Paxos y Antipaxos :: Comparisson reports

Isola della Madonna island, which protects the entrance to Porto Gaio, has on the inner side, in front of the port, a staircase, like the top of a jetty within the flaky and horizontally laminated limestone. Next to it is a wooden crane to raise the lighthouse ( Sto Kaponi) keepers’ boats. From here, the path climbs up with broad steps, and later comfortable bumps up to the tallest part of the island. There is the entrance to the monastery with a square door and double bell arch with a volute gable. The rocky hill is covered in asfakas [=sage?] and some mastics. The view behind to the entrance of Porto Gaios with Saint Nikolaos island is very pretty, the latter island crowned by the fortress and to the right, on the coast, the white cliffs of Capo Bianco in the background and the heights of western Corfu’s coast which look like mounds made of sugar.

Up four steps we reach the monastery on whose side are three fig trees and other smaller trees. To the right is an old pear tree and a small house which pertains to the church. The ground is well paved. In the middle is a plate featuring the double eagle and the date, 1850. The main door to the church leads to the monastery on whose ground floor is a small dining hall with four cells on the top floor. Through a door in the dining hall you enter a small garden full of vines and surrounded by fallen walls and narrow terraces which are hardly used today.

Below is the small room for the lighthouse keepers (there are three of them today) with a low chimney. A small door leads to a wooden staircase whose four steps lead to the small dome. The latter rises up 31 meters above the see, with an iron railing all around, a dome with a metallic structure and reflecting glass for the apparatus. It produces a steady light which can be seen from a distance of 10 miles away. From the dome, the entrance to the port and the walled-in terrains of the monastery is very pretty, with Scoglio Zuana heading out and the almost magical coasts of Albania and Corfu.

Towards the north is a small door in the monastery’s garden wall. Towards the end of the path mastics grow all around along with spindles and blackberries, in addition to a solitary cypress next to a small hut for lambs which enjoy the island’s field as a refuge.”