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  • Paxos Beaches

    Paxos Beaches

    In this post I will tell you about the beaches of Paxos.

    Which are my favourite Paxos beaches? You will find out in this post in which I will tell you what I know about every beach that I am aware of on Paxos. I have visited most of them either by foot, car or boat.

    I will start with Lakka Beach, in Lakka (of course) where we were staying, and I will go around the island in a clockwise direction

    Here is the map that show the main beaches – there are a couple of unnamed beaches along the way, and one that does not appear on any maps.

    At the end this post I will provide some general advice that will help you enjoy your visit to any beach on the wonderful Greek Island of Paxos.

    Without further ado, these are the beaches.

    • Lakka Beach
    • Arcoudaki Beach
    • Orkos Beach
    • Lakkos Beach
    • Manadrenti Beach
    • Hermans Beach
    • Leverechio Beach
    • Marmari Beach
    • Kipos Beach
    • Kipiadi Beach
    • Kaki Langada Beach
    • Kloni Gouli Beach
    • Plakes Beach
    • Stafiucha Beach
    • Mongonissi Beach
    • Galazio Beach
    • Avlaki Beach
    • Plani Beach

    Lakka Beach

    This is the main beach in Lakka. Whilst it is a pebbly beach it is in a great location just minutes from the centre of the village of Lakka. You can get drinks and food from the bar just off the beach. The bar is part of the family run Hotel Amfitriti Hotel.

    Lakka Beach is one of my sunrise locations, and the place where the leaf blower started up just as I was about to start filming one morning!

    Lakka Beach gives you great sunrise views, with the sun rising over the hill across the bay

    (where you can find Hotel Bastas).

    There are great views of the white boats of Lakka from the beach. Check out this video which I took of the lovely clear water and very gently lapping waves.

    Arcoudaki Beach

    I found this beach all by myself whilst wandering around the land surrounding Lakka – this is what I do. I wander around and find things.

    Here is a sign to the beach.

    This beach is not shown on Google Maps.

    And it is not the biggest beach. And there are sunrise naked swimmers to contend with!

    Orkos Beach

    Orkos Beach is lovely, but it is a bit of a trek down to the beach. Make sure you are in good shape and take the best footwear you have with you. Having said that I walked down there following a family who had small children wearing flip flops carrying large inflatables!

    There is nothing when you get down to the beach. Apart from a house which so the story goes belongs to a former footballer called Bruno. I cannot remember which team he used to play for, but there is a house right on the beach which looks more like a restaurant to be honest which belongs to Bruno.

    So they say.

    Orkos Beach was lovely but with no facilities at all, so you have to take everything you need with you, and of course take it all back again.

    Lovely crystal-clear waters are your reward for making the trek down there.

    My lingering memory of Orkos Beach was the eclectic mix of middle-class English and Italian families – I have mentioned in another post it felt like I was in the middle of a Hugh Grant film!

    Next Beach down is Lakkos Beach

    Lakkos Beach is small and quiet and lovely. Again, a trek from the village is required but again you are rewarded for your efforts. And as there is nothing there this beach can be quieter. I have walked to Lakkos Beach and visited it by boat, and there have never been more than half a dozen people on the beach when I have been there.

    Again, no facilities at the beach so take what you need and bring it all back with you at the end of the day.

    Manadentri Beach

    Next beach down on the west coast is Manadentri Beach. This is a very popular beach that can get busy. One of the reasons it gets busy is that it has facilities!

    I did not know about Ben’s Bar when we visited this beach, so cannot vouch for it, but it does sound great. The other bar, called ΜAΝΔΕΝΔΡΙ Bar Restaurant is the one that you have to walk through from the car park to get to the beach.

    Very mixed reviews of this place from the guests at Hotel Bastas, most of whom had spent a day there. Hotel Bastas provide a free shuttle bus from the hotel to the beach, picking up late afternoon.

    You can get a taxi or drive there of course, or have an even longer walk than the other beaches.

    For me the place was too busy and noisy, but it was nice to be able to get food and a drink and sit down looking at the sea. It is a lovely beach to be fair.

    And here is the best bit.

    If you walk through the beach bar and turn right, walk down to the end where you find the restaurant of the Glyfada Beach Villas, which visitors are more than welcome at. We had a lovely meal there and even got to use their pool which is situated high up above the beach with great views.

    You have to ask nicely to use the pool of course, which they let us do as it was quiet, and we were clearly nice people!

    And there is a bar at the top by the pool as well.

    Another thing that I love doing here is swimming from the Glyfada end of the beach. Swim out to the right-hand side and there are some rocks you can dive into the blue from. I snorkel using swimming goggles only, just diving down and holding my breath.

    Hermans Beach

    Talking of which, I have swum round here from Manadentri Beach. All I can remember seeing was some rocks to be honest, I did not make it to the actual shoreline, as I was checking out the stunning boats moored in this tiny bay.

    Leverechio Beach

    There is no beach at Loggos really, so the next beach down after Loggos is Leverechio Beach. This beach has the Boukolos Taverna which looked nice – we did not eat there. And everyone I have spoken to said that had an excellent time there – great food and great service.

    One for another time for sure.

    Another lovely beach with crystal clear waters – we did not stop at this beach unfortunately, we just had a quick look on our way through.

    Marmari Beach

    A stunning beach that we visited by boat. Very quiet, very lovely and more lovely clear water which I enjoyed a swim in.

    There is nothing at the beach, which is one reason why it can be very quiet. This is another pebbly beach.

    Kipos Beach

    Another beach we passed by boat but have not been too. This beach is another one which is a bit of a walk, but very popular with people who have visited it. The sea is yet again lovely and clear.

    The lack of facilities and the effort involved in getting there make this a lovely quiet peaceful beach.

    Kipiadi Beach

    This is a bigger beach, and as the walk is quite long a very quiet and rather stunning beach. We visited this beach by boat and counted three people along the entire length of the beach.

    The beach is located in a lovely semi-circular bay which is popular with passing boats as it has lovely clear flat waters which are great for a swim stop.

    This is the beach I want to go to by land next time I am lucky enough to be on the island of Paxos.

    Kaki Langada Beach

    Another small beach which you can find just off the road to Gaios. When you drop down the hill and turn right the beach is right there.

    This is another typical Paxos Beach, pebbly, small, quiet, no facilities and lovely clear blue waters. And not so much of a trek to get to!

    Kloni Gouli Beach

    A small beach on the way into Gaios from the north of the island. There is a bar nearby and sun loungers available which is good. The downside to this is that this beach can get busy, so if you like peace and quiet you might be better off going somewhere else.

    I have seen this beach virtually deserted and also pretty rammed, so it just depends on the day.

    Bartek Beach

    This beach is actually in Gaios, so if that is where you are staying this will be your local beach This is another beach with the potential to get vey busy. On the plus side it is a quick walk into the centre of Gaios where you can get anything and everything that you might need.

    The beach is located just down from my favourite memorial in Paxos, the Statue of Georgios Anemogiannis. TO get there walk along the road on the waterfront south out of Gaios and you will see the steps down to the beach just after the statue.

    This is a great beach to visit in the evening once all the day trippers have left the island. Being on the east coast though sunrise is over the other side of the island. Sunrise is a good time to be there though.

    Plakes Beach

    Further down the road south out of Gaios Plakes Beach. Rocks and pebbles and lovely swimming are what you will find here.

    Unnamed beach

    After Plakes Beach there is a beach with no name which looks like it is worth investigating on foot or by boat

    Paxos Beach Hotel

    This is a beach that you have to pay to access, although €5 for the day seems pretty reasonable to me. This charge is taken off your bill when you buy food and drinks so well worth a visit. And the Paxos Beach Hotel is worth a look too!

    As you continue down the road from Gaios to Mongonissi there are a few small unnamed beaches which are worth a look. Being unnamed there is a great chance of getting a beach all to yourself, remembering that you have to take everything with you for the day, and take it all back when you leave – there are no bins on these beaches.

    Stafiucha Beach

    Stafiucha Beach is the next named beach, which is located at the entrance of the channel into Mongonissi making it a great place to sit and watch the boats go by.

    Mongonissi Beach

    This is a sandy beach in front of the Mongonissi Beach Bar. There is also a café just beyond the beach. This is a sandy beach – yes a sandy beach! And there are facilities here too making this beach great for a day out.

    This beach has the potential to get busy too. The drive around the bay is great, and you get great views of the bay from the top of the hill.

    There are also sun loungers in front of the boat moorings which can be quieter.

    This is also a great beach to visit if you are travelling by boat.

    Galazio Beach

    This is the next named beach, which is the first beach we come to our trip around the coastline of Paxos on the west coast.

    There is a beach before then which has no name and is at the foot of the cliffs, so great to visit by boat.

    This beach is accessible by boat or by foot if you are feeling adventurous. And if you are a strong swimmer you can swim from the nearest beach called Avlaki Beach.

    What do you get at Galazio Beach? Those stunning turquoise/ blue waters which are one of the features of the most beautiful Greek Islands.

    We visited this beach on our boat trip and it is stunning.

    Avlaki Beach

    Take care on the road down to the beach – the road ends up being rough and bumpy gravel. There are a couple of parking spaces at the bottom though.

    This is a small beach in a lovely sheltered bay with yes stunning clear blue water!

    Erimitis Bay Beach

    You know a beach is a big beach on Paxos when it has a sign from the road to it!

    This beach is stunning! One of the best beaches in Paxos. No doubt about that.

    Nothing there mind, but great for late afternoon sun. I cannot vouch for sunsets there unfortunately, much as I would like to.

    We visited this beach by boat, the water is a bit rocky so care needs to be taken unless you moor some way out and drop anchor, which is what I should have done.

    And if you are going by car? I would recommend parking where you can and walking the last bit. I drove all the way to the three parking spaces for the lovely complex down there. The spaces were full, so I turned around and guess what – I really struggled to get the Peugeot 108 hire car up the hill. I thought I was going to burn the clutch out – be aware of this if you drive down there!

    Plani Beach

    We have now made it back round to near Lakka at the top of the island. You can get to this beach by car, taking the road to the lighthouse before turning off and driving down to the beach. This is probably the most exposed beach on Paxos, so check the wind direction before going there or you might have an uncomfortable day.

    And being relatively exposed you can get a rougher sea here (in comparison to gently lapping water that is!).

    No facilities but minutes from Lakka.

    And give this beach a go at sunset!

    Meattie Buir’s Beach

    A lovely, quiet, out of the way beach. One person I spoke to referred to this as the hidden gem of Paxos. It is a bit of a trek to get there, but well worth it. Yes the water is lovely and clear – great for swimming.

    You can take a car and park at the end of the road north of Lakka – this is the same road that you need to take to get to the Lighthouse. Park at then end and it is a quick walk down the rough path to the beach.

    And finally, the beach with no name

    There is one last beach. I found this beach as I was walking along the path to the north of Lakka trying to find the ruins of the old church Agiou Thoma.

    There were people on this beach – just a small group who had got to the beach by boat. I am sure I could have scrambled down to the beach from the path.

    And that is the beaches of Paxos as far as I know!

    While I am on the subject of beaches on Paxos I guess I should tell you which beaches can be found on the smaller Greek Island of Antipaxos. That is something for the next post, which will be all about Antipaxos.

    A few more things

    Facilities

    Many of the beaches on Paxos have no facilities whatsoever. You need to thing about this before going to some of these beaches. I made the mistake of walking to Arcoudaki Beach without taking any water – this is the video that I recorded as a result of this stupidity!

    Take everything you need and no more, and don’t forget to bring everything back with you.

    Rubbish

    There are no bins on most of the beaches so you have to take your won rubbish away with you, which is a responsibility we all share to keep this lovely island in the condition we would like to find it.

    Naked swimmers

    I assume that this is a sunrise/ sunset phenomenon, but I was rather surprised to be joined by people who cheerfully said good morning to me before stripping off and going for a naked morning swim!

    Don’t take the kids to Arcoudaki Beach at sunrise is the best advice I can give you!

    Orientation

    The beaches on the east coast get the sunrise but the sunset is on the other side of the island. These beaches get the full force of the sun from first thing in the morning, and in my experience are less exposed to the prevailing winds.

    The beaches on the west coast do not get sunrise (directly) but do enjoy sunset. There are a couple of beaches on the north west coast which are a bit more exposed and experience rougher seas than the east coast.

    Shoes

    To get to most of the beaches you need decent footwear – don’t try to get to Orkos Beach in flip flops as you might struggle with the rough paths, and there is nothing worse than struggling to get somewhere knowing that getting away some hours later is going to be even harder!

    Shade

    Some of the beaches offer limited amounts of shade, some nothing at all. Wear a hat – you will benefit from this at some point in the day trust me.

    Wear sunscreen

    I know this is blindingly obvious, but I got complacent one day and did not put any on and paid the price for it later. Wear sunscreen – you will still get a tan! Being bald I use a moisturiser on my face/ bald head with a minimum SPF of 15.

    Sunshine

    Most days in Paxos enjoy wall to wall sunshine. This can get tiring and certainly dehydrating. Be aware that the sun on Paxos is (probably) hotter than where you have come from and needs to be allowed for.

    Swimming

    Swimming in Paxos is great. The sea is lovely and clear, and on most beaches there are very few if any waves, just nice gentle lapping waves. Check out this video of the waves on Lakka Beach – it is six minutes of peaceful loveliness!

    Of course take care when swimming – you know what you need to think about so I will not patronnise you here.

    Phone signal

    There is a pretty good phone signal on most of Paxos, but it can fade away at the edges. I found myself with no phone signal at all trying to navigate to the Tripitos Arch using Google Maps. Don’t therefore be 100% reliant on a phone signal as you will find there are places where you have none. That is why I bought a map that shows all the roads and footpaths – that is all I need to know when I am out and about.

    Snorkelling

    Find some rocks in a nice sheltered bay, check the depth then jump in and go snorkelling – this is what I love doing.

    And when I go snorkelling I do not use a snorkel – they drive me up the wall. I don’t wear a mask any more. Just a pair of swimming goggles. Does that mean I am no longer snorkelling?

    Unnamed beaches

    There are some beaches which do not have names that I am aware of. Check them out and if they are any good let me know and I will add them to this list!

    Related reading on my blog

    There are a number of other blog posts which you will find of interest if you are interested in getting around the wonderful Greek Island of Paxos, which I guess you must be as you have made it all the way to the end of this post!

    What Is Paxos Like – Simply A Stunning Greek Island

    Paxos Car Hire – What I Did In 48 hours – days 12 and 13

    Paxos Mobile Phone Signal – And What About Wi-Fi?

    11 Best Things To Do In Paxos

    Paxos Travel Guide – Getting Around The Island

    Updates

    If you find when you visit that things have changed since I went to them please let me know and I will add this info to this post – it would be great to be able to keep this post as up to date as possible.

    Summary

    I hope that you have enjoyed reading all about the beaches of Paxos – please join me in my next post which is all about the even smaller island of Antipaxos.

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • 11 Best Things To Do In Paxos

    11 Best Things To Do In Paxos

    You are thinking of going to Paxos? Well why not?

    Here are the best 11 things to do in Paxos based on my personal experiences from two visits to this wonderful Greek Island. I asked myself the question – what were my favourite things that I did on Paxos? I have put them all together here.

    This list is the first 11 things that I thought of, so is genuinely my 11 favourite things that I did on Paxos.

    1 – Tripitos Arch

    I went to the Tripitos Arch twice. First time I did not find it, second time I did.

    Is this really my favourite place to visit on Paxos? Yes it is.

    The Tripitos Arch is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Greek Island of Paxos
    The Tripitos Arch is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Greek Island of Paxos

    I am a photographer, former climber and mountaineer and all-round explorer. I love finding new places and photographing them. I love finding natural features that I can explore and lose myself in for a few hours.

    And Tripitos Arch is one of those places for me.

    I spent a good 4 hours getting there, taking photos, clambering around and exploring the place.

    And in all that time I saw two people. Two people who did not speak to me it has to be said!

    But I loved visiting the Tripitos Arch – so much so that I have written a post all about the arch and how to get there, what to see and do, titled Tripitos Arch Paxos – My Number 1 Thing To Do On Paxos – see I am not making this stuff up!

    The first time we came to Paxos I was aware of the Tripitos Arch, but we only stopped for a week, so I was restricted to public transport.

    I probably should have mentioned this on the post about the arch – you cannot get there by bus, you need either a car or taxi from (probably) Gaios. You do also pass the arch if you are taking the boat trip from Lakka down the west coast of Paxos to Antipaxos, where you get great views from the sea.

    But to actually get to the arch you need a car or are able to walk a long way! The arch is located on the south coast of Paxos, and the closest village. Ozias is

    This was the bit I had not thought about. Paxos is such a small island you could walk to the Tripitos Arch from Gaios. According to The Google this would take circa 35 minutes. I cannot vouch for this but have no reason to doubt Google. I never thought about walking to the Tripitos Arch from Gaios!

    Anyway, if you want to know more about my number one thing to do on Paxos check out the full post at the link above.

    2 – Boat Trip to Antipaxos

    And this is my number two thing to do on Paxos. Which is actually leaving Paxos! We have been to Antipaxos before, on a day trip from Gaios the first time we came to Paxos. And before that we discovered Paxos on a day trip from Corfu to Parga and Paxos, which was a trip organised by TUI.

    That gave us a taste for Paxos, and we knew that there was Antipaxos to be discovered!

    As with the Tripitos Arch I have written a separate post all about this most excellent day out. I will summarise the day in this top 11 post – this is the full post though Paxos Boat Hire – Do Your Own Trip From Paxos To Antipaxos.

    We rented a boat from Lakka, which is located at the top of the island. We managed to get a boat secured though Sam, our Olympic Holidays rep. That was time well spent sat at the bar by the pool at Hotel Bastas!

    We went to Lakka at 9 in the morning, got on the boat, had a brief lesson and then we were let loose for the day in the Ionian Sea! Here it is moored up across from Romantica – yes it really is called Lady Diana 765!

    I was laughing as I drove the boat out of Lakka – this was such a cool thing to do. And we got our first view of Lakka from the sea which was pretty special with that lovely aquamarine water and all the lovely white boats.

    The day was one of the best days ever, and we visited Antipaxos, Mongonissi, Gaios and had a few beach and swim stops on the way back.

    We were back in Lakka by 5pm having had a thoroughly good day, apart from me leaving my t-shirt at the bar in Antipaxos – check out the full post for the story of the repatriation of the t-shirt!

    If you are going to rent a boat for a day make sure you book it in advance, and get the boat from a reputable company, of which there are many on Paxos.

    And get out there and have some fun!

    3 – Watching the sun rise on Paxos

    Sunrise picture of the boats in the harbour in Loggos on the lovely island of Paxos by Rick McEvoy photography
    Sunrise picture of the boats in the harbour in Loggos on the lovely island of Paxos by Rick McEvoy photography

    You don’t have to be a photographer to get up early and enjoy the sunrise on Paxos. I am a photographer, so of course I am going to make the effort to witness what I still consider to be the privilege of watching a new day appear with the rising of the sun in the east.

    And that leads me onto my first point here – you need to go to the east coast of Paxos for sunrise and the west coast for sunsets. And sunsets can be restricted by the hills, so you need to find the right location. And by that time of the day we were are normally sat somewhere lovely having drinks.

    So, sunrise it is!

    You can get up early, see the sunrise on Paxos and then get back to bed and still be up at a reasonable time – it is not a killer thing to do like it is in some locations.

    The island is so small you are never far from a sunrise location!

    I photographed the sunrise in Loggos, Gaios and also the beaches on the east coast of Lakka.

    It is worth a recce during the day if you are going to do this, to make sure that your chosen route is navigable in the dark, and dark it can be on Paxos at night! There is no light pollution from, well, anywhere.

    Thankfully I have explored lots of the east coast so know where some of the good spots are.

    And whilst I said you can still get back for some sleep after watching the sunrise on Paxos I would recommend taking your time and enjoying that lovely, golden morning sunshine.

    Sure, as a photographer I would say that, but there is something special about this time of the day and that directional light.

    One word of warning though – be aware that there might be naked swimmers about!!!

    4 – A day out to Gaios

    Gaios is the capital of the wonderful Greek Island ofPaxos. And it is well worth a visit.

    You can get to Gaios by bus from Lakka or Loggos. If you are on a day trip to Paxos the chances are that you will be arriving by boat at Gaios.

    And everyone travelling to Paxos gets a ferry to the New Port of Gaios. Everyone apart from all the people who arrive independently by boat and moor at the various locations around the island that is.

    And everyone who is a normal person who is not super rich and can arrive by helicopter or some other fancy way!

    There is a pretty good chance that you will pass through Gaios then, so what is there to do there?

    If you are arriving by ferry from Corfu or mainland Greece you will arrive at the New Port which is on the outskirts of Gaios. From the port all you need to do is walk along the waterfront until you get to the church in the square – this is the centre of Gaios.

    The centre of Gaios Paxos
    The centre of Gaios Paxos

    From there you can find plenty of places to eat, drink and shop. I enjoyed walking along the waterfront all the way to the Anemogiannis Monument, this photo being taken on one of my sunrise excursions.

    Picture of the Anemogiannis Monument with a burst of sun in Gaios on the Greek Island of Paxos
    Picture of the Anemogiannis Monument with a burst of sun in Gaios on the Greek Island of Paxos

    If you get the bus to Gaios from either Lakka or Loggos you get off near the main supermarket on the island. If you walk down the main shopping street that takes you straight down to the square and the church, meeting up with the route from the port.

    Armed with this knowledge you have enough information to explore the adjacent streets and side streets and see a lot of what Gaios has to offer.

    Easy to navigate and lovely to walk around. Gaios does get busier when the day trippers arrive and again when they leave, but before and after this Gaios is lovely and peaceful.

    And there are lots of places to eat – I must point you in the direction of the restaurant right next to the church main square which does excellent chicken gyros!

    5 – An evening in Lakka

    Evening drinks in Lakka Paxos at Romantica Cafe Bar
    Evening drinks in Lakka Paxos at Romantica Cafe Bar

    Lakka is a lovely place to stay. We liked it so much there first time we went to Paxos that we returned to the same town, and indeed the same hotel, the Hotel Bastas.

    Lakka is a small village located at the top of the island with a lovely harbour with lots of visiting boats moored there.

    There is an excellent range of bars and restaurants offering plenty of places to eat and drink. We stopped in Lakka for two weeks and ate out there every night and still did not manage to dine at all the restaurants we wanted to dine at.

    We tended to drift down to the waterfront of Lakka circa 7.30 in the evening, and head to our favourite bar called Romantica for pre-dinner cocktails.

    Romantica Café Bar is just the width of the footpath away from the moored boats and has tables out the front and also an upstairs balcony which was excellent for sitting watching the sun set over the hills to the west.

    I think we tend to out earlier than most of the circa 200,000 visitors to the island each year, as we never had trouble getting one of the two tables overlooking the harbour!

    There are plenty of places to eat out in Lakka, we ended having three favourite restaurants called Taverna Pounentes in the village square, Arriva by the waterside and Restaurant Stasinos located in the centre of the village. We had lovely meals at other restaurants, but these were our favourites.

    There is a small number of shops to potter around after dinner before the short walk back to the Hotel Bastas.

    Basically, Lakka is a lovely chilled village which is a great place to stay for a fortnight if you don’t want the hassle of transport and late bars killing the mood.

    6 – Walking around the coastline

    This is another of my favourite things to do. I have already talked about the magnificent Tripitos Arch, but there is so much more to explore on the coastline of Paxos.

    I have explored most of the coastline within walking distance of Lakka, which was our base for both our visits to Paxos.

    Discovering the coast of Lakka Paxos
    Discovering the coast of Lakka Paxos

    Doing this joined together the bits that we have visited individually which was really nice. I found myself putting together these various bits and getting to know the coastline around Lakka really well.

    In talking to other people, I found out that I had found places that no one else seems to have come across, which is a shame as there is so much to see which you do not read about in the brochures.

    I of course have an added incentive to get out and explore being a photographer and creator of websites like this one and Photos of Santorini – getting out and about is where I get my material from for my posts!

    And no this is not work – this is what I would do if I was on holiday anyway. All I am doing is taking what I already love doing the most and doing something tangible with it.

    The east coast is great for sunrises, which is where I spent most of my time. I did explore the west coast as well on the days when I had a hire car, parking up and finding interesting things to see and do well off the beaten track

    The coastline of Paxos is lovely, and more often that when I was out and about there was no one else around either. I think that the walks around Lakka were my favourite, especially after sunrise with that lovely morning light.

    7 – Rent a car for a couple of days

    Paxos car hire courtesy of Hotel Bastas
    Paxos car hire courtesy of Hotel Bastas

    Paxos is a tiny island. It is actually less than 30 square miles, and only eight miles from Lakka at the top to Katsimatika and the wonderful Tripitos Arch on the south coast of the island.

    Yes – 8 miles.

    I drove from our hotel in Lakka to the Tripitos Arch in 25 minutes, including the time to stop and have an ice cream! True I had to walk the last bit as I ran out of road, but you get the idea of the scale of the place.

    I hired a car for two days, collecting it at 10am on the first morning so I could have two sunrise trips, returning the car at 10am on the second (well third) day.

    My sunrise trips in the car were to Loggos and Gaios.

    I also drove along every road I could find on Paxos exploring the less well visited parts of the island. And that was the best time – me out on a Greek Island with just me and my camera in the car exploring and taking photos.

    One of my favourite things was driving up to the very top of the island, where I found a convenient parking place and managed to get to the hills overlooking the entrance to the harbour at Lakka.

    I did not know at the time, but I could have walked there no problems – I am not sure I would have worked this out in the limited time I had available without the car.

    Driving all the way down to Mongonissi was good, calling in at Gaios on the way back to Lakka.

    I could have explored more to be honest, but two days was excellent fun, even in a Peugeot 108! You can read more in this post titled Paxos Car Hire – What I Did In 48 hours – days 12 and 13.

    8 – Take the bus to Lakka, Gaios and Loggos

    There is one bus service on Loggos. It goes from Lakka to Loggos to Gaios.

    This is the timetable from 2017

    We got the bus one morning, getting the 11am service from Lakka. It was a good 30 second walk from the Hotel Bastas to the bus stop. We had leisurely snacks in Lakka before getting on the bus and enjoying the elevated view from the front seats. Whilst the bus is only a single decker the seats are significantly higher than in a car giving you much more to look at.

    I saw things from the bus that I have not seen before, or since, which is good.

    And sitting in the front gives obviously the best views looking forwards as well as the but drops down into Loggos for the first stop.

    After a short wait it is time the highlight of the bus trip – well it is the highlight for me anyway.

    And no, I have not taken a video of this marvellous scene, which I really wish I had done.

    Video of what exactly?

    The bus from Lakka to Gaios driving along the harbour side in Loggos. There is barely room for the bus which is so close to touching the tables where people are sat eating and drinking!

    It really is a fantastic thing to watch on the bus, where you get the feeling that you are going to tip into the water at any second, and also from afar safe on the land.

    And no there is no room for traffic coming the other way – all you can do is wait at the top of the hill for the bus to go past.

    The rest of the journey to Gaios is rather uneventful in comparison!

    If you are on Paxos get the bus – you will not regret it I promise you.

    9 – Breakfast/ lunch at Averto

    Drive from Lakka down to Gaios, and not long after the turning for Loggos you arrive at the village of Magazia. In this very small village is Averto, a cocktail bar that serves lovely food.

    Magazia is located pretty high up in the centre of the island. Averto has an outdoor seating area at the back that gives lovely views of the island and the sea not that far down below. We sat there for quite a while drinking a lovely coffee each before enjoying a delicious cooked breakfast of poached eggs on toast.

    I could have stayed there much much longer. While we were there I went to the loo and took a photo of this wonderful wash basin!

    Whilst we were in Magazia I had a quick explore of the village, which as I said was tiny, before returning to collect M (as she likes to be referred to having read another post!) for our onward journey down to the south of the island.

    10 – A day at Manadentri Beach

    Talking of spending a day somewhere that is just what we did when we went to Manadentri Beach. This beach is located on the east coat of the island and is the next beach down after Orkos and Lakkos beaches.

    You need a car to get to this beach, or a taxi. Or if you are stopping at Hotel Bastas they take you there and pick you up again later for nothing!

    Which is exactly what we did.

    You have to walk through a bar to get to the beach. At the bar you are encouraged to take a table and eat and drink with them. Not that there is anything wrong with the ΜAΝΔΕΝΔΡΙ Bar and Restaurant, but it can get noisy with lots of families there.

    If you like something quieter then let me tell you a secret – promise not to tell anyone ok?

    If you walk through this bar, get to the beach and turn right you will come across the restaurant at the Glyfada Beach Villas and Restaurant.

    Anyone is more than welcome to eat and drink there – that is not the secret.

    This is the secret.

    Above the restaurant there is another bar, and a pool overlooking the beach. Ask nicely at the restaurant and they might just let you use this very nice swimming pool in a fantastic location.

    Manadentri Beach photographed from the pool at Glyfada
    Manadentri Beach photographed from the pool at Glyfada

    Remember – keep this between us – don’t tell anyone!

    11 – Days doing nothing relaxing by the pool.

    This was probably my favourite thing. A day of doing nothing. Or in our case days of doing nothing.

    The lovely swimming pool at Hotel Bastas
    The lovely swimming pool at Hotel Bastas

    We came to Paxos to relax and unwind, and that is one thing that you can do effortlessly in Paxos.

    We stayed at the Hotel Bastas, which is located a very short walk from the water in lovely Lakka.

    Hotel Bastas is a lovely family run hotel which has a real gem of a swimming pool which is located behind the hotel and unusually above it.

    This elevated position gives the pool extra time in the lovely sunshine in the evening. Down in Lakka the sun sets before it does at the pool due to this elevated position.

    The pool is open at 9 in the morning and has a bar where you can get food and drinks all day. There are plenty of sun loungers, chairs and shaded seating areas – plenty of room for everyone.

    There are also loos and showers underneath the pool.

    All of this loveliness is accessed from a fantastic bridge across from the main hotel.

    This was where we spent quite a few days doing nothing – it was the perfect base to unwind. I know it is a long way to travel to do nothing, but this is the kind of relaxing that you cannot do at home. Here by the pool we have no need to go anywhere from the moment we get there until it was time to go out in the evening.

    The fact that we know that we can spend the whole day in one place without any effort and relax and chill was one of the many reasons why we returned to Hotel Bastas.

    In conclusion

    Paxos is a small, quiet, relaxed Greek Island – embrace and take it easy! And get to know the island. It is so small it is easy to explore all of the island in a couple of days, and considering the island gets circa 200,000 visitors a year I was surprised how easy it was to find deserted roads, churches, olive groves and beaches!

    And there is also Antipaxos to add to the mix to what is a wonderful Greek Island well worth a visit for a day, a week or a fortnight.

    Or maybe longer?

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • Did We Discover Paxos Greece? Yes, But Now it’s Time To Go!

    Did We Discover Paxos Greece? Yes, But Now it’s Time To Go!

    Well it has been a great experience being in Paxos for two weeks, but sadly this time is coming to an end.

    Did we discover Paxos? Yes, we did. In this post I am going to describe our last full day, going home and then reflect on the things we discovered on this wonderful Greek Island which you might want to discover for yourself?

    Day 14 Thursday – the last full day

    I have the car till 10 am this morning. This means sunrise photography time. One more sunrise. And this morning I am going to go to the location I found the other day overlooking the capital of Paxos, Gaios. I know where the sun will rise following my wrong turning/ recce the other day.

    Another early morning.

    I get up at 5.40. Well I set the alarm for 5.40 but get up at 6.00. I get my stuff which is already packed and good to go and shoot off down to Gaios.

    I know exactly where I am going thankfully, and also know that I have enough time to get there before sunrise. I get an extra 10 minutes (ish) time as the sun has to get over the Greek mainland across the Ionian Sea.

    I drive to Gaios from Lakka in the Peugeot 108.

    Breakfast?

    No – I haven’t got any food – just a can of Pepsi. I grab a bottle of water and a coke – that will have to do. I can always grab something in Gaios.

    And today I remembered my wallet which is good!

    The last drive to Gaios

    10 minutes and I am there in the layby overlooking Gaios. I get my gear out of the car and set it up. I won’t bore you with any photography stuff in this post, I will just share the view from my iPhone, and one photo taken with my Canon 6D.

    This is the iPhone photo of the view.

    Sunrise at Gaios

    And here is that same view taken with my Canon 6D

    Photo of sunrise in Gaios on the Greek Island of Paxos taken by Rick McEvoy for the travel website Paxos Travel Guide
    Photo of sunrise in Gaios on the Greek Island of Paxos taken by Rick McEvoy for the travel website Paxos Travel Guide

    And then I have company

    I am stood there staring through the viewfinder of my camera. The sun is about to rise over the hills. I am ready with my camera for stills and my iPhone for video.

    And that is when two enormous camper vans appear. A man gets out of one of them and tells me that I must move my car. I point to the sun and my camera and say sorry, I need to get this.

    He looks at me, grunts and then walks off in disgust, the stench of a continental gasper polluting the fresh morning air.

    Here comes the wife

    A woman from the camper van walks over to me and tells me very rudely to move. She points her finger and all sorts of rudeness.

    Now I am not having that. I plug my headphones in and turn my back on her. On all of them. There are six of them stood there watching me.

    The funny thing is that there is plenty of room for them to park.

    My morning sunrise experience is accompanied by two camper van engines running, 6 people talking loudly in foreign accents and the constant reek of foreign cigarettes.

    I hold my ground

    I was there first, I am photographing the sunrise and that is that. I carry on until I am done, then jump in the car and drive away. They just glower at me.

    Sunrise overlooking Gaios done – now what?

    Time for a coffee!

    Maybe not. I leave the layby and pull in about 300 meters up the road – the morning light filtering through the trees has caught my eye. I stop and take some more photos.

    This is what I am talking about.

    Morning light in Gaios Paxos photographed from the road above the capital of Paxos after sunrise
    Morning light in Gaios Paxos photographed from the road above the capital of Paxos after sunrise

    And then it is time to get down to that wonderful waterfront in Gaios to take some photos in that lovely directional early morning light.

    I take lots of photos and videos which you can see on my YouTube Channel Paxos Travel Guide.

    And then I drive past the memorial called Anemogiannis Monument, which I take “proper” photos of with my Canon 6D. I had to Photoshop out the person who refused to move by the way, but you would never know!

    Picture of the Anemogiannis Monument with a burst of sun in Gaios on the Greek Island of Paxos

    After getting lots of lovely photos of the morning sun in Gaios it is time for a well-deserved treat.

    Yamas – here is me with a coffee!

    I needed that. Gave me the caffeine boost I was after.

    And after that it was time to head back to Hotel Bastas.

    Our final day on Paxos

    As it was our last day, we did what we are very good at doing on holiday – nothing. We spent a lovely relaxed day by the pool, having lunch there and drinks.

    Our last meal in Lakka

    It is our last meal in Lakka – where to go? Well we always go back to what has been our favourite restaurant during our stay. We have our final cocktails at Café Romantica and discuss where we are going to eat.

    It is a bit like the bit in the Apprentice when Lord Sugar sends the contestants out of the room!

    We are sat opposite our hire boat with the sun setting over the hills of Lakka as we enjoy our final cocktails on Paxos – such a lovely end to what has been a fantastic holiday.

    Which is our favourite restaurant in Lakka?

    Taverna Pounentes. We have eaten there two times already on this holiday and had a lovely time, so we return there one last time. Our host greets us like royalty and makes us feel very special.

    People are looking at us wondering who we are to receive such a welcome.

    Here is the menu

    And here is my starter. Well evidence of a starter which I demolished. All gone.

    And here are our mains.

    Yes, I have finally got into the swing of this travel writing stuff, photographing my food for social media sharing! Or not.

    We finish our food and drinks, pay the bill and sadly say farewell to the restaurant and all the lovely staff there.

    It was incredibly busy at Taverna Pounentes this evening, but the service was just as we like it. Not too quick but not too slow. Our host checked on us nicely but not too often – a lovely balance of attention and privacy which is a delicate balancing act.

    Dinner over

    Our last meal over we shuffle back to Hotel Bastas via the cake shop with our final snacks which we eat on the balcony with the last of the Metaxa.

    I have taken some photos from the balcony at night which are these – this is one of them – nice eh?

    With that it is time for bed – an early start and day travelling tomorrow. And it is weird to think that tomorrow night we will be sleeping back at home in the UK!

    Day 15 – going home – early…

    5.30. Alarm goes off. Kettle goes on. It’s dark.

    I get back into bed for a minute. We throw the last-minute bits into our suitcases and drag everything down the two floors and leave the bags outside.

    Babis is due at 6.30am, and promptly arrives at 6.35, which is perfect timing for us.

    Leaving Lakka for the last time – for now

    We load up the minibus and sit quietly drinking tea on the way to the New Port in Gaios.

    We get there nice and early and say farewell to Babis and get in the queue for the ferry.

    I hate this bit.

    Well I hate the going home bit to be honest. Sure, there are lots of things for us to look forward to when we get home, but I still hate this bit.

    The ferry back to Corfu from Paxos

    Our boat is called the Ilida 2 – aka the flying dolphin. The ferry takes an hour – the only incident was an Italian chap who turned the air con up to 27 – it was lovely and cool in the front seating area up to that point.

    Thankfully one of the crew walked in and knew straight away that something was not right – he turned the air-con back down to 21 and we all resumed our peaceful morning travel.

    A quiet boat journey for once

    No cats, dogs or loud people having FaceTime conversations at full volume – just nice and quiet. We

    get to the New Port at 8.15am and have a couple of hours to kill as we do not need to leave for the airport until 10.

    Breakfast at Sette Venti in the New Port of Corfu

    A surprisingly excellent breakfast with lots of food is served up by the very grumpy and then completely cheery waiters. There are lots of pigeons about which is not good. The background noise is a working Port and lots of chatter from Greek blokes. We are quite safe as there are a couple of coppers sat down chewing the fat.

    Getting back to Corfu Airport from the New Port

    We get a taxi back to the airport for the same €15 fixed fare. At the airport we check in too early and get sent to the back of the queue!

    And then we queue again and by the time we get to the front it is time to check-in.

    What is Corfu International Airport like?

    Corfu Airport is busy today – very busy.

    After checking in you have to take the hold luggage to a scanner where you say goodbye to the bags with all your belongings in for a few hours.

    And then it is another queue for security.

    Basically, on a busy day the queue for security starts where you drop the bags off.

    The joys of airport life!

    Through security – what is there to do at the airport?

    The first thing to do is try to find a couple of seats. I have to wait for 10 minutes to get seats at the café. Once these are secured, we can take it in turns to wander around the airport and enjoy a final meal in Greece.

    The final meal – a sad time

    I always find the last meal of a holiday is a sad thing – it is the last thing before getting back on the plane to reality!

    It was a cheeseburger and some crisps…..

    We don’t buy anything of any significance at the airport – we just eat, have a drink and get on the plane.

    The flight home.

    No dramas. We are back in Bournemouth in no time and before we know it in the Airport Cars taxi back to home.

    Late afternoon we are home, which always feels weird. That morning we were on Paxos, now we are home!

    All that there is left to do is unpack and get back to normal life.

    Oh yes, and create this website!

    It’s the weekend!

    We came home on a Friday. So, it is the weekend! How cool is that!

    Reflections of Paxos

    Here are some random thoughts that I captured and held back until now.

    Sat here on the balcony writing on my iPad Pro wondering why those felt pads you put under the feet of chairs are not mandatory in all hotels in the world! Every time someone moves a chair there is a hideous noise – us included to be fair.

    And you know that horrible noise you get when the people in the room above appear to be rearranging their room – same thing.

    Just saying.

    And as I write on my iPad I am thinking about getting an external keyboard to get around the WordPress woes that I experience from time to time.

    These are the trials us travel writers have to go through!

    Where I wrote the content for this website

    I did most of my writing on my iPad Pro either sat on the table on our balcony in the morning or sat in the shade by the pool. This is a daily journal of 14 days in Paxos, which I am making central content of this website.

    Photography stuff

    I realised that I was shooting RAW and JPEG. This is because I forgot to change the settings after writing an article on Improve photography about RAW and JPEG.

    This did give me a thought though – maybe I can use the JPEG images on the new website, as they will have the baked in processing as well as the adjustments I apply on import into Lightroom. That might work. And then I can edit the images that I want to put in a gallery for sale – that is a great idea and might be a huge time saver.

    And on that subject, I have started shooting more video with my Canon 6D, as well as shooting loads more videos on my iPhone. I love the convenience and quality (of course) of the videos I take with my iPhone – the quality is really quite remarkable, and in 4K as well. I have not worked on any videos taken on my Canon 6D yet – this is going to be a winter job. I don’t have a clue where to start to be completely honest.

    What did we discover on the Greek Island of Paxos?

    I will expand on this in another post, but these are the things that jump out at me as I write my last daily journal and reflect.

    Relaxing

    It was a vey relaxing holiday in a very relaxing place.

    The hotel

    It was nice returning to Hotel Bastas, knowing the staff and what was where. We will go back again, which is the highest recommendation we can pay!

    The atmosphere of the island

    Slow paced, laid back loveliness. That is the best way I can put it.

    Being on a small island

    So small that I got to see virtually all of it.

    Getting around all of the island

    I did not manage this the first time we visited Paxos, so was pleased to be able to do this by car, boat, bus and walking.

    Boat trip to Antipaxos

    Driving our own boat was the best day ever.

    Tripitos Arch

    One for me, and my favourite thing to do on Paxos.

    Eating in Lakka for a fortnight

    We had a couple of not great meals but other than that every night the food was excellent. I cannot remember an evening where we weren’t impressed by the service, care and attention.

    The freedom of car

    Real freedom to get out and about any time of day or night. Or in my case before sunrise – that is real freedom for me

    Sunrise on Paxos

    I witnessed sunrises in Lakka, Loggos and Gaios. And managed to get back to the hotel in time for breakfast so there was no impact on our precious days together, other than the odd nap by the pool.

    The people of Paxos

    The people are lovely.

    OK – that is the holiday over and done. I hope that you have enjoyed discovering Paxos with us, and I also hope that I have inspired you to go there yourselves.

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • Tripitos Arch Paxos – My Number One Thing To Do On Paxos

    Tripitos Arch Paxos – My Number One Thing To Do On Paxos

    In this post I want to tell you all about my favourite place on Paxos – the Tripitos Arch

    The Tripitos Arch is a naturally formed rock structure located on the west coast of Paxos at the southern end of the island. It is over 20 metres high and has magnificently clear waters around it’s base. In this post I will tell you everything you need to know about the Tripitos Arch, where it is, how to get there and what it is like walking over the arch.

    I have included photos and videos to help describe the best free attraction on Paxos to you.

    What is the Tripitos Arch?

    The Tripitos Arch is a magnificent naturally formed rock structure on the west coast of Paxos at the southern end of the island.

    It is over 20 metres high, and has magnificently clear waters around it’s base. Here it is.

    Photo of the Tripitos Arch on the Greek Island of Paxos
    The Tripitos Arch is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Greek Island of Paxos

    How was it formed?

    The Tripitos Arch is the remains of what was once a sea cave. Knowing that makes perfect sense when you are actually there.

    As to when it was formed no idea. A long old time ago to be sure. If anyone finds this out please let me know!

    I can picture myself in that enormous sea cave, like the ones that you can see on the west coast of Paxos on a boat trip from Lakka down to the arch and onwards to Antipaxos.

    Where is the Tripitos Arch?

    Here it is on a map. Along with everything I have learned getting there!

    It is located on the west coast of Paxos, right down at the bottom.

    What are the roads like getting there?

    The roads are ok. You run out of tarmac road some time before getting there, so take it nice and slow to avoid punctures and damage to the suspension, but the roads to the parking are perfectly navigable. This is a video of the road you drive up (beyond where I parked) to the arch.

    How do I get to the Tripitos Arch?

    You can get to the arch by car and walking, and also by boat. If you are taking the west coast route down Paxos to Antipaxos you will come across the Tripitos Arch just before you make the crossing over to Antipaxos.

    By car you drive through the village of Ozias, and park as close as you can. I have marked on the map Ozias, and also where I parked, and the path that I took to get to the arch.

    When I say you can get there by boat you can get close to it by boat, but I would not risk getting off a boat and onto the rocks to be honest.

    Not that I thought of this when we passed the arch in our hire boat earlier on in the fortnight.

    You can get pretty close on a boat though, and look up at the marvellous rock formation – just be careful navigating the boat.

    Is there parking?

    Yes, there is free parking close by. There is no car park, you just have to get as close as you can and then navigate your way there.

    I have marked on the map where I parked (rightly or wrongly).

    How much does it cost?

    Nothing. There is no one there to give any money to. It is completely free. There was no one there at all when I was there.

    There is no hut with someone sat there selling tickets and souvenirs- just a path to the arch.

    Is it easy to find?

    Sort of. I am an experienced walker and map reader and I got lost the first time I tried to find the arch. Once I knew where I had gone wrong it was easy though to be fair.

    So yes and no! Hopefully this post will help you get there.

    And the signage getting there is not great either. Not great at all.

    If you look at the map the red cross shows the final path that you have to take down to the arch. It is up to you how you get there, depending where you park. This is the critical bit that I missed with no real directions and no phone signal.

    I have also marked on this map above where I went wrong, losing the view of the sea with the earth down below.

    There are not that many paths, the difficult bit is describing where I parked and the first path I took from the car. If you get to the main path it is fine to find the arch.

    What is the terrain like?

    Rough but manageable with care. Once you get out of the car the paths are firm but with loose rocks so I recommend good quality walking shoes with proper gripped soles and ankle supports.

    The path is fine to walk on, but there is a bit of gentle scrambling down the path to get to the arch. Anyone in good physical shape should be able to get down to the arch but make sure you take care going up and down the steep bits, and also take care not to disturb rocks which might fall on someone below.

    I am afraid that there is no safe way down for people in wheel chairs or with restricted mobility.

    Check out this video on my YouTube channel Paxos Travel Guide which I took walking down that last bit of path. This is the bit from the last turning before the scramble down which I did not film.

    And this is what you get at the bottom of the path – The Tripitos Arch!

    I am a climber and former mountaineer so I found the path and scramble very enjoyable – if you are less experienced though please take care as the drops from the cliffs and the arch are significant.

    Can you really walk over the arch?

    Yes you can.

    Don’t be scared. Read my real world review of the Tripitos Arch later on in this post and you will find out what it is really like. All I need to say here is that it is bigger than you might at first think, and certainly bigger than it looks from a boat.

    The Tripitos Arch from the path above
    The Tripitos Arch from the path above

    So unless you have a serious fear of heights you are fine to walk over the arch to the other side where you get great views looking back to the coast and also the other way to Antipaxos.

    I will say it again though – please take care on the high bits as the drops are big and the consequences of a fall very serious.

    Can you climb down to the sea?

    I do not think that you can safely climb down to the sea and then get back up again. I managed to get some way down the rocks but did not continue down to the sea.

    I was on my own and did not want to take the risk. I am planning on returning though so will give this a go – in fact I will take a waterproof bag and swim around the arch – now that does sound exciting.

    Is there a phone signal there?

    No. This is how I got into problems finding it. I was relying on the phone signal on my iPhone to navigate there.

    I got so far and then lost my phone signal. I therefore recommend getting good directions.

    I will try to describe how to get there, although this is difficult as you need to get to the parking which is a tad vague to be honest.

    Is this really my favourite thing to do on Paxos?

    Yes, it was. I love exploring, travel and photography. I love landscapes and natural structures. And the fact that I was sat on the top of this magnificent arch all on my own was a real treat for me. So, yes, this was my favourite thing to do on Paxos. The boat trip to Antipaxos was a very close second.

    If you like this kind of thing you will love it – if not you will wonder what I am going on about!!

    Is there anything else near the arch?

    There is a disused windmill not far away – a 10-15 minute walk. Here it is.

    My visit to the Tripitos Arch

    OK – that is all I need to know about the Tripitos Arch – but what is it really like?

    I should have called this post 10 reasons why you should visit the Tripitos Arch. But I didn’t. 

    A great sunset location – I would imagine!

    This really was my favourite location to visit, and one that I would love to come back to at sunset. It is on the wrong side of the island for sunrise, but sunset there would be pretty stunning.

    I do not have any sunset photos of Paxos, as the time the sun sets impacts on social time with Mrs M.

    Getting to the Tripitos Arch

    As I was saying in another post, we were on a day trip around the island in our hire car. We had visited Gaios and Mongonissi, and decided to call in at the Tripitos Arch on the way back to Lakka.

    And that was where the fun started.

    I parked the car where I thought I needed to be, and set of walking. Nickie decided to stay at the “car park” and have a break, so it was just me and my camera gear.

    No, no water.

    I know.

    I set off walking, following Google Maps on my phone. And I have marked where I got to on the map – no arch anywhere to be seen.

    I walked around a bit, conscious that Nickie was sat on her own in the car. I quickly gave up and headed back to the car which I thankfully found without a problem.

    Nickie was sat there getting some sunshine.

    We went back to Hotel Bastas, and I took further advice from Sam, our Olympic Holidays rep.

    Trip Advisor – always helpful

    Whilst we were sat at the pool Nickie found some advice on how to find the arch on Trip Adviser, which filled in the missing link, namely the path down to the arch that I missed earlier on.

    Armed with that gem of information and the advice of Sam I got back into the car and headed back to Ozias and beyond!

    Tripitos Arch Take 2

    I know I have said this before but I find driving in a foreign country very enjoyable and liberating. It is a great way to get to know a place. So I had a very pleasant 20 minute drive from the top of the island to virtually the bottom of the island.

    I stopped en route to get some water. There is a shop on the road from Lakka before you get to the village of Magazia. I bought two small bottles of very cold water and treated myself to an ice cream which I ate in seconds as it melted in front of my vey eyes in that sweltering afternoon heat.

    I have made the mistake too many times of not taking water with me – not today.

    The drive including stopping at the shop and eating the ice cream takes me 20 minutes.

    Yes Paxos is that small.

    Arriving at the car park.

    I drove on from where I parked for my first attempt. One problem I found is that there is no indication of where to park. This is not England – signs, restrictions, warnings and ticket machines.

    No this is Paxos. There is nothing. No indication of where you can park, or even should park. But then again there are no restrictions, or indeed other people.

    In the end I decide to turn round and park where I did before.

    And now lets get to that arch!

    It makes such a difference knowing where you need to go. I knew exactly where I needed to go, and found the right path straight away this time. I was walking with purpose and conviction, as though I had done this journey a thousand times.

    Not the headless chicken wandering up and down the wrong path looking for an arch!

    It was a longer walk than expected, possibly after the lies sat nav told me earlier.

    Here is my turning!

    I find the critical path. This is where I went wrong before. X marks the spot on the map above.

    And I have even taken a video of this section of the path which you can find earlier on in this post. Oh ok then here is another link to that same video on my YouTube channel Paxos Travel Guide.

    And finally I am at the magnificent Tripitos Arch

    I walk down the path and come across a level piece of path and wow what a view. This is it. I am looking down on the Tripitos Arch, the thing I have been looking forward to visiting most on Paxos.

    And I am not disappointed.

    This is the view I am looking at. Absolutely stunning. Really stunning.

    What are the top three things to do on Paxos?

    Well, when I started writing this the Tripitos Arch was the number three thing to do in Paxos. I have just checked back that page on Trip Advisor and the arch has been promoted to number 2.

    According to this page on Trip Advisor Vrika Beach is the number 1 thing to do on Paxos. I disagree.

    Firstly, Vrika Beach is not even on Paxos!

    No sorry Tripitos Arch is my number one thing to do on Paxos.

    Getting down to the arch

    This truly is a stunning view. I take shots on my iPhone on the way down, and am going to take photos on my Canon 6D on the way back.

    This is how I work on such a trip. iPhone photos and videos give me immediacy, and the photos taken with my Canon 6D give me the best possible quality.

    I shoot a couple of videos, basking in the glory of actually taking some water with me this time. And my Salomon walking boots are just the best for scrambling over rocks.

    Water everywhere and a drop to be had.

    Here is a video of me drinking water. Yes it is such a signficant event, me actually remembering to take a bottle of water, that I had to make a video.

    Yamas!

    And now it is time to walk over the Tripitos Arch

    I think I mentioned this before – on our boat trip from Paxos to Antipaxos, which you can read about in this most excellent post titled Paxos Boat Hire – Do Your Own Trip From Paxos To Antipaxos we sailed past the Tripitos Arch.

    And I have to say it didn’t look as though you could walk over it from the boat.

    But when I actually walked down to it I realised how stupid I was. I walk over the arch – it is much bigger than I thought it would be so that is fine, and sit down and just take in the views.

    Once I have gone as far as I can on the arch I go north to the lower rocks where I get a great view of the arch with the sun illuminating the rock face. I would like to be able to go back there in the morning, well I would like to spend an entire day there as the light moves around the magnificent natural arch structure. Maybe another time.

    Yes I really could spend a whole day there, from before sunrise to sunset. Just me and my camera. And some food. And a lot of water.

    OK – sunrise and sunset and pop in a few times in the middle would be fine.

    When is the best time to photograph the Tripitos Arch? Find out in this video!

    Taking photos of Tripitos Arch

    I am a photographer. An architectural and travel photographer. So things that do not move are my kind of subjects. Things that do not move and scenes that have no people in them.

    I have happily photographed the arch, and taken lots of videos, so decide it is time to head back to the car.

    And then I think no – when will I be able to come back here? We are going home in a couple of hours.

    Lets explore

    I decide to climb down the rocks and see what other views I can get of the arch.

    I am equipped for such scrambling, which I find myself often doing when I am trying to find a sunrise location, so this is normal business for me.

    I carry all my gear in a Peak Design Everyday Backpack, giving me both hands free at all times, apart from when I have my camera in my hand that is.

    Climbing down the rocks is great fun. I stop before I get all the way down to the sea – I am after all on my own and there is absolutely no signal down here.

    And I have not see a boat pass for a good while.

    I am looking down at the spectacular shades of blue in those crystal clear Ionian Sea waters.

    Here is a photo of the Tripitos Arch, taken with my Canon 6D and processed using Lightroom and Photoshop.

    The Tripitos Arch is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Greek Island of Paxos
    The Tripitos Arch is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the Greek Island of Paxos

    When I have finished writing articles for this website the last job is my reward for completing all the hard work – I am going to process my favourite photos of Paxos. I have no idea how many photos this will be, but they will be placed into a single gallery.

    I have done this for my other travel photography website Photos of Santorini.

    Time to leave

    And now I am happy that I have seen as much of the Tripitos Arch as I want to it is time to move on.

    Blimey – other people!

    Two Italians appear – I have not seen anyone at all for a couple of hours now, so that was a bit of a shock. I know they are Italian as I hear them speaking in Italian. They appear from a path to the north of the arch, and walk past the arch stopping quickly to take photos before moving on up the path and out of view.

    They must be in a hurry!

    Meanwhile lucky old me has all the time in the world to take in the last view of this magnificent arch before I climb up the path and head back to the car.

    Wait a minute – there is something else around here

    Yes, there is a disused windmill. Now I am a photographer. I photograph buildings for a living. I cannot resist a disused windmill then can i?

    I head back towards the car and then turn left in stead of straight on and follow the path in roughly the right direction.

    A sign. Wonderful.

    Back the way I came for the Tripitos Arch and this way for the windmill – sorted!

    Now I am in the olive groves the temperature has just shot up noticeably. And I am now it of water.

    Still it is all good stuff and what I love doing so no problem.

    I head off and in 5 minutes I am there. I am really high up here, and can actually see the sea on both sides, which is rather confusing until I remind myself just how small the island is.

    This is what the windmill looks like.

    It is quite a long and hot walk but I am back at the car soon enough.

    And with that I am back at the car.

    What does the arch look like from the sea?

    We went on a day trip from Parga to Paxos and Antipaxos. We passed the Tripitos Arch on the way to the Blue Caves.

    This is the video I took which is on the Paxos Travel Guide You Tube Channel – Tripitos Arch filmed from the Captin Hook 2.

    No one else noticed the magnificent arch. It does get a bit lost to be honest amongst the cliffs, so if your first view of the Tripitos Arch is from the sea do not be put off – it is well worth a visit!

    You can read that post here – What Is A Day Trip From Parga To Paxos Really Like?

    Summary

    The Tripitos Arch was a stunning, spectacular natural landmark, and definitely the best thing that I have visited on Paxos.

    I recommend anyone who is fortunate enough to find themselves on the lovely Greek Island of Paxos visits the Tripitos Arch. I don’t want to sound like like a nanny here but I will say this one more time – if you do go down to the Tripitos Arch make sure that you are appropriately equipped and physically capable, and that you take care and enjoy the experience.

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • Paxos Car Hire – What I Did In 48 hours – days 12 and 13

    Paxos Car Hire – What I Did In 48 hours – days 12 and 13

    Day 12 – Tuesday. – Sunrise Shoot with car

    This post is titled Paxos car hire – what I did in 48 hours. Makes it sound like a road trip. On Paxos? Hardly. No but I did want to tell you what it was like having a car on Paxos for two days, including those two fantastic photographic sunrise shoots that I enjoyed so much.

    I wanted to write about the places I went with the hire car on the 2 days I had it. So here is that post.

    Getting up for sunrise on Paxos

    I got up at 5.40am. I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed and headed off down to the harbour in Lakka. This morning I was after the lights on the tops of the masts on the boats – it is such a lovely sight that I missed yesterday.

    A picture of the lights from the boats moored in the lovely harbour on arrival to the town of Lakka on the wonderful Greek Island of Paxos

    I decide this time to get shots in from both sides of the bay very quickly, then see if there was anything else that I wanted to photograph. I treated this shoot like a paid shoot for a client – just get stuck in and get the shots that I need first. I do this and then can relax and give my Platypod a try. I haven’t given it a chance to be fair, going for the quicker option of the Manfrotto Pixi tripod – not ideal but quick and easy.

    I will compare the sharpness of the respective images when I get home, but it worked just fine to be fair.

    I forgot the accessory pack that came with the Platypod Ultra I have, so I had to get the screws from the older model and use them. Don’t worry – this made sense to me!

    I get some nice shots from low level, which I love doing. I wish that my Canon 6D had an articulated screen which would make it easier for my old carcass to view what I was photographing. Rather than lying on the ground that is! Here is a video of me taking a photo on my Paxos Travel Guide YouTube channel.

    The trials of filming in public

    During one video shoot the bin man appears – a man on a scooter no less. The noise somewhat spoils the ambience of sunrise in Lakka, but this is the reality of early mornings. Next I say good morning to the coughing boatmen going off to a days fishing.

    There are also lots and lots of cats milling around – so many they are almost threatening! Like something out of a horror film. They are everywhere now that I have noticed them!

    Back to the hotel.

    Having got the photos I want I go back to the hotel at about 7.20 – I can’t call Nickie to see if she wants to join me as my calls are failing, and the texts are unanswered.

    I get back to the hotel at 7.25 and can’t get in the room – Mr Bastas appears and thankfully lets me in.

    Turns out Mrs M was sound asleep!

    I get back into bed and have a doze till about 8.45 when we both get up. We are not getting the car till 10am (I bet its later than that). We have teas and coffees and then slowly get our stuff together and head off down to get the car.

    Is the car there at 10?

    No.

    Babis! He arrives at 10.20, blaming the Italians for bringing the car back late.

    Not a problem. There are much worse places to have nothing to do for 20 minutes!

    I hand him the form I have filled in and we head off in the freshly cleaned, white Peugeot 108. Here it is…

    My Peugeot 108 hire car on the Greek Island of Paxos
    My Peugeot 108 hire car on the Greek Island of Paxos

    Let’s get out of Lakka!

    We have a car, we can leave Lakka under our own steam. First call is a lovely restaurant called Averto up on the hills in the middle of the island in the village called Magazia.

    This is the view from the outdoor eating area – not bad eh?

    Not bad seats at Averto!

    Averto has lovely views from the terrace, and really comfy chairs on which you can relax and take in the views.

    For breakfast we both have two poached eggs on toast – very, very nice it was too.

    Breakfast at Averto

    I have a coffee, Nickie has a fresh orange. We are also given an unusual bottle of rather earthy (sustainable) water, which I quaff.

    After breakfast I pop off for a quick wander and take some photos of the village and the views.

    And now off to the east coast of Paxos for the first time

    I get back to Averto, and we then head off to find a restaurant called Erimitis Bar and Restaurant.

    We drive a long, long way down a hill and get to the bottom. I mean a long way down.

    Erimitis Bar and Restaurant
    Erimitis Bar and Restaurant

    And would you believe it – there is nowhere to park! And this is when we discover one of the limitations of the Peugeot 108 – it is a tad underpowered to say the least. I just manage to get back up the hill with the stench of overworked clutch to accompany us.

    It really was a struggle so if you have a conventional hire car think twice before driving down this road!

    Safely back on the road

    Back on the road we drop into Loggos, where I quickly find the spot I am after for my sunrise shoot tomorrow. Using an app on my iPhone called the Photographers Ephemeris I work out where the sun will be rising and find the exact spot I am looking for.

    One less job in the morning.

    One of the best bars on Paxos – Roxi Bar

    We have a lovely beer at the water side bar called Roxi.

    Drinks at the Roxi Bar in Loggos
    Drinks at the Roxi Bar in Loggos

    It really is in a stunning location and has to be one of my favourite bars on Paxos. We have been here before, and always had a lovely time, receiving the most friendly welcome and service you could ever with for.

    Give the Roxi Bar a try – you will not regret it.

    Loggos to Gaios.

    On the way to Gaios we end up at the New Port but find a road sign into the town centre. Yes, I have gone the wrong way. Going the wrong way on holiday is good – this is how we find new places.

    The road I ended up on takes us back up the hill where there is a very helpful little parking area and a viewing platform giving stunning views of the channel that goes through the frontage of Gaios.

    I take photos and a quick video.

    A great view of Gaios, the capital of Paxos
    A great view of Gaios, the capital of Paxos

    And this is my Gaios sunrise location sorted.

    I have the car for two sunrises – one is sorted in Loggos and I have just sorted the Gaios location.

    All good then.

    Visiting Gaios

    In Gaios we park at the supermarket and get our jobs done quickly. When I jobs I mean holiday stuff.

    We get some more Babylonian jewellery from a lovely shop just off the main square in Gaios, have a wander around the lovely shops of Gaios and then brave the restaurant where my Barbados t-shirt is/ should be/ might be.

    Reunited with my t-shirt!

    It is there. Unbelievably my Barbados t-shirt is there at the restaurant called Taverna Pan and Theo. Happy with that we continue our explore of Gaios before sitting down for a quick eat. One of my favourite meals in Greece is chicken Gyros, which we eat in the square at Gyros Ton Paxon.

    And it was very good indeed.

    Time to get out of the big city.

    Gaios is getting busy so we go back to the car and head back to Lakka.

    I drop Nickie off at the hotel and then go to try to find the lighthouse. It takes me some time, but I get there, and am greeted by a Greek chap who says – yes? Can I help you? I have my camera in my hand and say that I am here to look at the lighthouse.

    The response – no photos!

    I turn away dejectedly and get back in the car. I like a good lighthouse – even square ones like this.

    I drive around a bit and end up parking at the end of a road overlooking the main harbour of Lakka. A 10-minute walk and I am looking down on the entire harbour from above the entrance. Stunning views and I got lots of great shots.

    The view of Lakka harbour and all the boats
    The view of Lakka harbour and all the boats

    I also found a very small inaccessible beach on the other side of the harbour which I had never seen before.

    I get back to the car dying due to a complete lack of water – again. That and the fact I am wearing flip flops – completely unpractical for the terrain I had to negotiate.

    I drive around a bit more, trying to find the restaurant called Sunset but give in. I get a few lovely views on the way back and start looking for interesting olive groves to photograph. I get a few decent photos, some by just sticking my head out of the window!

    I head back to the hotel to find a bottle of water in the boot…..

    Enough of that – where is my holiday? And more importantly where is my wife?

    By the pool. Which is where I head off to. An hour by the pool and it is time to get ready for dinner.

    And back to lovely Lakka for drinks and dinner

    After cocktails at Romantica we walk around the waterside to the lovely restaurant called Arriva, where we drink wine and peruse the menu. We share a starter of cheese Saganaki with some bread. For mains I go for beef in a garlic and mushroom sauce with roast potatoes. Nickie has Moussaka. I need to check which meal is the most chosen – Moussaka or Stifado?

    Stifado was the winner by the way.

    The meal was all lovely and good. We pay the bill and head back for a quick Metaxa on the balcony.

    And before bed I prepare my gear for the morning – Loggos at sunrise. Can’t wait!

    Day 13 – Wednesday – Sunrise shoot with car

    5.40 am is not pleasant I have to say. I manage to leave at 5.55, armed this time with Capri biscuits from the fridge, a coke and some water. Well I have the luxury of a car to put stuff in for a change.

    It is weird driving in the dark, and I get to Loggos in 10 minutes. I keep thinking that places take longer to get to than they do – this really is a small island after all.

    I park up in the car park right near where I am going to take my sunrise shot.

    All I need to do is walk about 20 yards to the wall that front the beach, get my camera out and go through my sunrise shoot ritual.

    My sunrise photography routine

    This is it.

    • Take my Canon 6D with 17-40mm lens out of the bag.
    • Turn it on.
    • Turn on the GPS (it is infuriating that I have to turn this whenever I turn my camera off or it drains the battery even with the camera turned off).
    • Check my camera settings.
    • For a sunrise shoot they are as follows.
    • AV Mode.
    • Back-button focus.
    • ISO100.
    • Continuous drive.
    • Auto-bracketing on (correct exposure, -2 stops, + 2 stops)
    • Then I attach my camera to my Manfrotto Pixi tripod, and I am done.

    OK – that is the camera set up – now time for the composition

    I use Live View as I am placing my camera at low level and can’t get down to the viewfinder. Age/ equipment relates woes.

    I place my camera on the harbour wall and get a stunning pre-sunrise shot with deep red colours. I move around a bit getting different shots, then place my camera for the sunrise shot. Once set up I take videos and photos with my iPhone – I do this, so I have stuff immediately available to me, and this also helps me to see what my compositions look like.

    One of my favourite photography Apps – The Photographers Ephemeris

    I have screen shotted (is that an actual term?) The Photographers Ephemeris App, showing me where the sun will rise – exactly.

    I used to hate this app, only because I did not take the time to learn how to use it. Now I have learned properly how to us it I love the app and use it to plan shoots.

    I get lots of shots, with my favourite being this one, with the boats lined up at the bottom, the sunrise going on in the middle and lots of sky above leading to the clouds glowing red.

    Sunrise picture of the boats in the harbour in Loggos on the lovely island of Paxos by Rick McEvoy photography
    Sunrise picture of the boats in the harbour in Loggos on the lovely island of Paxos by Rick McEvoy photography

    This is my sunrise composition. Once that has all happened I take a variety of different shots. I also do a 6-minute video with my Canon 6D, and another long video with my iPhone – both are capturing the sea and the moving water – can’t wait to see what they look like and also how the watch time performs on YouTube.

    Sunrise done and how good was that???

    I walk round the harbour taking more photos and videos, then head back to the car and am back at Hotel Bastas for 8.30am.

    Breakfast at the Mongonissi Beach bar

    After a freshen up we head south to the bottom of the island, back down to Mongonissi (which we went to on the boat trip). I have a full English breakfast, Nickie just has a fresh orange juice. $7.50 for a cooked breakfast with juice, a coffee and bread is pretty awesome. The brekkie even came with the thickest sliced bread I have ever seen.

    It was nice to go back to the Mongonissi Beach Bar, the place we went to yesterday on the boat that helped with the t-short reunion in Gaios!

    And now a much anticiapted landmark for me – the Tripitos Arch

    Next stop is the Tripitos Arch. Well that was the plan. We kept losing signal on our phones and could not find the place. I blame in part the lack of signage. I park the car at the top of another awful hill and try to find the arch. As Nickie is sat in the car waiting for me and I don’t find it straight away I give up, head back to the car and we return to the hotel.

    Lunch back at Hotel Bastas

    We have a spot of lunch, a vegetarian pizza by the pool, then have an hour by the pool relaxing. At 3 I head of again to try to find this illusive arch. Following a 10-minute chat with Sam the Olympic rep I am none the wiser. The advice is to ignore the signs and just wander around till you find it.

    I will write a separate post about the Tripitos Arch which you can access here.

    Back to Lakka

    It is a quick drive back to Lakka from the Tripitos Arch and Windmill – I am beginning to feel like I have really got to know this place now and having sorted the car parking problems I pop to the shop for supplies then head back to the hotel for a drink and to write up today’s events.

    Writing back at the hotel – my idea of work!

    I listen to Planet Rock whilst writing, which I have to turn off when I hear an advert for B&Q – I am not ready for that reality yet!

    It is our second to last night, so we eat at Paxos La Rosa. Cocktails, Lobster pasta. Wine. Table by the water.

    Utterly lovely and a fantastic end to a great day!

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • Paxos Boat Hire – Do Your Own Trip From Paxos To Antipaxos

    Paxos Boat Hire – Do Your Own Trip From Paxos To Antipaxos

    I have been looking forward to this for a long time. Like over a year.

    Paxos Boat Hire – Do Your Own Trip From Paxos To Antipaxos. This is what we did. And an absolute joy it was, just one of the best days. In this post I will tell you all about one of our best days out ever. We rented a boat from Lakka, travelled down the west coast of Paxos, crossed over to Antipaxos then headed back up the east coast of the Greek Island of Paxos.

    Why are we doing this?

    We have been to Antipaxos before. We found Paxos by going on a day trip from Corfu to Parga (an the Greek mainland) and Paxos.

    This introduced us to Paxos. And on our first visit to Paxos we visited Antipaxos on another day trip.

    Now we are back on Paxos and want to go back to Antipaxos but under our own steam. Well I say steam diesel is more accurate.

    Finally the big day is here.

    To remind you, we rented a boat through our very knowledgeable and helpful Olympic Holidays rep Sam. It cost us €60, which was considerably cheaper than other prices we came across. The boat is moored in Lakka. Perfect.

    Today it is just the two of us and a little hire boat. First job is to get snacks. Very important when you are venturing out onto the high seas!!

    We buy supplies from the bakery on the way down to the front. We get a lovely sausage roll and a Greek cheese pastry thing. I also get a large cappuccino, which is not large but is still lovely all the same. And of course we have an amount of water to keep us hydrated on our epic day out.

    And where is our boat? Opposite Romantica no less!

    Yes, our boat is moored facing our favourite sundowner location.

    Leonardo meets us there and gets us sorted. He explains the basics of the boat and where everything is stowed and that it is us good to go.

    And yes, the boat is called Lady Diana!

    I reverse the boat skillfully out of the mooring area and before we know it we are travelling amongst all those lovely white boats moored in Lakka.

    It is so nice to be able to look at Lakka from the sea – it looks even nicer when viewed from the boat, with all that lovely flat water and the reflections of all the buildings.

    Leaving Lakka for the open seas

    We get to the entrance to the bay in Lakka, and turn left. This takes us to down the west coast of the island.

    This is the bit with all the caves in it, which is all rather stunning I have to stay.

    We stop to have a look at some of the caves, and there is a very surreal moment when the birds are circling above us with their cries echoing around the rocks and the caves.

    I think what they are trying to say is – bugger off out of our house – whatever that is in Greek bird speak.

    Check out the video of this unusual experience on the Paxos Travel Guide YouTube Channel!

    We slow down a few times checking out these wonderful caves as we travel down the west coast of the island, but do not stop anywhere or get out for a swim – plenty of time for that later.

    And here is a video taken driving away from these wonderful cliff faces, again on the Paxos Travel Guide YouTube channel.

    The magnificent Tripitos Arch

    As we head down the west coast of Paxos we pass the magnificent Tripitos Arch.

    I will write a separate post solely about this wonderful natural structure. We pass close by the arch and marvel at the wonderfully clear blue waters with the rocks on the seabed clearly visible even though they are metres below us.

    Getting to Antipaxos from Paxos

    We get to the bottom of Paxos in about an hour, not going too fast as it is quite choppy in places. We then just go for it straight to Antipaxos, which we can see in front of us.

    The crossing is a bit bumpy in places but before we know we are in the waters of Antipaxos.

    Arriving at Antipaxos

    We sail/ drive past the first beach on Antipaxos, Vrika Beach, and the next much smaller beach Mesovrika Beach.

    Voutoumi Beach

    The next beach is called Voutoumi Beach, which has the Beach Bar and Restaurant Voutoumi just off the beach, and the restaurant called Bella Vista looking down on this wonderful beach.

    The water is stunningly aquamarine and clear. And there are some incredible boats moored there – yachts and things that are so big I am not sure what the right word is for them. Big boats? Ships? Yachts? Floating palaces? Whatever they are stunning vessels. Check out this low quality video.

    No idea but they are absolutely jaw dropping. And clearly they cost a lot of money.

    Maybe next year…

    Vrika Beach

    We headed back to the first beach, which is where we are going to stop for a drink and a bit of relaxing after that busy old morning! Relaxing on Antipaxos += beer and sunbathing.

    The question however is this– how do we get off the boat with our bags?

    Getting off the boat on Vrika Beach

    The plan is to attach the boat to the fixings on the right hand side of the bay, just like we were told not to. I am not happy with the security of the fixings, and neither I am happy that we are doing what we were told not to, so I change my mind and undo all the work I have just done. 

    My next plan is to go to the other side of the bay where the ferry drops people off and picks them up again later in the day.

    And now on the other side of the bay!

    I drive the boat over there, and this is where the problems begin. We can’t find anything to hold on to, and I end up jumping for the shore with the boat rope in my hand and missing the land, dropping in to the rocks right in front of the landing platform.

    Yes this really did happen.

    I dropped the rope as I crashed into the jetty wall, sliding down the face of it into the water. 

    Next my flip-flops came off and start floating away.

    I manage to grab my flip-flops and get the rope for the boat.

    Can I help you Sir?

    Not far away an Englishman is asking if we need any help. No thank you I reply as I am struggling to get back into the boat. 

    Are you sure you don’t need any help??

    My next reply is less polite, but no swearing thankfully.

    I get back onto the boat, gun the engine and go back to the other side of the bay.

    We have words.

    I get to the other side and gently drive the boat to a rock up stand with tires and hoops and the like on it.

    Still not got off the boat

    The latest plan is for Nickie to climb off the boat onto the rock sticking. All I need to do then is pass the bags to her and she can then walk to the beach while I take the boat out into the bay and drop anchor, with me swimming ashore to join her.

    I should probably state at this point that Nickie is crying while I struggle with the boat in the waters, which have got very choppy, would you believe.

    Anyway she manages to get off the boat and I pass the bags to her.

    Time to drop anchor.

    I manage to get the boat where I want it, slow down, put the boat in neutral and then drop the anchor while the boat drifts gently forward.

    I do this in a highly skilled way. Very proficient and professional.

    All I need to do is wait for the anchor to bite once it has found purchase with something on the seabed.

    Nothing happened. The boat just continued drifting forwards into the swimming area.

    I know – I really shouldn’t be in there.

    Success finally

    Three times I try and then success – the anchors feels secure.

    I pull the boat back a bit and tie everything off.

    I am not sure that the anchor is secure, but the boat is not moving. I am just about to get off the boat when another couple, who are having less success than me I have to say, crash into the side of the boar. Well bump more like – crash is too dramatic.

    Just what I needed

    Time to swim to shore

    I push the other boat away (they are not English) and decide to jump in the sea and swim to shore.

    I keep looking back expecting to see the boat moving, but it looks to be fine.

    I get to the shore and walk to the beach – Nickie is sat at Taverna Spiros with a beer waiting for me. This is it

    Not as cold as when she bought it mind! Still we have an excellent table at the restaurant, and the beer is very welcome.

    Crossed words are soon forgotten as we relive that happy moment.

    Is the boat still there?

    I have my beer, and Nickie goes to the beach. I am convinced that the anchor is not secure and need to go back and check that everything is ok.

    I clamber over the rocks, and swim back through the now even more choppy waters, and clamber onto the boat. The ladder is not the best, only three rungs, so you have to throw yourself forward off the ladder and grab onto anything that is there.

    First try I think I have broken my wrist, but after a few attempts and me manning up I manage to drag myself onto he boat.

    Everything is just fine

    And guess what – the boat is just fine. The anchor holds firm and all the knots are secure. The boat has not moved at all in half an hour.

    So I tie more knots on the rope just in case. Well it makes e feel better.

    I leave the anchor well alone though, as this appears to be perfectly secure – if I fiddle with I will just be worrying that I have made it less secure. Which inevitably is what will happen.

    Back to the beach

    I swim back to the beach and spend 30 minutes lying on the beach expecting to look up to find the boat drifting away.

    Plot spoiler – it doesn’t.

    I am ready to get moving, I don’t need to worry about the boat when I am in it.

    I have had more comfortable also more relaxing times on a beach!

    Boat keys.

    Oh yes another thing. What do you do with the boat key?

    I ended up tying it using the waste cord on my shorts. A top tip from me if you are planning on renting a boat and going from Paxos to Antipaxos – well this applies if you are hiring a boat to anywhere to be fair where all you will be wearing is shorts and a t-shirt.

    Buy a cheap waterproof container. A brightly coloured one that floats. And put the key in that.

    Time to leave Antipaxos and sail back to Paxos.

    I get back to the boat, and drive very slowly for the other jetty signaling Nickie where to go. I do a textbook arrival, grab onto the chain at the side, Nickie climbs on and off we go. It was completely incident free.

    Why did I not do this the first time???

    Next stop is Mongonissi.

    At the bottom of Paxos there is a very small round island called Kaltsonisi. There is a lovely channel between the island and the mainland. It is a very pleasant pootle indeed, nice and slow.

    Apart from one idiot who has dropped anchor slap bang in the middle of the channel. I have to squeeze myself between them and the rocks as there are boats moored all along to the left.

    I make it though of course, and before we know it we are in Mongonissi.

    What is Mongonissi like?

    Very nice. Check out this video of Mongonissi from the boat. I find a nice spot to moor the boat, drop anchor, drift in serenely and Nickie jumps off the boat straight onto the beach, attaching the rope to the mooring point.

    All of a sudden we look like a slick boating double act!

    I tie off the ropes, get the keys and we go for something to eat.

    Where is my t-shirt??

    I ask Nickie if she has seen my t-shirt. I have not seen it for a while.

    To cut a long story short it is at Taverna Spiros – the bar we went to on Antipaxos.

    Now I have a thing about sitting in a restaurant without a t-shirt on – I have standards you know – we both do.

    Mongonissi Beach Bar

    As we walk up to the lovely Mongonissi Beach Bar we both apologise to the waitress for my shoddy attire – I have my Barbados towel over my shoulders and that is all. She is fine with that, so we sit down and order drinks and peruse the menu.

    What to do about the t-shirt? 

    I have no phone signal at all – yep completely cut-off. Remember this if you are using your phone as your sole emergency back up when on Paxos – you can have a full signal then find yourself all of a sudden with nothing.

    I talk about this in the post Paxos Car Rental – Everything You Need To Know.

    It’s only a t-shirt though?

    It’s a t-shirt which we bought in Barbados. It is one of my favourite t-shirts, so this is serious!

    Nickie texts Babis at Hotel Bastas to see if he can help, and then phones Taverna Spiros.

    The bloke who answers the phone does not understand, he just wants to know when we want a table and for how many people.

    Now my wife is very resourceful, and asks a local chap standing next to her if he could explain to the chap on the other end of the phone our predicament. It sounds ever so silly now but at the time I needed my t-shirt back!

    He has no joy either so we sit down and debate what to do. Which for me is accept that the t-shirt is lost forever.

    And here is the spooky thing!

    The chap from the restaurant walks over and says – are you the people from Lakka? How he know I have no idea – we never told him that. He tells us that my t-shirt will be at their sister restaurant in Gaios later on that afternoon.

    How did that all happen?

    And how did he know we were from Lakka?

    We thank him profusely, and tell him that we are in Gaios tomorrow so will collect it then.

    I know it’s only a t-shirt, but it was a special t-shirt from Barbados as I said.

    Lunch at the Mongonissi Beach Bar

    Lunch is cheeseburgers and salad, which was very nice. With a large beer which we share.

    Back seat driver

    Back at the boat now, and on the way out of Mongonissi Nickie takes a turn at driving the boat. Do you drive a boat? I have had this thought before.

    I have to say that she does a splendid job, leaving me to take some videos with my iPhone. No the Canon 6D has still not made it out of my bag.

    Taking bags on a small boat

    Oh yes the bags. When we moored up at Mongonissi all the water at the back of the boat went to the front, getting everything wet – even my beloved Peak Design Everyday Backpack with all my camera gear in (my camera gear was fine though).

    Just something to be aware of.

    Arriving in Gaios by boat

    We sail through the channel at Gaios, which is lovely to see from a boat – I am so proficient at driving the boat I can shoot videos at the same time – here is one of them! The channel is the body of water between mainland Paxos and another small island called Panagia.

    Having been to Gaios a few times it is great to see the frontage from a boat.

    We follow the channel around the island, ending up at the New Port I Gaios where the ferries drop off and pickup tourists arriving to and departing from Paxos.

    Time to slowly head back from Gaios to Lakka

    We head northwards and have a swim stop in an unnamed bay. That was a very welcome dip in the lovely water of the Ionian Sea.

    We look at various beaches on the way back – this is a video of Glyfada Beach.

    A quick stop at lovely Loggos

    Loggos is one of my sunrise photography locations, and I love it. Check out the views of Loggos from the boat.

    And here is a 360 video of Loggos taken from the boat.

    Returning to Lakka

    We arrive back at the opening of the harbor in Lakka at 5pm. The boat is not due back until 6pm, so wee have time to explore Lakka by boat.

    And this is my one chance to take some photos and videos of Lakka from the water. Nickie skillfully and slowly drives us around the harbour and I take lots of photos on my Canon 6D and videos on my iPhone.

    We are back at the boat hire place at 5.30pm.

    When I say the boat hire place I mean the metal hoop opposite Romantica.

    Time for the expert to put the boat to bed.

    The expert is of course not me – it is the chap from Nicos. The gap for us to get the boat is tiny, but the chap from Nicos is very skilled at making room (unforgiveable I know but I have forgotten his name).

    The chap in the very nice boat next to the gap where our little rental boat is going is not impressed, he really was not happy having that little boat next to his shiny expensive thing! But that doesn’t change anything.

    We get off the boat and pay for the fuel that we have used – $45. To be honest we have no idea how that calculation was made!

    And then head back to the hotel to cool down.

    Wear sunscreen

    That was the title of a song some years ago.

    Clearly the message I have long forgotten. I learnt an important lesson today – not wearing sunscreen on a day like this is really not a good idea.!! Well I did put some factor 15 on my face and head first thing in the morning which I think saved me, but I didn’t put any on my torso, which was bare for most of the day.

    Unbelievably I am not burnt. That is a good thing but also a worry! 

    Back to Hotel Bastas

    Time for a quick shower and then back down to Romantica for cocktails and to be reunited with our boat.

    We see Babis and Mrs Babis at the front of the hotel having them just gone through changeover day – they look like it has been a long day.

    Good news – the hire car is confirmed for 10am – no later!

    We reserve a table at Pounentes for 8.30 on the way through – it was really good there the first time, and as time is running out for us we do not want to risk another dodgy meal.

    I confused the waiter at Romantica by choosing a blood Mary, stealing his moment of remembering what we both drink for the first time!

    We sit down on the front and watch the sunset with Lady Diana 765 sat right in front of us.

    Dinner at Pounentes

    Dinner is excellent. To get over the not managing to eat everything we order tzatziki with bread to share as a starter. For the mains Nickie goes for the steak with pepper and Metaxa sauce and roast potatoes, and I go for pasta with mushrooms, oil and chili. Not the kind of meal I would normally go for – the chap who welcomed us suggested this instead of the spag bowl I ordered originally – as he pointed out I can have that at home.

    But I want it here! I go with his choice – on his head be it…..

    A carafe of wine arrives and we sit back and drink and chat until the starters appear, which are lovely. We get a nice break before the mains come.

    Am I going to like my pasta dish?

    The mains are brought to our table, and I tentatively start eating, not saying anything, which Nickie knows full well means I am not loving it. I persist, and then we have a swap of plates. I have some steak which is lovely, and polish off the roast potatoes left (at Nickie’s instruction I have to add).

    Then we swap plates back and, I have to be completely honest, the dish is growing on me.

    Outer waiter friend comes over and asks me nervously if I am enjoying it. Deadpan I say it is awful.

    His face is a picture.

    I take pity on him and quickly smile. I can’t do that to this lovely chap.

    He gets it – I am impressed – our waiter at a Greek/ Italian restaurant getting English sarcasm!

    We finish our meals and head off back to get some sleep after a very long but most enjoyable day with my best mate, MRs M.

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy


  • Photographing Paxos Island Sunrise – then relaxing – days 9 and 10

    Photographing Paxos Island Sunrise – then relaxing – days 9 and 10

    My alarm goes off at 5.40am. Why do I do this? I need sleep.

    I am photographing the Paxos Island sunrise. This is what it is like. This is the reality of doing this crazy stuff. So, I will now stop complaining and tell you all about photographing the sunrise on Paxos and then also having a day’s holiday!

    OK I am up now.

    I am up. I have only myself to blame. No one has asked me to do this have they? No this is all down to me and I just need to get on with it.

    I get myself ready, kiss the sleeping Nickie goodbye then creep out quietly with my camera bag, snacks, shoes and socks.

    Putting my shoes and socks on

    I put my shoes and socks on outside the hotel. I have cleverly taken a t-shirt off the chair on the balcony, which I have only now realised is a tad soggy.

    I can’t get back into the room, as I don’t have a key, so all I can do is crack on with a damp t-shirt!

    I hope I have remembered everything? If not I am completely knackered as I can hardly wake Nickie up at 6am one can I?

    And I then remember that I have absolutely no money with me, so no chance of buying a drink when I get back to Lakka from my destination.

    So that’s the planning I wrote about yesterday then!

    Time to get moving

    Thankfully I know where I am going. I still can’t stop myself going over to the concrete wall forming part of the harbour – I really want a picture of all those boats in the dark with the lights on.

    A bit about my Canon 6D

    My Canon 6D excels at this kind of thing, extracting out every ounce of colour, detail and content from a virtually dark scene. My Canon 6D effortlessly focusses on the boats in the dark sky – quite miraculous really.

    For all those people who criticize Canon for lack of innovation etc we all need to remember that cameras like the Canon 6D are workhorses – plain and simple. My Canon 6D has performed faultlessly ever since I bought it. Well apart from that time I dropped it on the hard-paved floor in the National Trust office at Corfe Castle that is.

    My travel tripod of choice – the Manfrotto Pixi

    I am using my mini tripod, the Manfrotto Pixi – seriously that is all I use for travel photography these days. I can get it to work with my Canon 6D and Canon 24-105mm lens – you just need to think about it.

    And the shots I get are perfectly sharp.

    But you have to lie down/ sit down/ get down to the level of the camera to view the composition – this is the one downside. But I manage.

    This morning I am placing the tripod on rocks by the water, composing using live view, focussing one third in using back button focus and then setting the 10 second self-timer off.

    All nice and simple.

    Here is a photo of my beloved bobbing boats before sunrise.

    A picture of the lights from the boats moored in the lovely harbour on arrival to the town of Lakka on the wonderful Greek Island of Paxos

    I get the shots I want here, and move around the harbour.

    I find another location and start taking photos. Then as I am dragging myself up off my rock with my camera in my hand I catch a rock, and watch my lens hood falls off, bounces off a rock and the next thing there is a gentle plop as my camera lens hood lands in the water. It’s still dark but I will show you this later!

    Bugger. I don’t have a spare.

    I can see the lens hood down there in a convenient circular hole in the rock but cannot reach it. I decide to come back later and see if I can fish it out.

    Meanwhile there is a sun still rising over to the east!

    I get back to the path and walk quickly round to the spot where I am going to take my photos of the sun rising over the Greek mainland 24kms away. But I don’t like the location, and sea level is a bit higher that when I was last here.

    I take a couple of shots from an alternative viewpoint and decide to go to the beach I was at the other day, which is just around the corner.

    Finding the right spot for sunrise

    I get there with about 10 minutes to spare. Sunrise is 6.53am. Plus there is the bit of mainland for it to get over. I search around for a composition I like, and settle on this, with the bottom half of the frame filled with some water in a rock pool, with the horizon the upper third line, and the sun going to appear somewhere dead central.

    This is according to my App TPE (see yesterday’s post for more info).

    I sit there with my camera ready and take a couple of videos and behind the scenes stuff – I get so much material from a sunrise shoot. This is a 45 second video on my YouTube Channel Paxos Travel Guide.

    Here comes the sun!

    I see the sky go brighter, telling me the sun is about to appear. I am going to video the sunrise with my iPhone and take stills with my Canon 6d. All I need to do is press the shutter, wait the 10 seconds and that is an image done. I repeat this for the duration of the sunrise.

    And here come the naked swimmers!!!!

    Three minutes in I hear a voice say kaliméra, and a bloke who I can just see out of the corner of my eye stripping off his clothes and getting into the sea.

    Seriously.

    I am filming so can’t turn around, thankfully. Another bloke appears and does the same. I can see them over to my right swimming.

    I stop the video at 4 minutes as the sun is up. I decide to head back to the other location – I really need to pick my spots more carefully!!

    Back to the original location

    I take quite a few photos on the way back, sweating profusely as I go but enjoying my walking shoes which make me move like a mountain goat over all those rocks. Well sort of.

    There are some interesting things I observe – I do notice that I see more on times like this when I have got the shot I was after, and can relax, walk back slowly and just look around me.

    Sunrise might be up but there is still that lovely directional morning light to play with.

    And a quick note of digression here – I am not one of those who only goes out at the best times of day i.e. around sunrise and sunset to take photos – I am a firm believer that there are great shots to be had at any time of day, even noon with that so-called hideous overhead light.

    You just have to look around and find them.

    And another digression

    Another aside now that my head has gone back into photographer mode. I am always trying to find different views on things, I am not all about getting the headline shots that everyone seems to want to get.

    What’s the point?

    If I want to look at them I can just stay in bed find them on the internet.

    Back at the other spot, and I take a couple of shots of the scene I had planned to shoot and then move on, rather than taking the path back to Lakka I follow the coastline, which involves a bit of scrambling over rocks, and get to the end of the island and the entry into the bay of Lakka.

    Is it a harbour? Or a bay?

    I’m not sure. No matter.

    Here I am greeted by all those lovely boats moored up, and here are lovely shimmering reflections off the water. I take a few shots, and even a video with my Canon 6D – unheard for me I know.

    I also took some gear shots – these are really useful, and I am using these in my strategy to get some commercial partnership deals going.

    I take photos of my Peak Design Everyday Backpack and Manfrotto Pixi Tripod with my Canon 6D sat on it using the most excellent portrait mode on my iPhone 7 Plus.

    Back at the jetty – where is that lens cap?

    I get back to the concrete jetty – it is time to retrieve that lens cap. Here it is. I thought it was in a hole and wouldn’t go far and thankfully I was right. It will be a lot easier to rescue this vital piece of plastic in daylight. I put all my stuff in my bag and put it on a rock. I lie my t-shirt down on the rock then shove my arm down the hole. 

    Too deep – can’t reach it.

    Thanks for the stick

    Right next to me is a stick with a very helpful bobble on the end – I manage to efficiently hook my lens hood out of the hole in no time. I attach the lens hood to the outside of my bag using one of the many utility straps that you get with the Peak Design Everyday Backpack, keeping that salty water away from the inside of my bag.

    I take a few more photos on the way back and decide that this is where I am going to come back to in the morning – there are so many potential shots to capture at this time in the morning.

    And we can have a nice breakfast by the water too.

    I love photographing the sunrise

    I had almost forgotten how much I love going out on a holiday and doing these sunrise shoots – they really are a favourite photographic thing for me to do.

    And they get me off my arse and moving!

    I got back to the hotel about 9, desperate for a drink as I forgot my wallet.

    Still not done with my work on holiday!

    Breakfast – finally

    Breakfast is toast and honey with a coffee in the room – the bread from last night’s meal that we did not eat.

    Once we are sorted I write my journal for the day and we head off up to the pool.

    And it is already lunchtime

    Luncheon is a very pleasant chef’s salad and a mushroom omelette which we share. The omelette is somewhat spoiled by the cap falling off the pepper as Nickie was trying to sprinkle pepper onto the plate – situation recovered, and we have a nice lunch.

    Lunch with a beer. Of course.

    And now we have out rental boat sorted

    We managed to source a boat from the Olympic Holidays rep Sam, which we received confirmation of later on that afternoon for the bargain price of €60 plus fuel cost.

    And where was my wallet?

    That is when I discover that I had my wallet in my camera bag all along, so I could have got that much needed drink in Lakka.

    And with that it is back to the room for drinks and showers and dinner.

    Another evening in lovely Lakka

    Cocktails at Fanis this evening – they have got the mint in again. Nice Mojito but I think Romantica is our favourite, especially with that upstairs bar.

    Dinner at La Piazza

    After our cocktail (without accompanying snacks I am disappointed to say) we walk back to the square and choose La Piazza to eat at. The carafe of wine is not good, so we ask if we can swap it for a bottle of red, which is fine all round so no problem.

    We share a starter, which ok I have forgotten,. I have chicken souvlaki and Nickie goes for prawn saganaki. Another case of prawns in shells served in a sauce. With nowhere to put the debris and no finger bowl. I’m sorry but you shouldn’t have to ask for these things.

    The food is ok, and we pay and go back to the hotel – a good two-minute walk.

    I am shattered so am asleep in no time after a quick Metaxa. 

    Day 10 – Sunday – up early for the sunrise on Paxos 

    This is the last day of rest for a while before we embark on our hectic schedule for the next three days. I set my alarm for 5.40am and get up half an hour later. I wanted the lights on the boats in the darkness but am too late this morning – it is considerably brighter than it was at this time yesterday morning.

    OK – I overslept.

    I try a couple of shots back where the lens cap incident took place yesterday, and potter around the harbour not sure where to go next. It is not a great morning for taking photos to be honest, and then the sun lights up the clouds which reflect off the water and give a me a few things to photograph.

    I have done about three laps of the harbour by now, with nothing really taking my fancy, and the sun is going to up soon. I decide to go to the opposite side of the bay to Lakka Beach and the beach bar which I believe belongs to the Amfitriti Hotel.

    I have picked a great location

    Now that was a good call. Complete silence. I take some photos on both my Canon 6D and my iPhone, and then decide I am going to shoot some videos of the lapping waves.

    Now that was a good call. Complete silence. I take some photos on both my Canon 6D and my iPhone, and then decide I am going to shoot some videos of the lapping waves.

    I set up my Canon 6D on the little Manfrotto Pixi tripod and get my composition framed up – I want a good 2 minutes of the waves lapping on the beach from low level.

    That is when the leaf blower fires up at the beach bar.

    Really????

    I decide that I might as well just lie down on the rocks and wait, which his exactly what I do. I am by now too tired to get up, so I just lie there in the position to start my camera recording, which granted is not a natural position.

    Thinking about it I must look rather odd, but thankfully there are no passers-by. Then a chap walks past and cheerily says morning to me – how can he tell from this angle that I am English anyway?

    My natural tripod

    I set up my iPhone using a variety of rocks – who needs a tripod eh? And I do a 6-minute video if the waves lapping on the shore, which I am have put on my Paxos Travel Guide YouTube channel – let’s see what watch time that gets.

    I took photos while letting this video run and did a couple of short videos with the Canon 6D before heading back to the hotel about 8.20.

    And on the way back there is more to photograph

    I took a few shots on the way back, that morning sun still giving some great directional light. And then I come across the creperie next to Akis – check out the lighting here reflecting off those bright shiny tables. Very cool.

    Tables photographed at sunrise in Lakka on the Greek Island of Paxos illuminated by the wonderful moring sunshine

    Back to Hotel Bastas

    And that is me done. I manage to get a butter croissant and a chocolate croissant which I share with Nickie back at the hotel.

    We have a busy three days ahead of us, so it is time to do nothing…… Nothing by the pool in that lovely sunshine.

    Nothing but listening to the cricket and thinking to be fair, which is where I came up with the plan going forward for the rest of 2019 and hopefully beyond.

    And with that I will say goodbye to day 11, the rest of which was final rest before the hecticness that is to be 

    • Monday – boat
    • Tuesday – car
    • Wednesday – car
    • Thursday – last day
    • Friday – going home

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • How to get Sunrise Photos of Paxos Greece – Day 8 on Paxos

    Over half way through the holiday, now and its looking like another tired day.

    Apart from one thing – my sunrise photos. Do want to know how to get sunrise photos of Paxos Greece? Today I will tell you how I plan taking sunrise photos. Planning is essential to ensure that you know where you are going, how you get there, where the sun will and what else will make up the composition.

    Planning is the key to how to get sunrise photos anywhere to be honest, and planning is what I do well!

    And you never know in the next post I might actually publish one of those lovely sunrise photos.

    Before that, another day on the wonderful Greek Island of Paxos is to be enjoyed. My scouting trip I will come back to as I get to that part of the day.

    The weather is back to normal

    Sunshine is restored. It is another lovely morning on the balcony of room number 26 at Hotel Bastas.

    Balcony at Hotel Bastas

    It is nice and quiet this morning. There are no dogs barking. There are no neighbours in adjacent rooms chugging away on gaspers.

    I am awake early for some reason. Mrs M is sleeping soundly.

    Basically all is good in the world of holidaying on Paxos.

    What is the plan for today then?

    Are we going to have a busy day today? I don’t think so to be honest. Today at the moment looks like being another day of living life like sloths.

    This is the routine

    • Get up
    • Drink tea
    • Drink coffee
    • Come round
    • Drag ourselves up to the pool
    • Lie down
    • Read
    • Doze
    • Have a beer
    • Eat
    • Lie down
    • Read
    • Doze
    • Sleep

    and before you know it is time to go back to the room for drinks!

    By 8.30ish we are both up and having our customary morning cups of tea. We are still drinking that that funny stuff from Yorkshire Tea, using our travel cups.

    The idea was to use our travel cups to take a coffee up to the pool, but they are doubling  up now as essential morning cuppa vessels as well.

    We don’t need any more cups! 

    We were going to buy some cups for tea from a local shop, but we agreed that as we already have enough cups at home to start a small crockery shop that this would not be a good idea.

    And we would have to try and get the crockery home in one piece.

    No that is a hassle I can do without.

    Travel cups

    It took five days to make the quantum leap from using the tiny cups in the room to our large travel cups.

    Tea over, Nickie makes a coffee and leaves me to sit and type at the table on the balcony in the shade.

    Time for a bit of writing

    It is a good bit cooler this morning which is a bit of a relief. Not that we are complaining at it being hot on the Greek Island of Paxos in August – of course it is!

    I have a productive hour writing on my iPad and drag myself up to the pool where we eat the cereal bars we bought from the bakery last night – very nice and will see us nicely though to brunch by the pool.

    The Russia House

    I forgot to say yesterday – I managed to complete The Russia House – a marvellous story by John Le Carrie with a fascinating prologue. A fascinating if demanding read. It was a bit complicated to be honest, and possibly more challenging than was advisable for me to tackle in Paxos.

    Time for some proper holiday reading

    Yes it is time for something lighter to read. Something which is nothing to do with photography, websites or business.

    I plump for a book called Bricking It by Nick Spalding, a nice light humorous novel. I downloaded this at the pool using the miracle that is the Kindle and the iPhone as internet gateway device – using the personal hotspot.

    This might sound like a strange thing to say but I am till in awe of the technology that allows me to order a book though my Kindle which instantly downloads using the signal on my phone – all whilst being sat by the pool on the Greek Island of Paxos.

    It’s great when technology just works like this.

    And not that long ago we would not have even thought of being able to do this!

    It is time to breakout of the Hotel Bastas complex!

    I have decided today to do a bit of exploring, and am going to scout my first sunrise location for tomorrow morning. After all I bought my Canon 6D and a couple of lenses mainly get some sunrise photos of Paxos. More on that in the next post.

    Lunchtime first though

    After a lunchtime libation of a Mythos each it is back to the sun loungers for an hour before we share a Greek pizza no less and a tuna salad at the pool bar – another excellent lunch courtesy of Hotel Bastas.

    And now it is time to explore Paxos

    After lunch I head off armed with my iPhone, Apple Airpods and my Oakley sunglasses.

    There is a gate at the back of the pool bar kitchen which takes you straight to the hills to the side of the bay of Lakka.

    I take that path, and then realise that this will be no use to me in the dark of the morning as it will be locked.

    Oh well I will work this out on the way back.

    Off I go on the high path, and am soon in familiar ground having put the connecting paths together.

    I follow a good a path around the headland and end up back at Arcoudarki Beach – the beach I was at the other day.

    My first sunrise location is sorted, and I have found a better path there navigable in the dark.

    At my destination I use one of the excellent tools on my iPhone, The Photographers Ephemeris. I use this to ascertain exactly where the sun will rise. Using this tool I have the exact location of the shoot sorted.

    Another thing this excellent tool tells me is that the sun will rise at 6.53am tomorrow. This is the planning I was talking about.

    And I know how long it took me to get to my preferred location – I reckon I will be able to get these in the dark in 15 minutes, so need to remember to pack my bag and get my walking shoes out for the morning. I will set the alarm for 5.45, with the intention of being on my way at erm 5.50am.

    Planning determines the time I have to wake up – very important.

    I want to be up in good time but not too early!

    That will leave me time to get prepped and watch a new day dawn in Paxos – and I cant wait!

    Me and my sunrise photography

    I get a lot out of sunrises, with shots of my minimalist camera set up, videos of the sun rising and also videos of me taking the photos themselves. There are lots of great views on the way back to, not sure if they will work though due to their location. I am going to come back a different way, taking in the beach to that I visited the other day – the one with absolutely nothing there.

    I will out talking photos for an hour tops, and will get a lot of material out of this hour.

    And as we are on holiday I can catch up on any sleep on a sun lounger!

    No water

    I regret again not taking any water with me, and further regret going out in the stifling heat straight after lunch and a beer – not great planning! I am back within the hour though and cool down in the pool before having a recuperating bottle of water before having an even nicer cooling beer.

    Don’t worry – I don’t drink this often when I am at home!

    When in Rome as they say.

    And it is time to get back to my holiday

    Back to the usual position, reading on the sun loungers in the corner by the elevated pool of Hotel Bastas.

    I have said this before – we are creatures of habit, and have our preferred spot which is as quiet as we can get. We of course have no influence over who sits next to us – it does baffle us how sometimes people insist on sitting virtually on top of us when there is loads of room elsewhere.

    The pool has been lovely and quiet during the day, but it fills up so we head back to the room to get ready for another assault on Lakka. OK a couple of hours.

    More essential shopping

    We have to get supplies. It is time for a big shop! This evening we are low on water, milk, and more importantly wine and beer!

    I hate carrying water back to the room in the scorching afternoon heat!

    And the weather today has been Scorchio as they used to say on the Fast Show.

    Another evening dining in Lakka

    Where to eat tonight is the eternal question we are now pondering over a nice G&T back at our room at Hotel Bastas.

    Decision not made we slowly down to Romantica in the baking evening heat for a nice refreshing Mojito each, and get treated to the balcony views looking down on the boats and sky disappearing over the horizon.

    Lovely as ever!

    Taverna Pounentes – a new restaurant to us

    We walk back to the square, and choose the restaurant called Taverna Pounentes, which is next door to Taverna Nionios that we ate at the other evening. Nickie spotted some staff from Neilson eating there, which must be a good sign.

    They wouldn’t be there if it was rubbish!

    A very warm welcome at Pounientes

    We gave it a go, and are very charmingly greeted by the chap who appeared to be running the restaurant. We had a nice table, instant service of drinks along with plenty of time to peruse the menu.

    Very good early signs indeed.

    What did we eat?

    Starters – we pushed the boat out and had a starter each. I know, this doesn’t happen often and there might be a price to pay later for this early meal gluttonous decision!

    Nickie had a hot cheese dip, whilst I went for smoked cheese saganaki. Different but very cheesy.

    I have to sat that it was not my favourite saganaki – not the restaurants fault – this is how they do it and I have had it lots of times cooked another way that I prefer. No this is down to meal choice, and my taste.

    It was still lovely.

    The cheese thing was good as well – so good that we bought some back and plonked it in the fridge.

    Main courses were also really nice.

    Nickie had the meatballs in a sauce with vegetables, and I had a fillet steak in a pepper and Metaxa sauce with, wait for it,

    ROAST POTATOES!

    I know – how completely bizarre, but also utterly fantastic is that. And even better they were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside – just how I like them at home…..

    I will say it again – I am sat in an Italian restaurant on the Greek Island of Paxos in August in the baking heat eating steak with ROAST POTATOES!

    Rehydration

    Sensibly I ordered a bottle of still water, having spent another day not drinking enough water, which I know is stupid but I never seem to learn. And to accompany all that lovely grub we share a large carafe of red wine.

    A very satisfying meal with excellent service – just the job. A very enjoyable evening, and another restaurant that we will definitely return.

    Remember in another post I said that there were plenty of places to eat and drink in Lakka. That is in part as all the really good places I always want to go back to.

    Off to bed without any Metaxa tonight – it has been a long day, and I need me sleep!

    Before I go to sleep – my camera bag

    Oh yes – one last thing – I have to pack my camera bag for the morning. This consists of getting the Tupperware box of the stuff that goes in my checked luggage and putting it in the bottom of my bag, putting my camera on the top of my bag, and that is gear done.

    And at this point I remember that I have not actually taken a photo with my Canon 6D yet – day 8 and not a shot. I have been happy with my iPhone to be honest.

    I have actually bought my Salomon walking shoes this time – no flip flops or red pumps for me – no I am properly geared up for clambering over rocks and stuff.

    And my snacks – tomorrow they will be a can of actual, full fat coke and a pack of original Oreos.

    Healthy I know.

    But this is what I have to put up with when I am venturing out to photograph the sunrise in Paxos.

    My Paxos Photos – what am I going to do with them?

    I am going to publish my Paxos Photos in a separate photo gallery of my – this will be the last job of creating content for my website, and I am saving the best till the very end.

    Photo editing – I love it. I will be publishing 50-100 fully edited photos taken and processed all by myself. 

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • Holidays in Lakka Paxos – what are they really like? Day 6 & 7

    Holidays in Lakka Paxos – what are they really like? Day 6 & 7

    Day 6 is on us before we know it. Nearly half way through our holiday.

    What are holidays in Lakka Paxos really like? Well in todays post I will describe days 6 and 7 of your holiday in Lakka Paxos. And these are two days dedicated to one thing – relaxing. I originally titled this post “the art of relaxing” – this is how we relax on holiday.

    But I changed the title as I want visitors to my website to be able to find out what it is really like holidaying on Paxos – not from a travel guide but from people who have actually been there – people like us.

    Day 6 – our wedding anniversary

    We are quiet people and have a lovely quiet day by the pool. Cards exchanged, tea drunk and off to lax by the pool. That was the plan. To work on the art of relaxing.

    We did not have breakfast – some mornings on holiday we skip breakfast and have an early(ish) lunch.

    So no breakfast – no it was straight up to the pool with our travel coffee mugs. We got there nice and early and adopted our usual position in the corner.

    The art of relaxing – getting comfortable

    We are definitely creatures of habit, and always go for the same corner of the pool. If you get one of the corners you get more space and are less close to other people.

    Now this might sound a bit anti-social but as I said we are quiet people and we just want to be left alone to relax.

    Together that is.

    A question of personal space!

    Corner secured, the next job is the slight rearranging of the furniture to maximise our space whilst subtly moving other people further away.

    Does anyone else do this?

    Or is it just us?

    Some people don’t seem bothered by being shoe-horned next to strangers – no not us.

    Now we are settled it is time for the usual relaxing activities, which this morning are

    • Dozing
    • Kindle reading
    • Dozing

    Repeat as necessary

    And that is it.

    And before we know it time for lunch!

    Blimey – such a busy morning. And now it is time to walk the length of the pool for lunch. And time for a nice cold one from the bar.

    We are not that hungry so we share a cheeseburger and chips, which was very very nice indeed.

    Food and drink done it is time to get back to the hard graft of relaxing.

    The afternoon by the pool was lovely and quiet.

    The importance of celebrating

    We stayed at the pool till quite late, and celebrated our anniversary with a lovely bottle of Lanson. Milestones like this should be celebrated – we face lots of challenges in our life together which face head on and jointly.

    Off down to Lakka

    We walked down to the waterside in Lakka, and reserved a table at Arriva, a lovely restaurant right by the water.

    This is one of those things that I love about Lakka. It is so small you just walk down to the front and browse the restaurants. We rarely have trouble getting a table – possibly as the Italians tend to eat later than us and with them being in the majority we are fine with our preferred dining time.

    Having booked a lovely table by the water we headed back to Harbour Lights for an anniversary cocktail.

    Enjoying dinner at the restaurant by the water called Arriva in Lakka

    After our cocktails we were sat down at 8pm (as usual). We had a lovely table right next to the water with lovely views across the harbor of Lakka as the sun faded away leaving all those lovely bobbing boats and the activities of a small harbor.

    A lovely carafe of red wine was brought o our table, which we drank slowly while we perused the menu.

    We shared a lovely starter of giant beans accompanied by fresh bread which was excellent.

    For our mains I decided to have stifado (for a change), with Nickie choosing the ravioli.

    All the food was lovely, the service was great, attentive and not rushed.

    A lovely way to finish our lovely wedding anniversary day on the island of Paxos.

    Day 7 – Thursday – its raining!!

    Halfway through the holiday and guess what – its raining in Paoxs?

    We were woken up by thunderstorms this morning. Yes thunderstorms in Paxos. Not just rain.

    It has clearly been raining in the early morning, as the table on the balcony is covered with water

    And this is the balcony.

    I decide to do the decent thing and get rid of the water on the table so we can use it.

    I slowly and carefully move the table to the planters on the front of the balcony to tip the water gently into the planter. I get this disastrously wrong and pour all the water all over my legs. Not good.

    I hate having damp feet – thankfully even in rubbish weather like this it is quite warm and I dry out quickly enough.

    Morning tea storm watching

    It is time for a cuppa and to watch the storms – good old fashioned thunder and lightning with bouts of light/ heavy rain. I have never seen such weather certainly not in Paxos – here if there is a cloud in the sky this is considered a disappointment!

    Check out the video “Rain in Paxos Greece” of this from my YouTube channel!

    The weather forecast is showing the storm will continue until 11am/ 12pm/ 4pm depending on which weather app we try. I tend to try all the weather apps and go with the one that gives me the news I want to see!

    I know – my choice of weather app will not influence the actual weather but it makes me feel better. And I really cannot accept rain till 4pm!

    Breakfast

    Breakfast is the stuff we bought from the bakery last night on our way back after our lovely meal – biscuits with cream and a thing that was a rustic version of a cherry bakewell. All rather nice with a coffee.

    We were planning on eating these snacks last night but couldn’t manage all of them so they were welcome breakfast snacks.

    What to do when it is raining on Paxos?

    Well there is no point rushing to the pool, even though I am sure that this weather will clear up in no time.

    It stopped raining at 11am so we ventured out into a rather soggy Lakka full of people milling about all looking rather confused. Nickie went shopping. I went for a beer. And here it is!

    Ok here it was!

    Well it was a slow day so why not!

    We reunited at the hotel and made our way up to the pool for another busy day of reading, eating and dozing.

    Lunchtime already

    Lunch/ brunch today consisted of a club sandwich and sausage on toast, both with chips which we ate at the bar at the pool – the tables and chairs had already completely dried out.

    People gradually drifted in over the course of the afternoon leaving it full when we left at 5.30 for drinks on the now completely dry balcony.

    A word about doing nothing

    We both need time to recharge our batteries. This is one of the reasons we are in Paxos. To relax and take it easy.

    This is very easy to do in Paxos, and especially stopping in Lakka. Everywhere is easily accessible on foot, and there is plenty of choice of places to eat and drink.

    Basically Paxos is a lovely place to relax and unwind.

    And with this it is time for dinner

    Another busy day, the only thing left to sort is where to eat tonight. We deliberate on this weighty decision, perusing the menu at Mandis Bar, which is off to the right of the bay in Lakka, giving great sunset views, and is also quieter that other locations with less people walking by.

    Weather update

    Oh yes, the weather. The sun came out, the temperature increased like an oven being slowly turned up and when we left at 5.30 it was hot but the clouds had come in to seal in that heat nicely for the evening.

    But no more rain.

    Back to downtown Lakka. When I say downtown that is a tad of an overstatement.

    It is overcast, which means there might not be a sunset tonight. We head over to Romantica for more drinks, and manage to get a seat upstairs. Not only do we get a seat upstairs, there is no one else up here so it is just us and the lovely relaxing scene in front of us.

    Cocktails at Romantica on the Greek Island of Paxos

    And this is when I realise for the first time that you can actually see the mainland of Corfu from the first floor of this bar. I must check to see if I can see the mainland from ground/ sea level – I don’t remember being able to, which is quite unusual for me.

    Being a photographer I am always looking out for views and always need to know what I can/ cannot see.

    We have a Mohito each and sit there looking at Mandis Bar, all sad in the cloud and the shade. We have a change of mind and decide to go to one of the restaurants in the square – we might as well take advantage of the cooler weather and light breeze. And Mandis Bar is the prime spot for sunset, so we might as well go there when there is an actual sunset to see.

    Dining out at Stasinos Gardens

    We walk round Lakka checking out the restaurants, and end up in the restaurant called Stanisos Gardens, where we are seated to a nice quiet table by a very friendly and enthusiastic waiter. A carafe of red delivered (a large one it has to be said) we ordered our food.

    We have eaten here before last year and it was very nice.

    We went for a Meze starter as we haven’t had one for a while. Nickie went for Moussaka again, and I went for the P beef dish similar to but not Stifado.

    Honest it is not Stifado. We also had a lesson from our waiter in how to pronounce not only my main course but also stifado – turns out we have been saying it wrong up till now.

    I cant remember the name of the meal that I had – lets stick with the P beef dish.

    I am delighted to report that everything about the meal was lovely – the food, the service, the timing, the atmosphere – all good.

    How much does dinner cost in Lakka?

    Starters, mains and drinks all for €48. That is excellent value for lots of lovely food, drinks and really friendly and efficient service.

    Definitely somewhere to return to.

    Tipping on Paxos

    A quick word on tipping here. I tend to tip 10% if I have experienced good service and good quality food. If I am not happy I expect every cent of change. If I am really unhappy I try to get a reduction on the bill.

    I of course round up my tips, so for this meal rounded up to $55, which we were still more than happy with.

    And now for dessert

    On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the bakery and got some sweet snacks to have with our Metaxa and also some cereal bars for breakfast.

    No, we are not ones for staying out late drinking – we are far too old and boring for that. It was an early night for Nickie, whilst I stayed up on the balcony for a while trying to fathom out my other website photosofsantorini, which will be all sorted by the time you are reading this.

    I had it in my mind that I needed to do stuff, and was really not tired, so a late night working for me.

    And that is what Paxos does

    I have switched off in 7 days on Paxos. I have managed to relax and refresh my head and my body. So much so that now my mind is beginning to start working again.

    Going to Paxos is like rebooting a computer – I have been reset and am thinking clearly again.

    Blimey, I did not expect that!

    And with that it is off to sleep with the holiday just about turning the corner of half done, which is a disappointing fact what feels like being too soon after arriving.

    What else have we go to look forward to then?

    Now that there has been some serious relaxing it is time for me to get out and do some stuff. Nickie will join me for some of it but some of it I will do on my won.

    Photographing the sunrise on Paxos

    I am going to get up early three or four mornings and go and photography the sunrise. I have a pretty good idea of my locations of choice.

    Sunrise is my favourite time of day, when I am all alone out and about watching the dawning of a new day.

    This is a special time for us photographers – a rare time alone to concentrate on taking one photo. Sure, I take more than 1 photo, but that is all I am after.

    You can read more about this on the post How To Get Sunrise Photos Of Paxos Greece.

    What else is planned for the rest of the holiday?

    We have got a hire car booked for two days, and most excitingly a rental boat which we can use to go all around the island of Paxos and also head off down to the lovely tiny island of Antipaxos.

    This will be such a great day out, and the perfect antidote to the days of doing not a great deal.

    Relaxing vs doing stuff

    We can’t travel all the way to Paxos from the UK and just lie by the pool for a fortnight. And neither can we spend two weeks going out and about doing stuff.

    To be fair on Paxos that would be a challenge in itself.

    No – there is a balance to be sought, which we have perfected that works for us both together and individually.

    The art of relaxing on Paxos

    Paxos makes it easy to relax – it is the natural consequence of being here. And we both take our rest and relaxation seriously.

    Tomorrow it is time to get back to being a travel photographer – I am going to head off on foot with my trusty Canon 6D and find stuff to photograph – join me on this post which will contain photos taken in and around Lakka.

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy

  • Day 5 on Paxos – Gaios or Lakka? Difficult Decisions…

    OK – today is the day for the first trip out of Lakka since we arrived. If we can be bothered that is.

    Gaios or Lakka – which is it going to be? Gaios it turned out was the venue of choice for day 5 on Paxos. We were both looking forward to returning to the capital of Paxos and having lunch and mooching round the shops.

    Gaios is a lovely place to visit.

    And as we are on day 5 and have not left Lakka yes I guess it was time.

    The dilemma of being on holiday

    There is dilemma when on holiday of doing nothing or not. Do absolutely nothing and you might as well stay at home – weather being the notable exception to this of course, especially in the UK. And of course the break from day to day life.

    One day of doing stuff followed by one day of doing nothing other than relaxing works for us.

    So today is our trip to the big city of Gaios. OK – hardly a big city, but Gaios is the capital of the island.

    We decided to get the bus to Gaios from Lakka.

    After our usual morning tea we got ourselves sorted and shuffled out of the hotel – it was already baking hot out there.

    Missing the bus

    The plan was to get the first bus which leaves Lakka at 8.50am. Not surprisingly we did not make it, mainly down to me and my morning lethargy. Well I am on my hols, apart from the work I am doing on this website of course.

    We didn’t make the 8.50 bus so decided to take it easy and get the second bus at 11am. 

    Giving us time spare in lovely Lakka. 

    Missing the first bus gave us time to have a morning mooch around Lakka and grab breakfast at the lovely café called, well I’m not sure!

    Breakfast consisted of a nice coffee and a cheese and ham toastie sat watching the world go by.

    It is at times like this that I realise how seldom we take the time to sit down and have a coffee when we are at home – not often enough. Such a simple but enjoyable thing to do but something we do not do anywhere near often enough.

    Having had a very nice relaxing breakfast we decide to book a table for dinner at a place we have walked past hundreds of times but never been in called Taverna Nionios in the square in Lakka.

    After all that exertion it was back to the bus stop.

    The bus was late!!

    Yes – the bus was late – not a big shock but not a problem either. We had the luxury of not having any deadlines other than dinner that evening, so time just did not matter.

    Well apart from having our first drink in Gaios that is! Should be beer’o’clock when we get there.

    How much does the bus from Lakka to Gaios cost?

    12 euros return for two – that’s not too bad at all is it? You get on the bus and the lady comes and takes your money and gives you the tickets. The bus is old but perfectly fine and clean.

    What is the bus journey from Lakka to Gaios like?

    The local bus from Lakka to Loggos and then onto Gaios is an experience. There is one particular favourite thing of mine after departing the bus station at Loggos. Ok bus stop.

    Loggos is a small town with shops and bars along the waterfront. And the road is just wide enough for cars to pass.

    But not wide enough for a car and a bus to pass. It is barely wide enough for a bus to be honest.

    The bus dominates the road and the entire scene, passing worryingly close to not only the harbours edge but also the tables and chairs on the other side of the road.

    I did not take a video of this spectacle which is a regret – I was hoping to get the bus again just so I could film this incredible scene but did not get around to that. So I will have to go back!

    We sat on the front seats on the bus, behind the driver and next to the lady who collects the money and issues the tickets, with the best view out of the enormous windscreen of the upcoming scenery.

    And there was a local chap sat down at the front whose job appeared to be talking and smoking – not sure how he fitted in!

    We have arrived at Gaios

    The bus journey from Lakka to Gaios takes about 45 minutes. In Gaios you get off at the top of one of the main shopping streets, also by the main town supermarket, which is the biggest shop in the island as far as I am aware.

    It was strangely cloudy in Gaios, and very humid making for hot and sweaty mooching.

    Beer’o’clock in Gaios

    We walked down the main shopping street straight down to the waterside frontage. Well we did not get that far before stopping for a beer at the bar we went to last year.

    Such creatures of habit!

    And what a lovely beer it was. The bar is called Cafe Kalimera and is in an excellent central location.

    Shopping in Gaios

    We continued our walk down to the waterfront, turned left then took the first street back into the centre of the town. Having just written that I realised that this is detail that you really do not need to know!

    We bought some nice things in the shops, lovely t-shirts, a couple of pieces of Babylonian jewellery and some stuff for the house. All lovely stuff I have to say.

    And fairly typical of our holiday shop. The important thing is that we buy stuff that reminds us of our travels and is also stuff that we can’t get at home.

    Walking along the waterfront of Gaios

    When you get down to the waterfront from the bus, if you turn left and follow the path by the sea you will eventually end up at the port of Gaios, a rather low key but perfectly adequate facility. Can’t believe I used the word facility!!

    We walked all the way to the other end of the water frontage, stopping at Mediterraneo, an intriguing fish restaurant with tables dotted amongst the rocks, which must be lovely in the evening, not that we have been to Gaios in the evening!

    Mediterraneo On The Rocks

    On the walk there are lots and lots of boats to look at, both moored up and passing through the channel. There are also lots of shops, bars and interesting buildings. It really is a very nice walk. And when you get back to the church at the foot of the main shopping street keep going past lots more bars and restaurants and you get to this statue called Anemogiannis Monument.

    Picture of the Anemogiannis Monument with a burst of sun in Gaios on the Greek Island of Paxos

    I will write a separate post all about the things to do in Gaios, along with a selection of my photos of Gaios.

    And also about my taking photographs on Paxos (ok this was taken on another day).

    Lunch in Gaios

    We had the lunch in the main square at Piazza Massa, right next to the Church Analipsi, watching the world go by.

    Lunch consisted of chicken gyros (with fries and salad) and a pizza washed down with a cold beer sat amongst the constantly growing crowds.

    This might be basic fare, but this is seriously good local food. The best meal we had in Santorini was chicken gyros!

    And then in came the boat from other islands, bringing masses of visitors. Our empty restaurant filled in minutes – a complete transformation.

    The church is a tiny church that receives hundreds if not thousands of visitors every day – it is one of the first things day trippers see as they get off the day boats and hit the land.

    Getting busy in Gaios

    Gaios is fairly quiet in the morning until the boats start arriving from Lakka, Loggos and more significantly from Corfu and mainland Greece.

    I have been in Gaios just after sunset when it was ever so quiet and lovely (see the photo above). Just be aware that if you go to Gaios at lunchtime you are probably hitting it at the busiest time.

    And it stays pretty busy until the day trippers get back on their boats and leave from whence they came.

    We have not been to Gaios in the evening – something for another time.

    The streets were much busier, full of tourists shopping wearing swimwear which I always find rather odd!

    Time to get out of this big bad city

    By 3pm we had had enough and decided to get a taxi back rather than wait for the bus back, which was not until 5pm.

    Getting back to Lakka from Gaios

    We wanted to get back for the pool and some late afternoon sun. The taxi from Gaios to Lakka cost 10 euros which was absolutely fine. Taxis drop off and pick up at the bus stop by the supermarket in Gaios – the same place we got off the bus.

    And it was nice being driven back to Gaios in a nice Mercedes.

    Back at the pool at Hotel Bastas

    By 3.30pm we were back at the pool, which was unusually quiet for that time of day. 

    After a nice cool down by the pool it was time to have a lie down and a read, before completing a very pleasant day with a late sunshine beer.

    I have to say that it was very nice going back to Gaios – the first time we visited was on a day trip from Corfu where we returned on the ferry laden with shopping and a bottle of prosecco. This was our third time in Gaios and each time we have had a very nice time indeed.

    Back to the room to write this, and then time to get showered (with a bit of shower curtain gymnastics!) and walk back down into Lakka.

    Lakka – where we spent every evening on holiday

    We spent every evening of our holiday in Lakka. We did debate having dinner in Gaios, or even somewhere inland.

    But we didn’t. Lakka is so lovely, and we were so chilled that a big part of both of us just could not be bothered venturing into the unknown somewhere new. There is plenty of choice of places to eat in Lakka – having spent a total of three weeks in Lakka there are still lots of places to eat and drink that we have not tried yet.

    There is nothing worse than going somewhere new and finding it rubbish – no we just stuck to the lovely small town where we were staying. If the food was rubbish somewhere we always knew of other places we could go to.

    And with it being such a short walk down to the waterfront why would we go anywhere else of an evening?

    A typical evening out in Lakka

    We tended to leave the Hotel Bastas at around 7.30pm. It is funny that even with all the freedom of being on holiday and having no time restrictions it turns out we went out at virtually the same time every evening.

    I guess we are just creatures of habit.

    Drinks at Romantica in Lakka

    Talking of creatures of habit, it was back to Romantica for your cocktails of choice, namely a mojito for Nickie and a Bloody Mary for me.

    This is the view from our table. Remember the boat on the right!

    The view from Romantica in Lakka Paxos

    Now I have to say I have not had a Bloody Mary in years, but the ones they serve at Romantica are lovely.

    We sat in the upper balcony and watched the sun disappear over the hill. Drinks finished, snacks eaten it is time for dinner.

    Dinner at the Taverna Nionios

    We ordered a carafe of house red wine which was chilled and not nice. We asked if we could change the order for a bottle of red which they graciously did.

    Taverna Nionios in Lakka

    Time to eat something different

    I had stifado. Rabbit stifado no less. An interesting choice, and I am glad that I tried it.

    But not for me.

    Nickie had a lovely authentic (well it would be!) Moussaka. Very nice food and very good service all round – a place we will come back to time permitting.

    A word on us and desserts

    You might have noticed by now that we don’t have many desserts. We struggle between us to eat a starter and a main each to be honest, so dessert is rather unlikely. We often end up sharing a main course having had a starter each.

    This is met by restaurants with a variety of reactions – we try to do this as nicely as possible.

    And then there is the bakers in Lakka open late at night

    Yes, we buy the odd sweet thing from the bakers in Lakka of an evening.

    Which tonight was a macaroon and a very sweet but nice local cake.

    We took our snacks back to our room and ate them sitting on the balcony enjoying a Metaxa night-cap.

    Blimey – what a long and busy day – there is only one way to get over this – another day doing nothing.

    What has five days on Paxos done for us?

    I have switched off from reality pretty well now. There is of course the daily writing and my photography, but these are both things that I enjoy. If my job was doing this all the time it would hardly feel like work.

    So, 5 days in Paxos has helped us to unwind and relax and be ourselves again. This happened last time, even though we were only here for a week, which is just not long enough.

    5 days down and 10 days to go.

    And having published our planned schedule of activities yesterday there is one thing that I have not mentioned yet which I have to plan into the remaining days.

    My photography

    I have not taken my camera out of the safe yet with the exception of that post lunch walk to Arcoudarki Beach.

    And I have some sunrises to capture.

    In Gaios today I was reminded of this, and also of the fact that I have yet to work out where to takes photos of the sunrise in Gaios.

    I have worked out Loggos – that was dead simple. And for Lakka I know where I need to go – well there are a couple of possibilities to be fair.

    But Gaios is the one that I am not sure about – will this be down by the waterfront, or somewhere else? I have some work to do here before I return to Gaios. And I only have the car for two days, and one of them is for Loggos, so I have one shot at this!

    A job for tomorrow then is to research sunrise photography locations in Gaios.

    Want to know more about Paxos?

    I hope that you have found this post helpful, informative and even a little bit entertaining! To find out more about my favourite, wonderful Greek island all you need to do is click here and I will take you straight back to the start of my Paxos blog. Nice and easy!

    Oh yes, I hope that you enjoy the next post.

    Rick McEvoy