Yassas! Well we bid a farewell to Benitses and took the bus into Corfu for our 3 hour ferry journey to Paxos. When will we learn!! Ferry is half hour late docking at Corfu Town, then as its the great post-easter exodus back to the mainland the ferry takes forever to load up. The ferry guys fit cars in with less than an inch between them all round, packing the last one in sideways! Then the ferry seems to be heading the wrong way (Mark has his compass - ever the sailor!) It seems that there is so much traffic heading out of Corfu that all ferries will call into Igoumenitsa on the mainland to clear the backlog. The same pantomime ensues at igoumenitsa, but bizarrely, Mark, Lorraine, me, a lorry driver and a priest are the only passengers to Paxos! Bit like private jet (except it only does 7 knots!) We roll up at Paxos 5 and a half hours later! Of course when we get there the whole island is asleep. No bus until May, no taxis. In fact no-one! We had planned to go up to Lakka on the north shore, but that plan may have to be shelved. We trek into the town of gaios which is a kilometer away...but for the first time our luck seems to be out. Nothing open, no rooms, no transport. May be the first time sleeping on the beach! After a couple of hikes up and down the harbourside of this beautiful village our luck strikes twice...first we meet an english guy (the second on the entire trip) and although he thinks we have no chance of doing anything until the next day...a womoan rides up on a moped and asks if we are looking for rooms! Bingo!! We meet Thekli, who not only has rooms, but has superb rooms with a view of the harbour and islet to die for. She gives us home-made cake, coffee, bottled water and maps. Sadly nothing in the village is open tonight (last day of the Easter holidays). In fact Paxos doesn't really open until may, and apert from visiting yachts we are the islands first visitors for this year. We take a chance and walk for an hour around the winding streets in the hope of finding food, we almost give up when we find a little back street place with a bit of pork on the spit serving a couple of villagers. Its not great but hits a spot! Next morning the sun is up early...we sit on our balcony taking inthis view. Everyone uses boats for their business and things are coming back to life. We manage to hire a car (No other option) and head north to Lakka to sort out a room (We'll stay with Thekli for another night though). Lakka is fantastic, real travel programme stuff. We use our networking skills to find Giorgos who shows us two rooms, both very nice but one right on the harbour front. We agree to take it and will be there the next morning. We roll up next day, no-one in Goirgos's office so we go to the room, the key is in the door and we put our stuff in while we wait for Giorgos or patrick to show up (on Greek time) We have the whole place to ourselves including a huge sun terrace and two balconies so can stretch out and be pretend millionaires for a few days. Paxos is a lovely tiny island and is we think most peoples idea of a dream Greek island. Great at this time of year ...we have had every beach to ourselves and are often the first customers of the year in shops and the olive mill we visited (The owner opened it up especially for us!!) Its the hunting season now and we hear gunshots in the mountains around us, the only break in the incredible peace here. A fitting end to our tour and a well needed rest after all the travelling we've all done. We've just cooked ourselves a meal of grilled Shrimps (each about 6 inches long!) and watched the Greek guys haul a giant barrel (I mean giant..about 10 feet in diameter and 15 feet long!) up the mountainside to a wealthy oil guys house opposite. It has a door in it and will be his new sauna! Matches the one already there on it side which will house his hot-tub very chic!!. OK i'll sign off now as iv'e been typing for an hour and a half which for a small rat is a bit like tap-dancing! I need a lump of feta and a Metaxa to keep me going!! OK guys see you all later...and keep up the messages, we all love them!! Adio el Rodente