Traveling to Paxi and Antipaxi: the jewels of Poseidon

Paxi love at first sight.
Antipaxi the Caribbean just steps from home.
Stay in a mini-villas with balcony and private pool shared with four other villas,
ten days between the magical beaches, forests and boat.
Greece is not white and blue domes of Santorini, typical of the villages, but the nightlife of Mykonos is still an authentic Greece. Paxi is green, a little olive gardens surrounded by a sea so beautiful to be real competition to the Caribbean islands. Tourism is, but the beaches are quiet and almost deserted. A local resident told us, "people come here and then mysteriously disappears."
It is found in coffee for a drink and small, simple taverns in the evening.
Everything just perfect.

 

Arrival in Paxi

We landed on the island with the only daily ferry from Igoumenitsa, arriving at 14:30.
We found the marina waiting for the owner of the mini villa booked from Italy who accompanied us to the destination. Was inserted in a context of 5 villas, all with private garden and immersed in an olive grove. Fantastic pool.
We have survived the first taste of the sea, stopping for a bathroom in the villas. We were quite close to the capital Gaios, a small country with a great marina in a protected natural fjord from the two islands of San Nicolas and Panagia. After spending supply the kitchen, we got lost for a few narrow features. All life is concentrated along the beach and the main square. The premises of Gaios are quite expensive by the standards of Greece, because of the crowded holiday moored in the harbor with sailboats and yachts. However, we were immediately struck by the calm and tranquility, the silence interrupted by the notes of the taverns, in spite of full tables. We already love of Paxi.

From now start exploring the island and around the coves of the east coast. From now on we find in the village of Platanos inside a tavern that will become our regular stop in the morning. After so many days is the only one to serve a good espresso. We had nostalgic! We continue to MONODENDRI beach, Lakka in the district, remain fascinated by the amount of trees present virtually everywhere on the island.
The beach is equipped, surmounted by a tavern-bar.
The use of sun beds and umbrellas is free with a drink that is served directly on the beach. Wonderful sea, the beach of small pebbles. We stay until early afternoon. After some rest and some time spent in the pool, we decided to start exploring the interior. Wander in the car, following the signs that indicate an attraction. There Ipapanti hits the church with a bell tower, one of the oldest on the island. The silence of the house, only the wind and crickets. To replace the spirit. After dinner ... Gaios

PAXI

Oggi andiamo a sud, raggiungendo Mongonissi. Qui c'è una delle poche spiagge sabbiose dell'isole affacciata su una cala protetta e dall'acqua bassa. Alle spalle c'è una taverna-bar. Anche qui l'uso di lettini è gratuito. Per buona parte della mattinata la spiaggia è deserta, ci sembra un sogno essere praticamente soli. Solo verso l'ora di pranzo si popola di famiglie con bambini, ma comunque sempre poco affollamento. Per pranzo rientriamo a casa e scegliamo per il pomeriggio un altra cala molto vicina a noi...Kloni Gouli. La spiaggia è di grossi ciottoli e il mare un sogno. Ci crogioliamo al sole fino a sera e poi aperitivo a Gaios. Ne approfittiamo per prenotare la barca, cosa che consiglio di fare con anticipo poichè non tutti i giorni si trova disponibilità.

PAXI

Today we reach the beach Kipiadi. It is not easy to find and reach. The road is unpaved, but with a little care you can not reach a parking arranged for a few machines. Then there is the descent by foot, definitely harder to return ....
The beach is deserted, there's nothing nearby, so essential to bring in water and cream.
Here we feel in a desert island. The few people who come, are lost in the greatness of the beach and always seems to be alone. Picture postcard. After lunch, just resist the hottest hours and go home. Usual step in the pool. For the appetizer changing goal, and we go to visit the port of Loggos. It 'really small, everything looks on the only road that passes on the dock. Here, as throughout the island, peace reigns.

Tour of PAXI and ANTIPAXI

Today, the day begins very early.
Let's take the chartered boat at the port of Gaios.
It 'a boat for 6 people, with 30 hp engine, 70 Euro per day plus fuel. Pillows, and a sun canopy space, nothing fancy but nice for more than two and to allow us to make a complete tour of the island and Antipaxoi.
If you want to visit the west coast, it is the only way to charter a boat, or else there are organized trips to the caves that lead to Antipaxos and then ... but the crowd on the boats and the inability to enjoy every corner. .. well ... destroys the economic savings.
In the morning we did the whole round of Paxos, stopping for a swim in the beautiful cove of Orkos (not accessible by car) and then for several stops on the west coast. Here, it seems another island. Characterized by high steep sea walls, caves, ravines and cliffs. The size of our boats allow us to come in and see everything. They are secluded corners with a sea that is the most beautiful ever seen. EREMITIS beautiful bay, Ortolithos and the Blue Grotto. For lunch we reach Antipaxi, with first stop at the sandy beach of Vrika. Bath and continue to Voutoumi. Let us pause for a long time, anchored in front of the beach. Here, the sea turns into the biggest and most beautiful natural swimming pool. In the places I visited, I never found a color that way. There's really nothing to envy to the Caribbean islands. It 'hard to leave this place, and even more difficult to get out of the water, but we continue. Let the whole round of Antipaxoi and here again the west coast is rugged and wild, totally different from the east. Returning to Paxi, we stop the island of Panagia. Destroyed the boat back, convinced that in the coming years we will rent for longer! Evening at Home.

PAXI

This morning the sea to recover anything from the "burn the boat"! Walk in Gaios, shopping, and then the sea.
Today we choose Khaki Lagada beach, a beautiful cove of pebbles from the water clear. But it is no longer a novelty. We are getting used to such a slow pace and this sea that makes every corner a thrill.
In the evening we go for a walk in the village of Lakka, where there are many beautiful little places for a drink on the water.

PAXI

Today we choose the beach PLAN. It 'the only reachable located in the northwest, under the lighthouse that crowns the bay of Lakka. The road leads up onto the beach, but it is unpaved and poorly made??. Even here we are alone, there are only two Greek fishermen who are going away on our arrival. Effect is no longer speaking of the sea, which here takes on a different tone and even more transparent not having the olive trees near the beach. Here we spend most of the day, to continue it in the pool. At the usual hour of the aperitif, we were determined to find a point from which to watch the sunset on the island. On a local newspaper showed the fraction to be followed. With great surprise we found at the end of a road that seemed to end in nothing the restaurant bar "Eremitis". Looking out onto a terrace has a wonderful view over the cliffs of the bay and of course Eremitis the sunset, which here becomes an attraction. The atmosphere is elegant, yet informal. Background music scene joined the thrill! Not content to reserve a table appetizer isolated and suspended for the night after the scene at the end ... we deserve this beautiful whim!

PAXI

Today we go to the beaches around Loggos Levreho and Marmara. The first is reachable by car, behind a tavern, but not worth stopping view of the proximity to the road. We continue to Marmari, but the dirt road ends before reaching the beach and you have to look for a place to stop before you start the descent. The beach is beautiful, with the olive grove that arrives directly on the beach. Here are a few small families who had camped in the woods, but the silence and stillness did not abandon us ever. We are so caught up that if there is a paradise we would look like this!
In the afternoon last swim in the pool, move to Gaios and wonderful evening at the restaurant "EREMITIS".