The first thing anyone ever sees upon arriving in Naxos is a temple to Apollo. Make your way through the confused crowd of tourists and leave your bag with one of the eager hoteliers who greet you as you disembark, and you will find yourself on the small promontory where it lies. An earthquake sent most of the building into the sea long ago. Distorted columns, headstones, and lintels rest just below the surface of the water all along the beach. All that’s left is single marble arch. A fading white, it stands out stark against the blue horizon.
It is here that, according to the myth, Ariadne was abandoned by Theseus while she slept. Realizing her plight, the poor girl was driven insane. Her clothes abandoned to the sea, she beat her breast in good Greek fashion and lamented her fate to the immenseness of the sea: perfide, deserto liquisti in litore, Theseu? The place is as empty now as it was then.
Standing here, one feels the same crushing sense of loneliness once felt by Ariadne. All around, the rolling waves stretch out to infinity: a tenuous breakwater is all that connects this site to the rest of the island. The breakers beat hard against it with a slap that reminds of you of the erosion that is inevitably happening. The sheer improbability of the place has a spiritual effect; the forces of nature overwhelm your senses. Although it is difficult to explain the motivation exactly, intuitively you understand why the Greeks chose here to build their temple.
(Describe a sacred place. It need not be, although it can be, a place designated as sacred by custom and purpose, and you may not view it as sacred yourself.)
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