Walking around Paxos, Greece

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WALKING AROUND PAXOS

Walking is very popular on Paxos – in fact it’s a perfect island to explore on foot, being small, hilly but not mountainous, and with lots of paths. Until recently, these foot- and donkey paths which lead all over the island were how everyone got around, since cars were few and far between. There may be more cars now, especially in July and August, but the network of paths is still intact, if a trifle overgrown in places, and anyway the perfect time for a walking holiday is the early and late season when temperatures are more moderate and – in spring – more flowers and plants are on display.

Many guests staying even in outlying villas now forsake motorised transport for shanks’s pony, since not only are most properties no more than 25 minutes’ walk from the nearest beach, shop or taverna but the paths also take them through such bewitching countryside, winding through silent olive groves over a carpet of green grass and wild flowers or along narrow lanes lined with dry stone walls which pass through abandoned or semi-abandoned villages. The paths may not always be well sign-posted but finding new ways and paths is part of the fun and, with Paxos being such a small island, you are never far from a road or village where you can ask for assistance.

Abandoned villages aside, there are other sights of both architectural and historical interest to find on these walks. You will come across old Venetian houses, ruined olive presses and windmills from Venetian times, the ‘sternas’ or stone reservoirs built by the British during their 50-year administration of Paxos from 1815, and some British-built roads, such as the old military road leading down into Loggos from the Fontana road. A favourite walk from Loggos is to the pretty 17th century church of Ippapandi, where the bell tower affords wonderful views over Lakka to Corfu, and from there, for the more intrepid, to the sheer cliffs of Eremitis on the west coast. Other grand natural sights include the Tripitos arch, on the southern tip of the island, and, in early spring, the flocks of migrating birds that pass through Paxos each year.