PAXOS VILLA HOLIDAYS

The people who tend the olive groves have generations of experience, meaning that the Paxos olive trees are the most pampered in the world. They produce a connoisseur’s oil, golden smooth and mellow. Not for these trees is the annual back and sides of a severe pruning. They are allowed to grow more or less unrestrained. What’s good for the olives is also good for the islanders and their visitors, for Paxos is as much an island of dappled shade, cool glades and peaceful woodland walks as of beaches, hidden coves and wild cliffs.

Visitors have been coming to the island since ancient times, most of them uninvited, until the development of tourism in the latter half of 20th Century. Somehow the island seems to have avoided much of the bloodshed and strife of its larger neighbours. Anthony and Cleopatra allegedly enjoyed a final romantic meal together on the island before the fateful Battle of Actium in 31 BC, candlelit of course, with water lapping against the sides of their quinquereme and the moon silvering the waves!

Since the end of the second World War, Paxos’ reputation as a peaceful holiday paradise has struck a chord with the British and once visited appears to inspire a lifelong devotion. There is one family who come to the island every year and are now well into the fourth generation!

The villages of the island are intriguing. Gaios, is considered the gateway to Paxos and its harbour is spectacularly disguised from the sea by the small island of Agios Nikolaos, inhabited only by the local priests. Once around this most holy of islands, the harbour of Gaios opens up magnificently to reveal the waterfront and the patchwork of alleyways and tavernas. Further up the coast one will find Loggos, a picturesque traditionally Greek fishing village.

Sleepy by nature, Loggos is a tranquil retreat with four tavernas, a bakery and a mini market. Close by, after a short stroll through the olive trees, you will stumble across the excellent peaceful beaches (Levrechio, Marmari, Kipos and Glyfada) all with white pebbles and clear as crystal aqua blue water. Inland you will find the village of Magazia, a village with tavernas and a mini market set amongst the deepest of olive groves at the crossroads of all the inland lanes that wind round the island.

Paxos has avoided all forms of mass tourism, and whilst Gaios, the capital and to a lesser extent the smaller villages of Lakka and Loggos, buzz with a cosmopolitan mix of yachtsmen and day visitors from Corfu. Very few people stray further afield. Even in the middle of August, one can wander along any of the hundreds of paths and rarely meet a soul.

With no large hotel complexes, villas and apartments that are mostly set by themselves amongst the olives the island can never become overcrowded. Allowing the native islanders and their seasonal visitors to get to know each other.

This is by no means an island whose sole raison d’etre is tourism. In fact it is still said that the cultivation of the olive is still the major source of income on Paxos.

To stay here is to enjoy the complete Ionian way of life!