July 2013 saw us in search of a picturesque walking holiday far from the madding crowds. Our search first lead us to the idyllic Greek island of Paxos, an island of gentle rolling hills forested by Olives groves and Pine trees. There are no airports here - access is via water travel only making it a peaceful place even in the height of summer. After walking the length and breadth of the island for several days we travelled on to the more commercial island of Corfu - specifically the west coast that is renowned for its spectacular mountain scenery. This collection of picture documents our journey in sequential order and is a small sample of hundreds of digital & 35mm transparency images taken throughout the trip. We hope you enjoy...
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Embarking the ferry from Benitses Harbour, Corfu for Paxos. A journey of less than 10 nautical miles taking around 2.5 hours across a choppy Ionian sea. The swell got so bad that an oven broke loose from its moorings, spilling it's oily contents across the mid-deck.
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Our destination was the small port of Loggos, a hamlet consisting of a handful of tavernas, shops, houses and of course... a cat feeding station!
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We stayed in a cottage above a small supermarket at the back of the village - handy for all of our supplies including, to our surprise, a bottle of Southern Comfort! The cottage came with its own well and a extended family of cats!
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The Ionian sea is renowned for its startling clarity as this image perfectly demonstrates.
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An image showing azure water stretching to the western coast of the Greek mainland. This was a typical scene found along the east coast of Paxos.
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One of our walks took us to the capital of the island, the port of Gaios. Along the waterfront was this fantastic looking house which we just had to take a picture of! A 15mm super wide-angle lens exaggerates perfectly the height of this four story building from a close perspective.
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Another view of Gaios harbour taken from the breakwater. It was an ideal spot from which to take a panorama image that is available for purchase from our Panorama Library.
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It was our intention to walk to the southern most tip of the island, specifically Mongonisi which is where the roads & tracks come to an end and meet the sea. We planned a route which took us south along the coast and returned inland along the spine of some low hills. This image shows the point where the road turned into a track heading for ruins of the oldest church on the island.
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A view towards Ag. Nicholas Church from the small deserted beach of Depteri Spiatea.
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Cool water in the heat of the day.
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A backstreet in Gaios.
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Funny story; we plotted a route from our cottage across to the west coast of the island taking in several hamlets and churches. Our final destination was sunset café, where we intended to indulge in their finest beverages and greek fare before making our way back. Imagine our surprise when we found the café was not open, I guess the clue to its opening times are in its name :-) Anyway, here is a nice view looking north taken from a Bell Tower along the way.
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A close-up of one of the bells in the aforementioned bell tower.
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A striking red church door which just had to be photographed...
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...and on the painted plaster of the door surround we found this!
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While photographing doors, lizards & bells a friendly feline took a particular interest in us and insisted of lazily modelling in front of the camera!
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As you can see, he was working his stuff!
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Once the shock of a closed café has sunk in, we found a stunning cliff top view and broke out the emergency pizzas bought from a bakery earlier that day.
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The only other village of any real size was the northern port of Lakka, which we found particularly charming and picturesque. We spent a day walking around the area before following ancient donkey paths through dense olive groves home.
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Some of you may notice this from our image of the month, what can we say, we like fry-ups… especially after a long walk!
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Having become completely acclimatised to the intense summer heat, our longest walk took us from Loggos across the central part of the island before heading east and finally home. This image taken in the hamlet of Koutsi, shows one of the many-ruined windmills dotted around the island.
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Boiling hot and absolutely famished we arrived in the hamlet of Fontana, which straddled a crossroads at the centre of the island. This particular house caught our eye with its bright colours.
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From Fontana we headed east towards the coast through dense woodland, the path became very ill defined in places but we eventually popped out on this wonderful deserted pebble beach. We wasted no time kicking off our packs and jumping in the sea for a refreshing swim.
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Nights are our favourite time of the day, particularly after an energetic days walking. What can be better than getting showered up and dining in a local taverna before heading to a quiet bar for a nightcap. And here is an image of one of our favourites.
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After a pleasant week on Paxos we caught the early morning ferry back to Benitses, Corfu before travelling across the island to the quieter west coast. Despite being exhausted we still took advantage of this beautiful sunrise.
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The early morning sun lit this tiny chapel perfectly.
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Our first walk on Corfu started from our accommodation in Agios Gordios and wound it’s way along the coast before heading up the mountainside to the village of Pendati. Here is a view of the coastline looking south.
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So ugly, you can't help but love it!
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Resting Swallows taken in the small village of Pendati.
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Walking back through the mountains one sweltering afternoon we passed this abandoned hut amongst a forest of olives.
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Capsized boat in Mandouki harbour, Corfu town.
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A quiet corner inside the old fortress, Corfu town.
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During a pleasant Coffee break these flowers against the Ionian Sea provided the perfect image of relaxation and calm.
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Quite a bizarre setup, hence it had to be photographed!
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A view of the old fortress taken with a 15mm super wide-angle lens.
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The monastery of Palaiokastritsa has almost as many cats as tourists, here is the evidence the feline population is on the rise!
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Grapevines at Palaiokastritsa monastery.
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The highest point on the island is Mt. Pantokratoras which offers spectacular views across the island and the straights to Albania. It is crowned by several communication masts and the Monastery of Pantokratoras Ipsilou. The site is reached by a winding road up the southern face of the mountain, through the sleepy villages of Spartila & Petalia. Here is a super-wide 15mm picture of the monastery’s beautiful interior.
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A view form the summit of Mt. Pantokratoras towards Albania.
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An abstract view of a communication tower on Mt. Pantokratoras.
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A huge limestone outcrop above Agios Gordios photographed from our accommodation in sombre morning light.
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A trip to Greece is only complete when two particular subjects have been photographed. The first is the ubiquitous taverna cat (tav cat for short!) and the second is the hair raising final approach of aircraft :)
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The church of Panayia Vlachernon at Cape Kanoni.
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At the end of a hot days walking what could be nicer than looking at this with a chilled drink?
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We were lucky enough to be able to capture these shots from the comfort of our own balcony.
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A hot gruelling walk up through the mountains brought us out at the sleepy village of Sinarades. Like many Greek villages some buildings decay with absolute charm, begging to be photographed.
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In contrast of the previous image many houses display an abundance of potted plants...
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...some of which crowd the narrow alleyways.
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A rooftop view of Sinarades.