuffing ingredients. We then partially cooked the stuffing before spooning it into the zucchinis we had prepared earlier. These were then put in a pot with water to cook until the rice in the stuffung was done. 
While this was happening we made a olive oil pastry and a two cheese filling. The pastry was rolled out, the filling added and then they were formed into small parcels ready for baking.
We then made some tzatziki by grating cucumber, squeezing the juice out of it and adding it to Greek yoghurt with a liberal splash of olive oil, white wine vinegar, crushed garlic and a touch of salt, all of which was very well mixed together in a bowl. This was set aside in the fridge.
The pies were then brushed with an egg wash, sprinkled with sesame seeds and put into the oven.
While everything was cooking we went for a 20 minute walk around the little village. Very rustic. There were lots of olive trees that, we found out later, some were over 2000 years old. (some olive trees on Naxos are over 3000 years old).
Back at the kitchen we helped Katerina prepare a roux for the zucchinis using the cooking liquid. This was then added back to the pot and the liquid allowed to thicken. While this was happening Katerina prepared a simple tomato and Mizyphra cheese salad.
Not long after that we were all sat at the table ready for our feast. 
The food was delicious, we will be making this when get home.
After we finished Katerina served a desert her mother had prepared for us earlier, Elmek kadifi,the Greek equivalent of a vanilla slice, yummmm.
To complete the meal we had a digestive shot of locally made Kitron.
A short time later we said good bye to Katerina and left with some of the left over cheese pie and tzatziki, an easy dinner for tonight.
We had arranged for our driver to pick us up in a what is now a small village, Halki (Chalki) – the former capital of Naxos, a short walk from Kaloxylos through the small village of Akadimi.
It was a very enjoyable stroll along narrow twisting laneways flanked by many interesting old, and in many cases, decaying buildings and farms.
The town/village of Halki has many Neoclassical buildings reflecting its past importance in the islands history. There were lots of colourful and interesting small laneways through the town. 
The Church of Panagia Protothroni here, has been in uninterrupted use for over 1000 years. The area around the town is very fertile, covered with many acres of olive trees and Citron trees. The fruit of the Citron tree is used to make the famous Naxian liqueur, Kitron. It is made with the leaves of the Citron tree. There is a distillery in operation in the town.
While waiting for our car to arrive we stood and watched the chaos in the very narrow main street of the town as large tourist coaches that nearly took up the whole width of the road navigated their way through the town with all other traffic pulling into laneways to allow them through, chaotic, but it worked. Not sure how that would go back home!!!
Lambros arrived and drove us back down to the coast, giving us great views of the countryside, we were back at our hotel by mid afternoon.
Number of Views :266
