Paxos Island Maps - Your Guide to Walking on Paxos

STOP PRESS: The new 2008 Edition 10a Map will be available from the end of March 2008.

Hello and welcome to my website!

For many years I have had a fascination with the Greek Island of Paxos.. (PAXOS the Peaceful Isle, from the Latin PAX = peace). Some time ago, I decided to map the Islands footpaths and with an ever-increasing interest in my maps, I decided that a web site would be a good way to illustrate the work I have carried out over the years.

The Greek Islands of Paxos

Situated, with it larger neighbour Corfu, off the West Coast of Greece, some 75km south-east of the heel of Italy, in the Ionian Sea with it’s off-shoot, Anti-Paxos 1½ km away to the SE.

They, like most of the more southern Ionian Islands, form exposed summits of a range of coastal-shelf limestone hills, once part of an uplifted ancient sea-floor. Forced up by the interaction of plate-tectonics along the Eastern Mediterranean fault-line.

Because they have a different climate, hot and dry in summer but very wet in winter, they are luxuriously vegetated, unlike the better-known islands on the other side of Greece in the Aegean.

On important trade-routes between Western Europe and the Middle East, in history they have been occupied over time by various powers, all of which have had influences but of which the Venetians are probably the most noticeable.

If you have read Gerald Durrell’s book “My Family and Other Animals” you will have an idea what Corfu was like in the late 1930’s. Paxos, being that bit more remote, was still in that degree of idyllic-ness until about 20 years ago!

Paxos - Sunset

Tourism on the Island

The tourist industry has flourished since then but, because there is no airport and everyone and everything has to come by ferry, because there are no Hotels (in the traditional sense) and because it is relatively expensive to get there (and nowadays to stay there too!) it has retained a degree of laid-back exclusiveness.

Some 10 kilometres long and averaging 2½ wide, it is almost entirely tree-covered, rising in generally gentle hills to a maximum of 233 metres. There are 3 seaside villages, Gaios (the Capitol), Lákka and Loggös plus quite a lot of inland villages and settlements. A main-road system (now all surfaced) runs along the spine of the island with loops off each side to the villages and a networks of tracks serving the smaller settlements. These vehicular routes are all relatively recent as I don’t think wheeled vehicles reached the island until WWII. Thus there remains a complex network of former donkey-paths criss-crossing the countryside in various stages of decay. These form an excellent recreational walking heritage and it was in order to discover and perhaps somehow preserve this system, that my Walking Map was conceived. That the Island Administration is beginning to appreciate this, is reward in itself.

Hidden in the olive groves which these paths and tracks traverse, are all manner of unexpected delights including no less than 65 Greek Orthodox Churches (not all in use).

My Map of Paxos

The Booklet accompanying the Map details each path, with an intimation of what to look out for together with warnings of any problem stretches. The coastline is indented with a multitude of secluded bays on the east coast, and high cliffs and dramatic outlooks on the west. Many of the bays, ideal for quiet bathing, are only accessible by footpath (or boat).

Apart from detailing the paths, the Booklet contains information on where to eat, where to stay, how to get about the Island by ‘bus (you may be tired and needing transport back after your walk!) and places of interest.

As a short-cut on where to stay or where to book your holiday, you could do no better than look at the list of Agents who stock the Map. All are holiday agencies which I can unreservedly recommend. Recently they have been joined by several others but the ones I list are the ones we have used over the years. I cannot recommend others without having used them, but nevertheless they may well be splendid.