Paxos, more days than we expected!

From Lakka we sailed to Gaios. It was forcasted much wind from north and for that Gaios is perfect. The marina is inside a canal with an island outside. It is also possible to anchor south of this island and many boats did that. It was cheap to stay in the marina so we decided to stay safe there.

It`s perfect coming there either in the morning (between 10 and 12) or after 17. If you are leaving Gaios most boats leave in the morning, and between 10 and 17 much space in the marina is occupied by touristboats. There are yellow lines where you can`t stay. Many boats are waiting for this touristboats to leave.

The day was warm and no wind inside here, so we stay most of the day in the boat, just walking around to see the town.

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Some narrow shopping streets

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Gaios is a very popular place to stay so it is not space for everyone who wants to come there

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The statue of Georgios Anemogiannis. He was born in Paxos in 1798. In the Greek revolution in 1821 he was a sailor on a merchant ship which took part in one of the first naval attacks against an Ottoman target. He was arrested and executed by the authorities and then his dead body was hang for several days as an example for other rebels.

At the end of the promenade you can find a small beach. Astor checked it out later.

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When it started to cool down in the afternoon we wanted to walk up to a viewpoint to sea the harbour.

You can also anchor with line ashore on the small island

Do you remember Phil who we met in Erikoussa a few weeks ago. He lives in Paxos and tuesday he picked us up for an aroundtrip on the island. First we stopped where we could see the oldest olive tree on the island. They think it`s over 1000 years old. And it had still olives on the tree!

After the olive tree he took us to the Tripitos Arch. We parked on a parking spot and walked along a nice trail, less than a kilometer. You go down first and then it is a bit steep to go up again.

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What a view!

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It looks like it is quite narrow on the top there, but it was not any problem to walk there. Even for me, afraid of highs

Seen from the outside.

A lot of small taxi/touristboats are coming there. But I think the best view are from the point I took this photo (we also saw it from the sea later)

Up again

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After that we went to an old windmill (from the same parkingspot)

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Nice view from the windmill

The windmill was not in a good condition, but it was nice to see it

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When we started the car from there, we got some company – a grass hopper or a cricket, we don`t know. Anyone knows?? But it was pritty spooky…

Church of the Hypapanti

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It was possible to walk up in the clock tower

Phil and Astor

At the top of the stairs you have to be aware the roof

Then we went to Phil`s house, an amazing house and that view!!

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He lives in Laggos and we walked from his house down to the town

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We went to Roxy bar to have something to drink

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Wednesday morning we left Gaios (after waiting a while for other boats fixing their anchor spagetti)

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We sailed north to Loggos to pick up Phil for a sailingtrip around the island

On the westcoast it is huge rocks

Maybe it`s not easy to sea how huge they are, but maybe you can see the sailboat? It is quite small…

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We had a stop in the Blue Cave. Lucally we find a place to anchor so we could use the dinghy to go inside

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The roof has collapsed in one of the caves and let the sunshine in

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You feel quite small when big touristboats are coming inside the cave!

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After the blue cave, which was amazing, we sailed around rock of Ortholithos

And here you can see the Tripitos Arch from the outside. Not as spetacular as from the hill

Mongonissi beach at the south of Paxos. A popular place for sailors

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When we came back to Loggos we berth at the jetty, (it is free to stay there). and went to Roxy bar for a drink together with Ray and Karen (and of course Phil). It was almost full moon!

It was a busy evening for us because a cat was visiting us. The problem was that he was so afraid. I am not sure what he wanted inside the boat… We closed everything (we thought) but when we come back he was inside again. He had felt through the moskitonet on the hatch to our main cabin. All the doors was closed so of course he was afraid in there. We found pee and poo in our bed… But finally we managed to get the cat out and we didn`t see him again….

Roxy bar in the morning sun

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Thursday we took Phil and his friend Ray over to Antipaxos to hike over the island. We anchored in Paralia Voutoumi, the most amazing beach! We actually anchored here the first night after we had checked in to Greece in the beginning of our journey

There was a lot of boats but we managed to find a nice place to anchor.

That beach!!!

We walked up the stairs to the restaurant Bella Vista. They where still closed but we walked through the restaurant to start our hike. And what a view from the restaurant!

Antipaxos is a small island, only 5 square kilometres.

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Saint Emilianos Church

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Been there for a while??

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Akra Ovoros lighthouse at the south end of the island. The trail around the lighthouse was pritty owergrown, it is not every day people are walking around there.

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From the lighthouse we walked down to a small bay

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On the way back we went down to another bay where Astor and Phil had a swim. A beautiful hike on a beautiful island. Together with amazing company!

That evening Astor and me went to a restaurant in Loggos to eat dinner.

Friday morning we had a nice sunrise

After doing some boatjobs we walked to the nearest beach to have a swim

Paralia Levrechio

So, what was the reason we stayed in Paxos for so many days? It was Phil`s birthday on friday and we were invited!! Of course we had to go there. It is stories like this who makes our journey!

Phil had an amazing outdoor kitchen wit a pizzaoven, so he made pizza for all of us.

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Yes, it is Phil!

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And a banana pizza for dessert!

After dinner it was music. It was ukulele, trumpet, didjeridu, harmonica

It was so nice to meet all this amazing people and got new friends! (everyone was from UK) Ray, Karen and Andy, Victoria and Jeremy, Pam and Les, Gill and Neil, and Phil! It was very nice to meet you all!

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And a lot of fun

Astor tried as best he could to play with the didjeridu! It was a really nice evening. And a huge thanks to Phil who did our laundry on his birthday!

Saturday we left Paxos after almost a week. We had a strong wind right on the nose so the boat was healing over for the whole sail. The problem came when Astor started the motor before the canal of Lefkada. It was now debris in the fuel filter so Astor had to fix that before entering the canal. The canal opens every hour so lucally he fixed the problem before the next opening.

We have been in Lefkada before, by car, so we decided to go to Nidri

Nidri bay in the morning. There are so many boats, but you will find a place to anchor anyway.

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We feel so lucky that we met Phil at Erikoussa! He made this week perfect for us. Thank you so much for everything Phil! Hope to see you again, somewhere! You are always welcome to visit us in the boat!