Walking on Paxos

Both Bogdanitika and Magazia are good starting points if you wish to walk the rugged west coast of Paxos, although the best views of this area are from a boat. Walking west of Bogdanatika, is the tiny beach in Avlaki Creek, part of the Bay of Agrilas/Prasses. South of Bogdanatika is the smaller settlement of Makratika where one of the Junior Schools is situated. Keep on, past the School and two Churches are reached, one on the left, Ayi.Pantes and on the right, Pantocratoras also known as “El Conde”. Go through the arch under the campanile of this one and a clearly defined track leads off through an olive grove. It narrows to a path and you will then pass a group of buildings, a circular one (which might be the remains of a windmill, or more likely, a lime kiln), then a blocked-up shrine and then a vaulted, rectangular one containing a well. From here the path used to meander pleasantly along the right-hand (north) side of the valley down to the Creek where there is a pebble beach.
However lower down it is now bulldozed out and therefore abandoned and overgrown. Look for a fork left, down into the olives and leading across the flat-bottomed valley. This, if you can find it, should lead you onto a newer, bulldozed gravel track along the left (south) side of the valley which ends in a small turning-area from where a short, steep path descends to the beach.

From the back of Gaios town, where the ‘bus stands, there are two tarmac roads leading inland. The right-hand one curves up the hill and is the busy main road. Take the left-hand, lower one which leads past a Petrol Station.
Then the Castello Disco is passed, high on the left. Take a wide, gravel track forking left by a bridge. Follow this for about 700m. passing a modern olive press on left and then a splendidly restored old house with bee boles (if you don’t know what they are, consult the Booklet which comes with the Bleasdale Map). The path is rougher and winds pleasantly before exiting below a church (Ag.Ekaterini) with a rather flamboyant grave-yard, onto a tarmac road. Cross this and a tarmac/concrete track goes up by what used to be Villa Billy with a set of horns over the gate. Follow this, below houses and climbing gently around a bend left, until a stone hut with blue doors is reached. Keep left here along what used to be a walled-path, now a bulldozed track. After crossing the head of a valley, it swings right, leaving the old, stone-walled path going on ahead. (If you want to know where this goes to, together with many other paths which branch off in all directions and lead to some interesting places, you will have to buy The Map!) The bulldozed track after about 100m swings off up left but you now follow straight-on along a narrow, walled path along the flank of the hill, straight-on to Trypitos. To get down to the Arch itself, is not for those who suffer from vertigo! There is a large ‘plaque’ – like a huge book – telling you about it but only in Greek. If you want it in English, guess what? Buy the Booklet/Map!

Several hidden paths lead up the hillside from the back of Gaios (go via the ‘British’ Cisterna which is painted pink!). Or you could follow the main road, but you can do that on the ‘bus! Either way, for the inland route, you end up in Bogdanatika. If walking, at the north end of the village, opposite the Sports Ground, take a wide road right, up around a hair-pin bend to pass the church of Ag.Haralambos with a fine, tall, campanile. Turn right again here, up a steep, concrete/tarmac track to mount the central ridge of the Island and pass its highest summit by the Church Ag.Isavros at Megali Vigla. Pass two aerial masts as the track winds down through the village of Arvanatika (sometime spelt differently – see the newly erected road signs). This drops down onto a tarmac road, turn right and join the main road again just south of the village of Magazia. Pass a Filling Station on the right. Ignore (for the moment) a track off left and signed as going to the Sunset Bar. This is essentially a cul-de-sac and is a place for an evening trip. There is a link north (and even a new beach – there are 4 now on the west coast) but the path involved is steep and even dangerous without a map. Proceed along the main road through Magazia. You will pass a few shops and bars – remember all inland Paxos shuts down in an afternoon! – and eventually the Fire Station on left (or at least the bit of ground where the Fire Engine stands) then a small school and then a tarmac lane goes off left signposted “Sunset Café” (not to be confused with the Bar mentioned earlier.) Follow this lane past an old Olive press now being converted into a dwelling, then a drinking fountain (‘village tap’) This is the village of Mitsialatika where the lane forks. Straight-on one can follow a concrete/gravel lane, through the olives, past a Blacksmiths, to eventually start to drop through a series of hair-pin bends passing within sight of the interesting campanile and Church of Ypapanti at Grammateika which is worth a diversion. Below it is an ancient spring which is one of the few sites on Paxos having a possible (?) connection with Classic Greece. Continuing down the hair-pins, one comes onto a narrow tarmac lane and then, turning left, onto the wide, newly re-surfaced, lower main road to Lakka through a wide valley.

Had one turned left in Mitsialatika, you would pass a small shop (closed in the afternoon) and then, shortly, the Sunset Taverna which doesn’t close, being run diligently by Spiro who serves excellent food and drink but has the unfortunate habit of watching over you whilst you eat. Beyond here the track diminishes to a path which takes you around the cliff-top above Ypapanti Cove. There is a ruined Windmill off to the right. A bulldozed gravel track is picked-up for a while and then a stone-walled path to the village of Vasilatika where a concrete lane leads on along the ridge before dropping down, with a choice of routes, to Lakka from the west. The Bleasdale Map will show you which to select and also how to get to two more of the west coast beaches below.

Lakka closes down in the afternoon, except for one shop – Demetria’s – and several Bars on the waterfront. Round on the beach, the Beach bar is also always open in the season for excellent food & drink.

One could alternately walk north from Gaios along the coast road, passing the New Port. At Kaki Langada Beach there is a path going off by Villa Delphini which offers a beach-hopping route northwards to Loggos but you need the Map for this. Keeping to the road, there is a very hot, up-hill stretch by the reservoir to the village of Fontana where there are several Taverna/Bars open in the mornings and evenings. Turn sharp left by the Church for a lovely, shaded, lane through the olives climbing up to Arvanatika and then joining the other route described above. Alternatively, you could follow the main road left, from Fontana directly to Magazia.

For some 15 years the Bleasdale Walking Map of Paxos has been the recognised guide book for serious or even casual walkers of Paxos. The Paxos Map is now in its 10a Edition and, as always, comes complete with a 135 page illustrated Booklet describing the walks in detail plus further information about the Island.

The author, Ian Bleasdale, has personally surveyed Paxos and in the following section describes the map detail and why Paxos is so popular for walking:

The surprising popularity of our Map and the kind and enthusiastic responses from users, has well illustrated the popularity of this little Island among what can only be described as cognoscenti.

What has Paxos got which attracts so? It is hard to define; it is only some 10km long and 3km wide (around 6 x 2 miles) and there are many Islands this small and yet mostly have very limited traveller-appeal. Many, like it, have rocky cliffs and stony beaches but there must be something special about this Island which brings us back year after year?

I suppose the fact that it is almost entirely covered in relatively dense vegetation makes it unusually interesting and intriguing. This is not jungle vegetation, quite the opposite, apart from some limited areas which have been allowed to become overgrown and wild, it is entirely man-made. Not only the olive trees - which here are abnormally large and ill-assorted - were planted by earlier settlers, but the very land-form itself was largely worked-over and reshaped by the building of an extremely extensive system of terraces and retaining walls; all built in the local limestone but in an apparently random and un-planned pattern.

Thus, though small in overall compass, the landscape is extraordinarily hidden, tortuous and secret and in it one can find, if you penetrate far enough, not only little, hidden villages, wells, mills and Churches, but all manner of interesting things, both animal, vegetable and mineral. Everything has become so intertwined, as to look wild and natural! All this is leavened by being able to stumble on (or down to!) little hidden beaches where you can cool off and swim.

To do all this in a sensible manner, avoiding getting lost or just going round in circles, one does need a map. It illustrates an extraordinary system of paths & tracks. Some are mere goat trails, others are the routes adopted by locals over the centuries to access wells, churches, mills and their olives or vines. Hidden here and there are intriguing remnants of well-engineered roads, the relicts of past occupations by the Venetians, Italians, British and French.

Years ago it was possible to walk all along the east coast, beach-hopping, from Lakka to Gaios. Now, one difficult landowner has blocked one of the links but there is a way around this but you will need the Map to discover how.

On the West coast there is a system of tracks which will take you almost the complete length of the Island, but again you need the Map to see how they link-up.

South and inland from Gaios, paths radiate out in all directions; some are easy, some difficult, again the Map will tell you which and guide you to whatever location you seek.

From Loggos there are steep donkey steps or more gentle trails, and to get full benefit from this jig-saw, you need THE MAP.

This can be ordered from our English Office or bought from our Agency on Paxos.

Below is a small sample to give you an idea of the detail depicted on it. It is 1:10,000 scale (about 6 inches to a mile) and has contours at 25m. intervals. It is frequently updated.

For more information, see website >> www.iankbleasdale.co.uk