Gaios, Paxos
Vasco da Gama
Ian Strathcarron
Wed 29 Apr 2009 14:32
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We are in Gaios, the main port of Paxos, which is 7
miles south of Corfu. Paxos is very small, a long thin lizard shaped
island stretching north to south for 8 miles, and east to west for 3
miles. We were last here 25 years ago and it does not seem to have changed
at all. There are no high rise buildings, and the three main harbour towns
look like miniature versions of Venice with two or three storey houses painted
cream, pink or ochre, with shutters, balconies and tiled roofs - a legacy of the
hundreds of years when many harbours in the Ionian Sea were outposts of the
Venetian trading empire. Ian says that as we are unlikely to buy a
palazzo in Venice we might as well buy one here instead. Inland, it's all olive
trees, olive presses, wells, roosters and hens, goats and donkeys - in fact
completely charming.
After leaving Corfu town we pulled into a fishing
port of Petriti in the south of the island and tied up alongside three big
fishing boats which went out at night, with their lights blazing, and returned
at dawn. We were surprised to see one of the crew on the boat beside us
smoking a hookah, and another man on shore bowing on a prayer mat, and Ian
spoke to one of the men who said they were all from Cairo. I read in our
guide book that most Greeks live in the cities on the mainland, especially
Athens, and the islands only come to life in the summer when Greek or foreign
holiday makers arrive, which would explain why the fishing crew had to be
imported from Egypt. I watched the boats come in at dawn, which is at the
fairly late time of 6 am, and they did not bring in a very big catch.
The large fish were taken away in a couple of vans, then the fishermen sat in
front of the boats hoping to sell some boxes of sardines. The
happiest customers were dozens of cats who assembled on the quay as the boats
came in.
We sailed into Lakka in the north of Paxos, just
before a big storm. We dropped the anchor, but Ian did not have much sleep
as he got up to check that the anchor wasn't dragging several times during the
night. We spent three nights at anchor there. It's a most idyllic
spot - a horseshoe shaped bay, surrounded by hills covered with olive
and cypress trees. Everywhere is quiet as the holiday season has not yet
started. The good news is that we have the place almost to ourselves, the
bad news is that the weather can be stormy, wet and overcast, although we get a
few hours of sunshine most days.
After two months on board and especially after four
nights at anchor, I am looking more and more like a wild woman. A hot bath
or a hairdresser would not go amiss, but on the other hand it's relaxing not to
worry at all about keeping up appearances. There are a few expatriate
English people dotted around these faraway places, and I have to say they look
even more wild than we do!
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