Hi, I’m sure you have an answer by now, but having just found this thread I can suggest the following.

I drove down from the UK in a largish van last May. Having arrived in Igoumenitsa from Ancona on the overnight ferry I drove straight to the little booking office, bought a ticket for Paxos and joined the rest of the vehicles waiting for the ferry (I think it was the Nichaloas). The issue is not so much if you have pre booked, but getting there in good time, as it seems to be first there is first on, with the exception of large lorries carrying essential supplies being loaded first.

The return journey from Paxos to Igoumenitsa some weeks later was a different matter! Three days before our planned return home, again via Igoumenitsa and Ancona, I strolled into one of the travel agencies in Gaios to find that there were no ferries on the Thursday and we would have to leave a day early and spend a night in Igoumenitsa before catching the large ferry back to Italy. OK, a bit disappointing but a day to explore on the mainland didn't seem so bad.

Arriving at the port in Gaios about an hour and a half before the ferry was due we found the port already quite busy with an assortment of lorries, vans and cars all obviously waiting to for the ferry. We drove round in a big loop and joined the end of one of three lanes of vehicles parked up.

When the ferry did arrive it was chaos! Suddenly several large lorries arrived and were waved straight on to the ferry. Then from outside the port gates a stream of vans and cars drove straight on to the ferry with waves and smiles to their friends in the crew. Starting to get a little anxious now as the ferry wasn't very big and was filling up. Much shouting and gesticulating from the waiting drivers now ensued with cars and vans edging closer, engines revving up in the afternoon heat. Not wanting to get left behind I too started to edge the van ever closer, whenever the loading officer wasn't looking, otherwise he lost his cool somewhat. Eventually and only after my partner shouted for his attention and waved our tickets in his face he signaled for us to swing the van around and reverse on. After us drove on one tiny Fiat car and a moped was placed sideways across the bow as the ramp was raised.

We walked up on deck to witness complete anarchy on the dock side as there remained ten or more vehicles, drivers with tickets in hand and no room left on the ferry. We couldn't believe how close we had come to not only failing to get to Igoumenitsa but then not being able to catch the ferry the following day and all our other connections back through Italy, Switzerland and France.

Back at the port the little ticket office was engulfed by a very frustrated crowd who had faithfullY purchased their tickets to no avail. Someone, somewhere obviously couldn’t count.

The next day relaxing in Igoumenitsa I noticed the same ferry arriving from the direction of Paxos. I don't know if they really did lay on another connection that week, or maybe there was a Thursday ferry anyway and we were miss informed.

Anyway, the moral of this story, if it has one, is that the unexpected is to expected when you visit a little Greek Island like Paxos. The fact that things like this happen is part of what makes it such an exceptional place, though I wonder if would be thinking this way if I had been left on the port with the other unfortunates!

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