GALANADO: A QUIET VILLAGE OVER THE LIVADI VALLEY

Not every Naxos village needs a marble street or a mountain behind it to be worth the detour. Galanado, about five kilometres south-east of Chora, is one of the island’s smaller settlements — the 2021 census gives it around 515 residents, and older guides say about 400 — and what it offers is exactly that: a short, uncrowded half-day away from the harbour. It is built on a slope, with views across the fertile Livadi plain toward Stelida and the town, and within a few hundred metres of its houses stand one of the best-preserved Venetian towers on the island and a chapel that has two churches under a single roof.

Setting: One of the Livadochoria

Galanado belongs to the group of villages known as the Livadochoria, the “villages of the meadows,” which share the Livadi valley. The plain is one of the most fertile on Naxos, and farming is the village’s traditional livelihood: the valley is known for potatoes and for dairy and livestock products. The village itself is built amphitheatrically on the slope above, which is why its terraces look back over the fields and out toward Chora. Tourism descriptions of the village stress how little it has changed: it is described as a listed traditional settlement of whitewashed houses with little in the way of facilities aimed only at visitors, a village with a small central square, a few cafes and tavernas, and a number of churches.

The name is traditionally said to derive from the French word galant, meaning gentlemanly or courteous — a possible echo of the Frankish and Venetian nobles who held estates here, although as with many village names on the island the etymology is a tradition rather than an established fact.

The Belonia Tower and the Twin Chapel of Agios Ioannis

The village’s principal landmark lies just outside it, on a rise to the south in the Livadi valley, some 900 metres from the houses: the Belonia Tower. It was built around 1600 (one source says before 1610) for the Sommaripa family, one of the island’s Venetian-era noble houses, and later passed to the Belonia family; it is now a private home. Thick stone walls, flat roofs and carved coats of arms mark it as a typical fortified Naxian tower, and one of the best preserved on the island. From its grounds there is a wide view over Chora and the plain, which is the reason these towers were placed where they were. As elsewhere on Naxos, towers like this formed a chain: according to local tradition, a fire lit on the roof of the nearest tower would pass the alarm from one to the next when pirates were sighted. The tower is not open to the public, and is best enjoyed from the road.

Right beside it stands the chapel of Agios Ioannis (Saint John), which island tourism sources date to the 13th century. It is unusual because it has two aisles under one barrel vault, one of them Orthodox and the other Catholic, a rare architectural survival of the way the island’s two communities lived side by side during the Venetian centuries. Few places on Naxos make that history so literal, and the chapel is worth a pause even if the doors are closed.

The Church of the Holy Spirit and the Moving Feast

The parish church of the Holy Spirit (Agios Pnevmatos) dates to 1780, as recorded on the lintel above the door of its left nave. The village keeps its great festival on the eve of Holy Spirit Day, with live traditional music, food and wine, followed on the day itself by a procession with the church’s icon after the service. Because Holy Spirit Day follows the Orthodox Easter cycle, the date moves from year to year and should be checked locally. Galanado is also known for the church of Agios Nektarios and several smaller chapels in the surrounding fields.

The Standing Boulders

East of the village, between the chapels of Agios Georgios and Agia Irini, a group of huge upright boulders stands in the fields. Local guides link them to a very early settlement and sometimes call them a Naxian “Stonehenge,” but that is a popular reading of the site rather than a settled archaeological conclusion, so treat it as a curiosity. It is a pleasant, flat country walk of the kind the village is good for.

Visiting Galanado Today

Galanado is easy to reach: it is about five kilometres from Chora, and there is a regular KTEL bus service as well as a parking area at the village. Give it an hour or two on foot — the square, the church, a coffee — and a little more if you walk or drive out to the tower and the twin chapel. The best time is the morning, when the light is soft over the valley and the village is at its quietest. It is a working village, so keep to public lanes and be quiet around houses.

Nearby: A Short Cultural Circuit

Because it is so close to Chora, Galanado combines easily with other places. Local route suggestions pair the Belonia Tower with the Bazeos Tower, which hosts the Naxos Festival each summer, and with the ancient Sanctuary of Demeter at Sangri; the neighbouring village of Vivlos is a couple of kilometres from the tower, and Glinado lies on the road toward Kastraki. For the larger picture, start in Chora (Naxos Town), and when you want the mountains, continue to Filoti and Apeiranthos.

Galanado is the kind of place that rewards low expectations and a slow pace. It has no single headline sight, and the island’s big stories are told elsewhere; but between the plain, the tower and the chapel that quietly holds two faiths under one roof, it gives a small, true picture of rural Naxos only minutes from the harbour. Come for a morning, take the long way home, and keep the afternoon for the beach.