Nothing compares to a Greek island holiday

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Paxos Beach

NOTHING COMPARES TO A GREEK ISLAND HOLIDAY

6 February 2010 by Tony Wells

The Greek islands remain uncharted territory for many people but you should give them a try. A Greek island holiday can be the most relaxing break you’ve had in years.

Islands. They are the most alluring of holiday destinations, conjuring up dreams of self-sufficiency, independence, peace, simplicity. It’s all true. And Greece has hundreds of them, many of them offering just that perfect combination. A Greek island holiday provides you with the perfect antidote to that rat race you’re trapped in for the rest of the year: forget motorways, office blocks, leaden skies, heaving pubs and 24-hour news. A Greek island holiday returns you to a simpler life, where in a couple of days the cares of the daily grind slip from your shoulders and you reacquaint yourself with what the essence of life really is.

Take tiny Paxos, for instance, the jewel in specialist Travel à la carte’s Greek island holiday programme. Small enough to walk across in under an hour, lapped by the turquoise-green Ionian sea, Paxos combines an easy pace of life with great natural beauty and just enough amenities in the way of tavernas and shops for everything to be within easy reach. The company’s accommodation - cottages, apartments, villas with pools – is centred in and around Loggos, the smallest of Paxos’s three coastal villages, although the other two main habitations for the island’s population of 2,000 or so, Gaios and Lakka, are only a short boat ride away. A holiday in Loggos, at one of the apartments of the old Manor House overlooking Loggos bay, for instance, will provide you with accommodation a few minutes’ walk from the village and the beach, a shady terrace with sweeping sea views over the bay as far as Corfu and the mainland, half a dozen small tavernas offering a range of food from simple vegetarian Greek to international cuisine, a bakery, somewhere to change money, a local bus service, scooters or cars to rent and, bobbing in the harbour, a fleet of little motorboats the hire of which opens up a string of sparsely populated beaches along the north and eastern coasts. And all this sums up the charm of the Greek island holiday: a stroll to the bakers for fresh bread in the morning, an unhurried breakfast on the terrace, shopping for the ingredients of a light picnic – olives, cheese, tomatoes – for lunch, then a 10 minute walk or boat ride to nearby Marmari or Kipos beach for swimming, snorkelling, sunbathing and snoozing. Then at the end of the afternoon a saunter home through the softly rustling olive groves for a shower and change of clothes before a short walk to a local restaurant or a ride up to nearby Fontana or Gaios for an evening meal and a stroll beneath the stars.

It may not seem much, and for more activity there are livelier bars in Lakka and even a disco in the capital, Gaios, but the peace and simplicity of Paxos life have a way of casting a spell over you. After just a few days, the strains and stresses of the working year fall away and you revert to an older, more essential pattern of existence, which is the great gift of the Greek island holiday. Time to give it a try.

For details of Travel à la carte’s villas and apartments in Paxos, visit www.travelalacarte.co.uk or contact Chris Griffiths (email chris@travelalacarte.co.uk or tel 0030 26620 31207) or Tony Wells (email tony@travelalacarte.co.uk or tel 020 7316 1867).