January 2022 Newsletter

We wish our clients a very Happy New Year.

We would like to introduce two new members of our team: Samantha DeCourcy, who joined us in November, and Reggie, who is the office’s official shredder of sensitive documents and socks.

If, like us, you are concerned about the fragile environment of the Ionian islands, you might be interested to know that we are setting up a partnership with the Ionian Environment Foundation. We will keep you in touch with partnered projects for each island.

If you were unable to enjoy a tactile Christmas with the whole family, you might be looking forward to a family holiday in 2022 as a positive step towards more freedom. We have some new properties to entice you:

Paxos

Lithari and Popylena’s House

Lithari
Popylena’s House

Lefkas

Koumaria and Panorama

Koumaria
Panorama

Kefalonia

Liakada

Liakada

Ithaca

Diamanti

Diamanti

Corfu

Flamingo Retreat

Back in the days when the Watrous family ran the company, Greek Islands Club, they started a villa programme on the Sporades islands. After a recent revisit, we felt that Alonissos still offers a special escape from the crowds:  a rich green interior of umbrella pine forest, olive groves and plum orchards; small, secluded beaches and deep sea caves carved out of steep cliff faces; sheltered ports with a colourful jostle of large and small fishing caiques. Contact us if you might be interested in an Alonissos escape with such properties as Paparouna and Fisherman’s cottage.

Paparouna
Fisherman’s cottage

We still offer the chance to defer your 2022 holiday to a future date if, as a result of Covid conditions, travel in 2022 is prevented by Foreign & Commonwealth Office advice or a cancelled flight.

Please let us know if we can help you plan a special Ionian escape.

Alex, David, Catherine, Samantha & Reggie

An Ancient Footpath to Erimitis Spring

Paxos has three ports and the central village of Magazia. Magazia means “shops” and was once the main shopping centre of the island (it even had a ginger beer maker!). In surrounding valleys and on olive-clad hilltops are family hamlets consisting of a cluster of houses and a family church or two.

When the island was more self-sufficient (important when winter bad weather could prevent any supplies reaching Paxos for weeks on end) and the olive was king, a well-trodden network of pathways connected villages and hamlets with olive groves, vineyards, pasture land, terraces of wheat, schools, shops, friends and a supply of water.    

During the British occupation of the Ionian islands in the early 19th Century, tracks (wider than the goat paths) connecting the three island ports were turned into a central road – donkey tracks became a donkey road!

During the earlier, four centuries of Venetian rule, cisterns to collect rainwater were introduced to island house building. River and stream beds still traverse the island with fast flowing waters in the winter but the only source of natural spring water was and still is just above Erimitis beach on the west coast.

A series of stone-floored pathways, bordered by dry stone walls, lead from the hamlet of Boikatika (the hamlet of the Boikos family) down a wild valley of untended olive groves to a point above Erimitis Bay where soaring limestone cliffs look down onto a chalky turquoise sea.

A steep, stepped path winds down to the spring’s source and a well, enclosed by stone. Even in the heat of summer, water oozes and seeps through the rock face to give life to a variety of small wild plants, just above the sea.

In 2008 a large chunk of limestone cliff broke away and slid into the sea. What was a rocky inlet beneath the cliffs suddenly became a beautiful beach of limestone and pulverized stone – now turning into golden sand.

Look carefully at the surrounding hillsides of maquis and myrtle and you will see the remains of stone houses and overgrown terraces, which were once cultivated – a perfect place to live with fresh water on your doorstep. Prime position is now given to two modern villas at the top of the last flight of steps to the beach but there is still a dominant feeling of a rich, green wilderness, framed by the Erimitis cliffs.    

First glimpse of Erimitis cliffs

There is now a road down to the last flight of steps but parking is nigh impossible so choosing one of the ancient footpaths is the advisable (and more interesting) alternative. Tall olive and cypress trees provide a canopy of shade and the first views of the cliffs and blue sea are breathtaking. A good path to choose starts close to the cat feeding station on the track leading from Magazia to Erimitis Sunset Bar.

Old untended olives
Start of the last section
Final flight of steps to the spring

Take a stick to carefully detach spider webs and a non-plastic container to drink from the Erimitis well (you will find a bucket & rope attached to the well’s lid). On my last visit I saw “I was here” styled graffiti on the rock face close to the well – resist the urge to leave any mark of having been there and enjoy its natural beauty – one of Paxos’ many treasures.

Remember to take a spider stick
Descent to the beach
Erimitis Spring

On Paxos there are 2 organisations dedicated to the preservation of the island’s heritage and culture Volunteers of Paxos and Friends of Paxos – they work with the Paxos Municipality to open, clear and maintain the network of ancient footpaths on the island.

© 2018 Ionian Villas Limited

Call us on: +44 (0) 1243 820928    ..or email enquiries@ionian-villas.co.uk

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