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» Paxos - Paradise Found |
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| Paxos - Paradise Found |
I knew it straight away when Annie explained on a visit to me in Corfu how
she met her partner Tom. I knew it from all the friends who had ever been
there and never could stop talking about it. I knew very well that I had to
avoid Paxos as long as I could.
Paxos had to be a no-go zone for me, when everyone that visited had fallen
in love with it. I couldn’t afford to let that happen, I didn’t want my
other new love, Corfu, to suffer. I had a dream, maybe a mission, that most
people thought just plain stupid, and that was the revival of the abandoned
old Corfu village houses. I had recently returned to the island of my birth
after 17 years in Australia, and the last thing I wanted was a distraction.
I had tried so hard to avoid Old Perithia. This old deserted village under
the shadow of Pantokrator summit was doing well with the support of the
local authority, and I knew if I visited I would forget my favourite
village, Rachtades - a village that still had a chance to survive, but given
another 10 years of neglect would end up a ghost village in the same fashion
as Old Perithia.
Then for pure business I made That Visit. I saw Old Perithia through the
eyes of Hilary, and of Thomas from Foros Taverna. A local in every sense,
his enthusiasm has done it for me. And here I am, trying to find normal
people willing to shed their savings to buy and resurrect ruins in Old
Perithia. I knew it would happen. And I was right. Now, because of Old
Perithia, Rachtades will have to wait.
I couldn’t do it all over again with Paxos. NO WAY. When Annie told me that
Tom her partner went over for a day but, missing his return trip, got stuck
there. He met Annie to help out for a few days until the next boat. But he
never took that boat back, and he got stuck there. For SIX YEARS now.
It got even more scary when Mike - a friend that visited Corfu last summer
to buy property - visited Paxos for just a day and came back with the
statement: I will buy in Corfu for investment but I want a place in Paxos to
spend my holidays and retire to.
If this man with the ability to buy 20 villages, and one who has travelled
extensively all around the world, has after just a day chosen Paxos for his
home in the sun, I certainly wasn’t going there in a hurry.
This is my point. Paxos is very bad.
Was Paxos the island of the Sirens that Odysseus avoided like hell? The one
where, passing, he had to plug his men’s ears with wax so they were unable
to hear the Sirens’ entrancing music, and had to force them to tie him to
the mast? The island that had drawn so many passers by before them,
incapable of travelling elsewhere?
Or was it the island of the Lotus Eaters, with fruit (persimmons) so sweet
and beautiful that those who tried it forgot where they had come from and
ended up having to stay?
I wasn’t going there in a hurry.
The mystery of Paxos was with me for a long time until Annie’s plea for us
to quote a price to build a stone house for her became too strong to resist.
A brand new home, except built in the way how they used to be in the old
days. The sweetener was too good. This was a carrot cake with plenty of
chocolate icing. Yum!
The day of the big decision. ‘I am going to Paxos,’ I told my brother Terry,
as if I was going to the moon.
‘I am coming too!’ he said without hesitation, as if we had both been eyeing
the carrot cake but never told each other. He told Yiannis, our builder
friend. ‘I’ll come,’ Yiannis said.
Is Paxos a contagious disease ?
All arrangements were made with Annie to meet us in Gaios. Her little
Marbella could handle three (big) men, no worries.
It was 9.30 the night before, when Terry rang:
‘Well,’ he said, ‘I told Ann and the kids and they want to come.’ It was a
bit much but what can you say! I said I would try to explain to Annie. But
it didn’t stop there. Yiannis told his wife Kiki and the kids, and of course
they wanted to come too!!!
Holy Mackerel (the first serious swear word I learned in Australia), was my
reaction.
‘And...’ Terry said.
‘And???’ ‘Well, Ben and Claudia (of the Invisible Kitchen) want to come
too.’
The Paxos disease...
It could have been just fine. All these people around would take my mind off
That Place.
Annie was not very impressed but was very helpful indeed. I didn’t dare tell
her we were going to be a dozen!
The next morning was a very early rise. The kids loved it, and it brought
back sweet memories of when my Dad would wake us up very early to go fishing
with him off Arillas.
We were late so we had to step on it. I did hope secretly that we would miss
the Flying Dolphin. I had been told to go the Old Port and there were no
Dolphins there. Goody, I thought, it’s gone.
I should be so lucky. The Flying Dolphins now leave from the New Port! Back
into the cars, rushing and running.
We made it. Got our tickets and waited.
The Flying Dolphin arrived and we all got on board. This fine-tuned machine
was Russian built and the whole concept reminded me of the sad Russian
chapter. The rise and fall of communism. Great idea, and as with many great
ideas, a failure when put into practice. Once, they had it all, and then it
stopped, just like that. On a recent trip to Harkov in the Ukraine it was
all so obvious and so sad. How did it all go so horribly wrong? This great
nation with its inventive ideas, with the wonderful technology, got stuck. I
think it was about the same time that the citizens discovered that they
could use potatoes to make vodka. From a great nation to a nation of
drunkards...
This sea plane from Petrakis lines was a sad reminder of their greatness.
Special tuned wings shaped like a plane wing generating lift and bringing
the boat virtually out of the water to skim the surface, minimizing friction
and allowing the ship to travel faster with less effort with a much more
comfortable ride.
Petros, the owner’s son, explained how expensive they are to run, with two
2000 hp Russian-built diesels and the special requirement for someone to
come from Russia to tune the wings.
Half an hour to Igoumenitsa with engines running at economy. Then off to
Paxos.
Once there, Annie, having overcome her initial shock of seeing the crowd,
transferred us to Gaios. Tom also helped out with his bike, giving the kids
a bit of a thrill.
Annie’s little Marbella coughed and spluttered up the hill. Once there we
walked along a marvellous footpath bordered with dry stone walls which ran
on for hundreds of metres. This type of fencing even for an olive orchard is
a very common sight in Paxos and is one of the many features that sets this
little island apart.
Annie and Tom’s house is a lovely little two-storey cottage with exposed
stone walls inside and out, and a dry stone retaining wall - and it comes
along with a nice sea view and a porcelain lined sterna (water tank). These
tanks are a very essential accessory on Paxos, where water is short. Rain
water from the roof fills them every winter. We discussed the plans for the
new building over a cup of coffee and - I didn't believe it - a piece of
carrot cake, but without chocolate icing.
Property in Paxos has a reputation of being expensive, but the price that
Annie was asking for her old property was certainly much more reasonable
than some of the 50-70 million ones we had come across earlier. This
charming property was ready to move in. And it has a sterna.
Later we visited another property and the trip there gave us the first
glimpse of the island as a whole. Endless stone walls edged the groves of
silver olives, complemented by large pine trees. Beautiful secluded little
bays with crystal clear waters came into view at every point, and not a
single building around them.
We left the others behind, and Kiki with the task of finding local
properties for sale. Paxos seemed expensive at first sight, but Kiki made
the acquaintance of Christos, the local government representative for
archaeology. We soon established that he knew of many old buildings on the
island at very reasonable prices, and - more importantly - that he shared
our passion to see these ancient places restored.
Our time in Paxos was up. The ferry was about to leave and someone had to
stay behind to check up on these properties with our new-found ally. In
terror, I turned away, hoping that someone else would volunteer. Somehow I
knew that everyone was looking at me. Why me? I didn't want to be here for
another six years. Help! Anyone there? No, it was me. Everyone, except for
me, had decided.
The thought of the horribly slow trip going first to Igoumenitsa and then to
Corfu with the big car ferry Theodosios made it a little easier for me to
stay. I double-checked that there was a fast trip back with the ‘sea plane’
in the morning and there I was - stuck.
Two hours later I had learned a lot more about the island and the sternas. I
was sipping a coffee under an olive grove at Pantelis' house with Christos,
watching Theodosios just making it into Igoumenitsa. While my companion
travellers were stuck in the ferry for four hours, I was discovering the
real Paxos. The island's old houses had suffered a similar fate to their
counterparts in Corfu. Also abandoned and also cheap, the myth about how
expensive Paxos was, was just that - a myth.
Christos has contributed a lot to the island. He has even taken three
priests to court for trying to corrupt the traditional look of the churches,
and won. Whilst looking at the old buildings he would make a surprise visit
on a new construction or restoration project to make sure that the builders
were not going to use aluminium windows or red roof tiles. And no messing
around... do it or else!!! Ten Christos' in Corfu and we would be in
business! There is hope yet.
So we looked at an old olive press with a great view for just 38,000 euros,
buildings with collapsed roofs for 25,000 euros, others in better nick but
with smaller gardens for 50,000. Including the sternas.
Pantelis' house for 90,000 euros was my pick. A fantastic uninterrupted sea
view with Lakka in the foreground, and all fixed and ready to move in. And
if, like an engine is to a car, the sternas are the vital component of Paxos
houses, this home had a Rolls Royce sterna, with a 15,000 cc capacity.
The only two olive trees I saw cut down were here, but this was a small
sacrifice to capture that fascinating view.The only drawback was that it was
a bit far from the nearest village, in comparison to Annie’s house, which
was minutes away from the shops.
Christos' next big project is to bring down the tower. The Telestet mobile
tower was built higher than originally agreed and it is the 'ugly duckling'
of the island. It sits on a hill amongst olive groves and it's painted...
red and white, to fit in nicely with the green and blue surroundings.
Telestet argues that is painted like that to be visible to pilots. Fine by
me for the bit of the tower that sticks out above the olive canopy, but a
bit late for any pilot who finds himself flying below the tree tops. So at
least the bottom section should be green. Just as Mayor Machimaris had his
way with the Lafki Telestet tower and had it removed altogether, Christos
will have the Paxos one lowered. I know he will.
Technology and beauty don't always go hand in hand.
The famous Paxos filoxenia was extended with a nice meal where I had the
best taramosalata ever.
That night I wanted to sleep at the port to make sure that I didn't miss
THAT boat the next morning, but Christos insisted that I stay in Gaios. All
part of the conspiracy?
When he asked me to stay another day and do some more research, he must have
seen my face change colour twenty times in horror and was quick to add
'maybe another time.' And another time it will be.
The Paxos miracle did it for me, so forget the wax in your ears, and eat as
many persimmons as you like.
If you go there once, you will be back. Is our real estate operation in
Paxos just an excuse to revisit? Or do we want to find a home to buy and
move there one day? Even Yiannis the builder is looking for a house for
himself there, even if it only has a Seicento-sized sterna.
Harry Tsoukalas |
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