Olive Press, Gaios, Paxos - October 2013

First a few words about Paxos in late October.

Don't expect all the restaurants to be open. And don't expect those that are open to be offering a full menu. (In fact one wonders why they bother to put the menus out since most of the dishes listed are pure fantasy.) The tourist season is ending and the locals are preparing to harvest the olives. Here the trees are big, and the olives collected in nets once they've fallen.

Don't expect perfect weather. We had sunshine every day and swam whenever we wanted to, but the previous week was wet and windy, even preventing some of the ferries from running. Also it's the season for shooting birds. Actually illegal, so it occurs in the early morning and you may wake to the sound of shotguns blasting away.

On the plus side the place is not busy. And there are cyclamen flowers almost everywhere you look. Carpets of them under the olives trees.

And there's a great little book of walks (Paxos Car Tours and Walks) by Noel Rochford. In October it was not too hot to explore a little on foot.

There are at least two holiday rentals called the 'Olive Press' on Paxos. We stayed at the one near Gaios, booked through a company variously known as Sunvil, Greek Islands Club, or The Villa Collection. Confusingly we were met at Corfu airport by the Sunvil rep, though this was the first time we'd come across the name Sunvil! No matter; the company looked after us very well.

As you might expect, the place we stayed used to be an olive press. In the floor in living area there is a glass-covered recess where, one presumed, the oil flowed. Currently there is just a dead giant centipede down there.

The place is comfortable, and I'd gladly go back but visitors need to know:

1. the trip-switch for the light and power in the shower is prone to go at random intervals; it doesn't seem to matter whether there is anything else switched on
2. The lack of water pressure makes morning showers impossible - wait till later in the day
3. If you decide to do a little gardening - e.g. dead-heading the geranium pots on the patio - just check the dead bit isn't a brown praying mantis. C had her finger slashed by an irate mantis she tried to tidy up! (The cut must have been all of 1mm deep.)
   
   
   
   
   
4. Be alert to creatures which have inadvertently landed in the pool. I must have rescued at least one a day - grasshopper, mantis etc - not all survived. On the last day I found a grasshopper sunning itself on a floating leaf!
5. It is tempting to open the bedroom shutters and let some light in when you wake up.There's just the valley and olive trees the other side of the patio, so it's quite private. But the maid (who does a fine job on her scheduled days) can also appear on Saturdays - so be sure to be engaged in some exotic bedroom activity when she peers through the window at 9:30 am to see if you're in.
6. Take some DVDs. We couldn't get any English language channels at all on the TV. (The machine wouldn't play self-recorded ones.)


Tripitos Arch

Gaios harbour and town

Plani beach