Original subtitles

(lively music)

- From the bustling streets of Athens

and the historic port of Hydra, to the beaches of Zakynthos,

and the villages Kythira, our journey over the coming weeks

spans many of the Ionian islands,

some well-known, others that few ever get to visit.

But before heading off,

you probably want to know a little bit about me.

My story starts as a boy

growing up in the inner suburbs of Sydney.

Like a lot of Greeks early last century,

my parents moved overseas to find a better life abroad.

They arrived with very little and worked extremely hard

to give my sisters and I a loving upbringing.

They also made me believe that if I too worked hard enough,

I could achieve anything.

54 years later, I've built a successful business.

And that has enabled me to do things I once only dreamed of.

One of those dreams was to step foot

on all 227 inhabited Greek Islands,

and I'm gonna take a big chunk out of that

in this first series.

We've been travelling for several weeks now,

and as the journey nears its end, I can't help but look back

at all the amazing things we've seen and done.

Most recently, our travels have taken us from Kefalonia

to Ithaca, where amongst other things, I explored its green,

mountainous interior, and met a few of the locals.

From there, I then made my way to Lefkada,

where I learnt about the famed lentil farms,

wandered through ancient ruins,

and also took in the spectacular white cliffs

the island is named after.

This episode sees me continuing where we left off,

as I learn how the locals in Lefkada make their wine,

check out a remnant of the Cold War,

and have a dream come true when I visit Skorpios Island,

which was once owned by Aristotle Onassis.

From there, we up anchor and head to Paxos

to show you a gem of the Ionian that most never visit.

It also happens to be a favourite of my wife Helen.

Right now, I'm just inland from the port town of Nydri,

on the east coast of Lefkada.

I've come here to meet Nikko at his vineyard,

and get an education on how the folks here

make their delicious wine.

In Lefkada, if you don't grow lentils,

you grow grapes or both.

And Nikko, who is a local wine maker,

has been telling me about this wonderful grape.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Beptzami. - Beptzami.

I keep getting it wrong.

And it's grown right through the whole region here.

It is a Venetian grape that was brought here in the 1600s.

And it makes this beautiful, dry, red wine.

I just had some for lunch actually.

(speaking in foreign language)

We're gonna go and find some.

(gentle music)

No matter how big or small an island is,

you'll generally find someone making wine.

What's more, the type of drop they produce

will be unique in its own way,

be it thanks to the soil or the climate,

or because of the processes they use.

They've actually picked these grapes this morning,

but Nikko tells me that they leave a few on the vines

because later in the week,

they come and cut the vines so they can get new growth.

And they leave a few grapes on there

for the guys that are clipping the vines

to have a bit of a snack.

The wine produced here is quite different to that

which you'll come across in the Peloponnese or Cyprus,

where this variety is quite common.

It's known for having a deep colour and being versatile,

in that you drink it as a rose, age it,

or even just enjoy the grape juice as a refreshing drink.

Spending some time amongst the vines

gave me an appreciation for Nikko's way of life.

It's physical work, but being in such a beautiful setting

makes it quite enjoyable.

So we collected grapes, and because it's the 21st century,

we don't tread on them anymore.

We have this massive machine here, well, it's not massive,

but we've got this machine here,

and we're gonna put grapes through there,

and they're gonna come out this end,

and wine is gonna come out there.

(speaking in foreign language)

Okay, Nikko.

It's the filter.

We have a filter.

(speaking in foreign language)

So, filter goes in there, which is actually grape vine.

(speaking in foreign language)

(machine whirring)

Ooh, come around here and have a look.

Have a look over there.

Ah, the aroma, you can smell that grape juice.

This is the less romantic part of the process.

The serenity turns to deafening noise

as the simple but effective crusher

turns the crates of plump grapes into litres of juice.

Half a century ago,

they'd have spent the best part of the day

stomping in halved barrels to extract the nectar.

By automating things not only is it much quicker,

but they can produce far greater volumes.

I wonder if local consumption has gone up too.

Once he's crushed all the grapes,

and we haven't crushed them all,

'cause we just don't have the time,

he leaves it in this big barrel

for about three or four days.

The longer he leaves it, the heavier the red.

The quicker he pulls it out, the lighter the rose.

He then takes the grape juice that you can see

coming out at the moment, puts it in the barrel,

let's it ferment for 15 to 20 days, and voila.

You have Beptzami. - Beptzami.

- Top.

(rooster crowing)

I think they rooster is very happy as well.

(gentle music)

I've picked them, I've helped crush them,

and now I'm gonna help drink them.

It is truly a very nice wine from the Beptzami grape.

You should have a try.

If you come across this wine in your travels, give it a go,

and thank me for letting you know about it.

(lively music)

(gentle music)

On the drive out of Nydri,

we noticed something ominous on the mountaintop.

So naturally, we did a little investigating

by talking to locals.

What we discovered was something rather fascinating.

As we got higher, the temperature dropped,

and an eerie sense of abandonment came over us.

Entering through the now empty guard post,

the scene was like something out of a James Bond movie,

and I couldn't wait to explore it.

I'm here on the second highest spot of the island.

The highest spot is reserved for a church just up there.

The locals tell me that this is a radar station

from the '60s.

I think it's a high level listening post,

a relic of the Cold War.

You know, I'm so used to seeing monuments

from ancient history

and all the wars that have happened since.

This is a monument from the 20th century

of a war that never happened.

Since visiting this site, I've done a lot more research,

and discovered that these were in fact listening stations

that pointed towards Eastern European communist countries

and North Africa.

They're a relic of the Cold War,

when the U.S. and Western European NATO alliance

were in conflict with the Soviet-led communist nations.

It was an intense and at times scary period

where the superpowers were in an arms race,

building up their nuclear arsenal.

The Earth was on the brink of war,

potentially greater than the world wars

that had previously consumed the planet.

Apart from increasing their weaponry,

they also ramped up their intelligence gathering,

using outposts like this to listen in on radio traffic

from thousands of kilometres away.

It really was a time of great tension

that gripped the world.

You know, we've come out the room

where all the action happened,

but it all got fed into this room.

You see all these plinths here and all those ducts.

There's ducts everywhere

because they needed to cool this room down.

I'd say there was massive computers

sitting on those plinths, you know,

with those turning things, you know, with tape around them.

What amazes me is that the combined capability of that room,

computing, would have been 100 times less than this.

Unbelievable stuff.

It freaks me out.

This is like 50, 60 years later, and they've taken all that,

and it's in less than 1/10 microchip that's in this.

(gentle music)

These 15,000-liter diesel tanks

would have serviced the giant backup generators

in case of power failure.

In its day, this top secret complex was state of the art

and could run autonomously from the outside world.

It would have taken a huge amount of people

and infrastructure to keep this facility running

around the clock, 365 days a year.

Clearly, no expense was spared,

and little care was given when it all came to an end.

All that money, all that energy,

all that technology, all that work.

And what is it now?

A playground for teenagers.

(speaking in foreign language)

At least it's getting some use,

and arguably a much more positive one.

So, the high security area was up here,

and down there was the low security area

where there was administration buildings

and probably living quarters.

What's great is that the Greeks are still using the area

for their beehives, so that's not being wasted at least.

With the advent of satellite technology,

listening stations like this became obsolete.

It occurred almost overnight.

The powers that be

now had thousands of far more powerful devices

orbiting the planet and watching out every move.

They could hear and see almost everything that was going on

without anyone being remotely aware

they were under surveillance.

Today, there are rusting relics like this

all over the world.

They stir up evocative memories

for the generations that lived through those tense times.

Let's hope we never go down that path again.

12 months of planning to bring this odyssey to you.

But nothing tested our team

as much as what we're about to see today.

Just a mile away is an island

that hasn't been filmed in decades.

The richest man in the world bought it,

he married the most photographed woman,

and it's currently owned by a Russian oligarch.

Really looking forward to going to it.

Let's go, captain.

(gentle music)

In his time,

Aristotle Onassis was the richest man on the planet.

He started from nothing and built up an empire,

amassing the world's largest privately owned shipping fleet.

But the jewel in the crown of his empire

was the island of Skorpios.

He married Jackie Kennedy there,

entertained royalty and presidents on its shores,

and now, he and his family are buried on the island.

It's a private sanctuary

that very few people have ever stepped foot on.

In fact, it hasn't been filmed since his wedding in 1968.

(speaking in foreign language)

Thank you very much.

It's good to be here.

I'm very excited, very excited.

The island has since been purchased

by a Russian businessman, Mr. Dmitry Rybolovlev.

He quickly set about restoring the buildings and gardens,

hiring engineer Andreas to oversee the extensive work.

Rybolovlev was so appreciative of his efforts

that he kept Andreas on to manage the 37 staff

that maintain this pristine and historic island.

It's fantastic.

- On the right side is Pink House.

- Which house? - Pink House, yes.

- [Peter] Pink House.

- [Andreas] Master House and guest forest hill house.

I will tell you more detail later.

- There would be few people alive

who know more about Skorpios than Andreas.

We were privileged to have him show us around.

Andreas, I see such a big marine theme here.

This could be the port of a major town.

We've got Christina key over there,

you've got this marina here, and this massive boat ramp.

It's huge.

- Yeah, actually, it's not a massive boat ramp.

It's a ramp that Onassis constructed

for the use of his hydroplane.

Onassis, they loved very much aeroplanes ,

and so they did the ramp and they used their hydroplane

for their movements from and to the island.

- [Peter] Wow, that's fantastic.

And it's also sad that it was a plane accident

that actually ending up killing his son.

- [Andreas] Yes, indeed.

- Wow. - It's very sad.

- Let's go and have a look at the other buildings.

I'm a bit sad now, looking at that.

There was a lot to see,

and because coming here was a long held dream of mine,

I had to see it all.

I'm happy to live here.

I'm happy to live here. (laughing)

Next to the boat ramp is the sailor's house.

It was originally an olive mill,

but Onassis converted it into a cottage.

However, like all the buildings on the island,

it fell into disrepair after his death in 1975.

- The new owner just renovated the building internally.

We kept the external character as it was.

We are keeping it now as a sailor house,

and it's been used only in summer

where the sailors come here, and they live here.

In winter, is not being used.

- You know, Andreas, I see a continuing theme here

that the current owner, much like Onassis,

tried to keep all of the architecture on the island

the same way, very well restored.

How old do you think this building is?

- I'm not quite sure how many years this building is here,

but for sure it was here since '63

that Onassis bought the island.

So, it's many years has been sitting here.

- I reckon it looks at least 100 years old.

Anyway, let's go and have a look at the other buildings, eh?

(gentle music)

We only had a short time to see the island,

and with seven kilometres of roads

and a total of 878,000 square metres of land,

we really had to keep moving.

- What you can see now is the old vineyard,

all of this area. - Yep.

- [Andreas] Which Onassis had,

and they produced a lot of wine here on the island.

- [Peter] Is that right?

- But, okay, they been left and destroyed,

so there is nothing now here.

At the back is the church, it's the church.

- Oh, should we go and have a look?

- Yeah. - Fantastic.

It's a spectacular setting

and a fitting place for Onassis and his loved ones

to have been laid to rest.

Knowing I would soon be able to pay my respects

was something I was humbled by.

(lively music)

(gentle music)

Like Aristotle before him,

Rybolovlev has been very sympathetic

to what his predecessor had created,

continuing to build a completely self-sustainable island.

What are these over here?

- This area, it has been used from Onassis at that time

to produce fruits like apples, pears, vegetables,

watermelons, and he was using this to feed the boat

and the staff on the island.

- This is so nostalgic, you know, this is so nostalgic.

I just.

It's beautiful.

- It's a very nice area here,

where we produce the vegetables.

We have apple trees, pear trees, bananas,

and many other fruits, and--

- And the church. - The back is the chapel, yes.

- And the chapel.

And, of course, out of privacy for the family,

we can't film the church and the burial ground

of Onassis, his sister,

- His son. - his son, and his daughter.

They're all buried there.

We should go and pay our respects.

- Yep. - Okay.

We were incredibly fortunate to be one of the very few

to have entered the chapel.

It's a simple building, free of any opulence.

Within it are winged vestibules on either side.

To the left, are the white marble tombs of Aristotle

and his sister Artemis.

On the right, are his son Alexander and daughter Christina.

I couldn't help but feel as though I was intruding

on a very private sanctuary.

But he was one of my idols

and inspired me in my youth when times were tough.

I looked up to this man my entire life,

and to be standing here was an honour,

and a memory I'll take to my grave.

- They had here their own horses, their own cows, goats,

sheeps, and they were producing a lot of milk from cows,

meat, - Is that right?

- for the needs of the island.

We renovated recently these buildings.

That one there is to store, here is the stables,

as it was before,

the other one is the building for personnel,

for training groups, et cetera.

And we are proceeding slowly, slowly

with the renovations of the whole farm.

- [Peter] Wow.

- Where we will start producing ourselves.

- [Peter] Producing what?

- We will have our own animals, goats, sheeps, chicken.

- [Peter] Wow, so you're gonna be fully self-sustainable.

- Yeah, you may say so.

- [Peter] What is this thing here?

- This is a treadmill for horses.

- A treadmill for horses? - Yeah.

- [Peter] This is for Ekaterina, isn't it?

The daughter. - It is, yes.

- [Peter] Yeah, she's a good showjumper

from what I understand.

- I think so, yes. - Wow, this is fantastic.

- Yeah.

- Ekaterina is a showjumping champion.

For her 25th birthday, she held an event here

and instructed her guests not to bring any presents.

Instead, she asked them to make a donation

to a number of children's charities in Lefkada.

She has even established a foundation

for the welfare of children,

particularly those with disabilities.

Continuing further around the island,

we next came to a famous location, or should I say infamous.

This beach is where Jackie Onassis

was photographed nude sunbaking.

Is that right, she was caught naked here?

This is the spot, okay, fantastic.

- The building over there,

it's called Ispwich House. - Right.

- And it has been completed by Christina

after Onassis death during '80s.

Actually, here, there was no real beach,

and Onassis bring from Salamina all the sand

to create this beach here.

- Is that right? - Yeah.

- [Peter] Everything is so meticulously maintained here,

it's fantastic.

I can't believe the number of buildings on this island

and the amount of maintenance you require.

How many people do you need to work here?

- Right now we have 37 employees on the island.

- 37.

- All this, the maintenance of the island

and to keep it in good condition.

- Wow.

I can understand where the current owner is coming from.

This isn't just a beach house hideaway.

It has been a major project for him

that required huge energy and resources.

It's like restoring a rare vintage car

that you hardly ever drive,

but respecting the importance of its rarity and pedigree.

- Master House used to be Christina's house,

and since she left it

and the new owner of Skorpios Island came here,

we keep refurbishing this building,

externally and internally, without changing anything

of the character of the house either internal or external.

- This is--

- It is exactly as it was before, even the floor, the doors,

sanitary ware, are exactly the same as they were before.

- This is a time warp back to the '60s,

isn't it? - Yeah.

- It's unbelievable, isn't it?

And such a beautiful view too.

- Yeah, that is a beautiful view from here.

- Wow.

- You can even see Ispwich House from--

- The beach house from here? - Yeah.

- Oh, you can too.

(gentle music)

- [Andreas] We're heading towards Pink House now.

- [Peter] What is the significance of the Pink House?

Why pink?

- Pink House, I will explain to you.

Pink House is one of the buildings, again,

that it was here when Onassis bought the island.

This specific building, it must be 180 years old.

- [Peter] Wow.

- Initially, it has been used to keep the animals

on the ground floor,

and the master was living on the top floor.

Later on, Onassis came here, refurbished the building

and painted pink.

When the new owner bought the island and we came here,

we renovate the existing building internally,

and externally, we kept exactly the same character

as it was before.

Even the colour, we took the colour from the old house

in order to match the pink colour,

and do it as exactly it was before.

(lively music)

- [Peter] The current owner

could have stamped his ideas and inclinations

throughout the property, but like me,

I think he has too much respect for Aristotle's legacy,

so he's been sympathetic to even the most minute of details.

- This is the Memories Room.

It is one room of Pink House

which we use for keeping items from the island,

showing the history of the island and Onassis

for visitors to come, for example, here are some pictures

of how Pink House was before.

- And the church. - The church.

- [Peter] Yes.

- [Andreas] Here you can see pictures of Onassis

in different places, - And there's Jackie

- and different people. - and Maria Callas.

- Yes. - Yes.

- Some old phones that were being used on the island,

even the Skorpios directory.

- Phone directory. - Yep.

- Fantastic.

Aristotle Onassis left behind him a legacy

that has inspired countless others

to toil away at their dreams.

And as one of those devotees,

I'm so appreciative of this meticulous

and no-expense-spared restoration.

Thank you, Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Thank you for preserving the memory

of this 20th century icon.

Oh, what a day.

- Yeah, that's the end of the tour. (chuckling)

- Thank you very, very much. - You're welcome.

- I really appreciate you taking us through.

I want you to say thank you to your boss Dmitry,

who's given us the opportunity,

the very, very rare opportunity,

to walk through such a beautiful island,

and to take the time

to explain to us the history and the legacy of Onassis.

And the good thing about it is that he's keeping that legacy

by maintaining such a beautiful island,

and all of the buildings and structures and architecture,

that Onassis left behind.

I'm really appreciative of today.

- You are very welcome.

It was our pleasure to bring you on the island

and show you the island, and the history of the island.

- You know, Andreas, I don't wanna go.

I wanna stay.

I'd like to stay, but I know you're a busy man and I'm busy,

so I've got to move.

So, thank you very much once again.

- You're very welcome.

(speaking in foreign language)

- You know, it was a long day, but it was a great day.

One of the highlights of my trip.

One of the highlights of my life.

I'm sad, but I'm also really excited,

excited because I can share it with you,

probably the first time the general public has ever seen

what we've gotten to see today.

But I'm really sad because it's probably the last time

I'll ever get to come here.

(lively music)

Before leaving Lefkada, I just had to stop by the main port

to show you something unique to the island.

We're at the bridge

that connects mainland Greece to Lefkada,

'cause Lefkada is actually an island connected to Greece.

It's the only island connected to Greece in this way.

And the bridge is actually called Santa Mavra,

Which is what Lefkada was called

back when the Venetians ruled.

It's wonderful to watch.

And there's this massive line of boats waiting to get in,

and when the boats come through,

there will be a massive line of cars to get through

when they've already gone through.

This happens once an hour.

It's like a modern day drawbridge

that keeps the island in contact with civilization.

Well, not quite to that extent,

but it does mean that access to the place is far easier,

which in turn, brings the tourists.

With them comes money, industry, and jobs.

Without it, Lefkada wouldn't be nearly as prosperous.

Amazing, boats line up both ways to get in and out.

Some boats coming in, some boats being kicked out,

like that ugly thing that we just saw go by.

Man, I don't think they will let him back in.

(lively music)

My week on the island was over,

but I would be happy to spend a few more days

exploring the area.

There was a lot that we did that we left out of the episode,

so don't go thinking that what you've seen

is all that's on offer.

While the highlight for me

was the personal experience of stepping foot on Skorpios,

the coastline, lentil fields,

and mystery of the listening station

are all special memories I'll take away with me.

Thankfully, for most of you out there,

you don't need a boat to come here.

It's actually one of the easiest

of the Greek Islands to access.

You can step off the plane in Athens, hop in a hire car,

and a few short hours later, you'll be in paradise.

I left Lefkada on a massive high,

thinking it couldn't get much better.

However, my next port of call

is one of my wife's favourite destinations.

It might be a tiny place, but if Helen likes somewhere,

there's no way we could just cruise on by.

So waving goodbye to the white cliffs of Lefkada,

we set course for Paxos, and with that, came a happy wife.

Just an hour and half south of Corfu

is this beautiful island of Paxos.

It's got some magnificent walks, the coastline is awesome,

there are some wonderful caves.

And for an island that's only 10 kilometres long

by three kilometres wide, it's got 250,000 olive trees.

The olive oil is probably my favourite in all of the Ionian.

Let's go and try it.

(lively music)

The heart of Paxos is the port of Gaios,

which is also the main commercial hub.

It's pretty much car free, and apart from gorgeous views,

there's also great shopping and dining to be enjoyed.

The best thing about it is the laid-back mood.

Thanks to being a little tricky to access,

it's not a bustling tourist hot spot.

The result is a place relatively free of outside influences,

where you have to more or less entertain yourself

by exploring the alleyways and beaches.

Or you can just chill out at a tavern or a cafe.

Mind you, the food here is awesome,

which isn't the best thing for the waistline.

How many dogs like Pongo ride a motorbike?

- Three, four, maybe. - Yeah?

So he's special, eh? (man laughs)

You love Pongo, eh? - Certain, yeah.

- How long have you had Pongo?

- For nine years now.

- And he's good on the bike?

- Absolutely.

- Can you show me? - Of course.

It's his routine.

- You're going for a little

(speaking in foreign language) now?

- Yeah. - For Pongo?

(speaking in foreign language)

(motorcycle horn beeping)

If you're a stickler for a schedule,

you might get a little stressed

because folks here operate on their own time,

which means restaurant service can be a tad slow,

and tour guides might be a little late,

but that's all part of the charm.

Babi, I've heard that your olive oil

is the best in the Ionian.

Can I try it? - It is very good olive oil.

We take care. - Good.

Let's try it. - Okay.

This is the best quality,

there are many different qualities about the oil.

- [Peter] But this is the best quality right?

The one I am trying now.

- The extra virgin.

This is the oil. - Ah, look at that.

- The extra virgin. - Yeah, look at that.

Let's try it, look at the colour of that, that looks awesome.

- Okay. - Okay.

Let's give it a shot, eh?

This is the only way to try it.

Olive oil, bread, my grandmother lived to 102 with this.

Ah, ah!

Top!

(speaking in foreign language)

Come on, let's go.

That's awesome.

(speaking in foreign language)

Mate, that thing is half full, look at that.

Ah, look at that.

Look at the colour of that, will you? (laughing)

(sniffing) And that aroma.

(sniffing) Oh, it's so good.

I could live on this stuff.

(gentle guitar music)

(laughing)

Look at the colour, look how green this stuff is.

That's the best olive oil in the Ionian, possibly the world.

(inhaling sharply)

Oh, my baby.

That is so good.

Mm!

(lively music)

- And we're walking up to this far viewpoint

where you overlook the Papadi Cave.

- Despite its size, Paxos has plenty of great walks.

But to find the hidden gems, you need some inside knowledge.

Thankfully, local guide Lefcothea had some time

to show me around her special piece of the world.

Wow, the view looks completely different from up here.

Lefcothea, don't go too close. - Don't worry.

(Peter chuckling)

- You know I have a problem with heights, right?

- Yeah.

- [Peter] Now, is that Corfu over there?

- [Lefcothea] Yeah, you can see Corfu there.

And when the weather is more clear, because now it is misty,

it seems so close.

- And Italy is all the way out there?

- That way.

- That way, that way, that way.

Wow.

You know what, I'm a bit shaky.

Let's keep going. - Okay. (chuckling)

- [Peter] One of the most popular walks on the island

takes you to the white cliffs overlooking

the Papanikolis Cave.

It's a great hike, and Lefcothea says is an ideal way

to learn a little more about how the Paxiot people lived

in the days before modern luxuries.

I see maybe 10, 12 wells, why so many wells?

- [Lefcothea] Because each family

used to build their own well.

Because imagine in those days,

the smallest family had about 12 children.

- Wow. - Of course,

it was very important, because imagine in those days,

they used to come here, and collect the water,

and take it back to their houses.

- Water was a very important resource obviously.

- Yes, very important. - I mean, they had the key.

They locked them. - Yes.

They locked them as well. - Okay.

Well, we've got a long walk to do, let's keep going.

Lefcothea, that means in English?

- The white goddess.

- White goddess? - Yes.

- What an awesome name. (both laughing)

I gotta watch the path now. - Yeah, be careful.

- 'Cause this is gonna be a heavy path

we're going on, right?

- Yeah, we are going a good walk down.

- Okay, I'm going with the white goddess.

(Lefcothea chuckles)

So, what's that here?

- Here you can see that this is an style of Paxiot house.

It's amazing because you can see in one house,

the traditional ochre colour that used to be,

and the stone part, so you will have all stone,

all painted in this colour.

- In the ochre? - Yeah.

- Ochre, ochre. - Ochre, yeah.

- Okay, okay, okay, okay.

So, I noticed that these paths are in pretty good condition.

How is that so?

'Cause there are so many of these paths.

- Actually, the last two years, we have volunteers

that every Sunday, we get together, and we clean a path.

- Wow, that's great.

- Which is very good because we have a lot of visitors

that like to walk, and have more and more every year.

- That's great.

So, how many paths are there here in Paxos?

- About 30 of them,

but we're doing a lot of work to open more.

- That's great.

These paths were originally built during Venetian times,

and despite little upkeep, they remain today.

500, 600, 700 years from the Venetian times,

that's amazing. - Yes.

- [Peter] A couple of them are falling,

but they got to fall, you know.

They can't be like this forever, can they?

500, 600 years, my buildings won't last that long.

It never ceases to amaze me

how many olive trees you find on these islands.

They're everywhere.

But they're put to good use

making that amazing olive oil I tried earlier.

Another one of these houses, eh?

- [Lefcothea] Yes.

- Abandoned.

Another abandoned house.

It seems like this whole area,

this village is full of abandoned houses.

- Yes, but imagine that Paxos used to be,

have 10,000 people.

- [Peter] Now?

- Now, only about 2,500.

- So where did all these people go?

- Well, about the '60s,

they left Paxos, went to Australia and stayed.

They went there

because the money from the olive oil was not enough,

so some of them started new jobs,

sending the money that they made back to Paxos.

- So that they could rejuvenate Paxos.

I see villas being built up the road.

These are these expats or the diaspora

that are bringing money that they've earned overseas

back to rejuvenate Paxos.

- Exactly.

And this is how Paxos become to be a touristic place.

Because they build the new villas, new houses, hotels,

and then the last 10 years, it become more and more.

- It's going up. - Up.

- Fantastic. - Popular.

- [Peter] Fantastic.

(gentle music)

- [Lefcothea] I want to show you the front of the house,

how amazing it is. - Ah.

You know, Lefcothea,

this looks like some sort of luxurious villa

that it was at the time, because you can see the front gate,

look at these columns here, and the front fence,

they spent a lot of time.

And there's a balcony, there's a second floor.

There's no second floors on any of these other buildings.

I can just imagine what it was like living here.

And it's got the view as well, the wonderful view.

- View of Lakka.

- Yeah, wow.

I've heard this same story told time and time again

in my travels through Greece.

The small, inland towns suffered greatly

thanks to the industrial revolution

and a shifting economy that relied on tourism and shipping.

It led to many of them being abandoned.

But a few are hanging on, like this little settlement

that surrounds the Church of Hypapante.

The few people that remain here

carry with them the area's history, and are responsible

for keeping the eroding buildings relatively intact.

Who knows how much longer they'll hang in there,

when in the distance, are the thriving coastal towns

having more chance of employment,

and life is just that little bit more convenient.

It's one of those distant ports where my next stop lay.

Tomorrow morning, I had an early start

to meet with a baker who makes bread the traditional way.

(lively music)

The traditional means by which things are done

are slowly disappearing.

Nowadays it's all about efficiency and minimising cost.

Take baking for example.

The artform of making wood-fired bread

is something that has disappeared in much of the world.

Yes, it's making a comeback in trendy cafes in major cities,

but the places where it was first done

have become reliant on the mass-produced stuff

that's brought in from elsewhere.

Vasili maintains the old ways,

and bakes the best bread on the island

using techniques handed down by his forefathers

over the last 120 years.

Now, before we got here at some ungodly hour.

Vasili basically made the dough, in that little bowl there,

well, it's not a little bowl, it's a big bowl,

and put these put these loaves together, separately.

It's very impressive the way he has done it.

You can see it's been done many, many times.

(gentle guitar music)

Vasili produces between 300 and 500 loaves a day,

all done by hand,

using a process that's changed little in over a century.

It's quite therapeutic

to watch him methodically going about his work.

Vasili doesn't take holidays.

(laughing)

He's so passionate about the business

and keeping the villagers with bread,

and the restaurants with bread

that he just doesn't take any holidays.

12 o'clock to three o'clock,

midnight, three o'clock in the afternoon.

That's some major hours.

So what's fantastic about this is,

the reason he runs with a wood-fired oven

is not just because it's traditional,

but they're using the olive tree cutoffs from the island,

'cause there's 250,000 olive trees on the island,

and they're always cutting them down

after they pick the olives.

There's all that timber coming off the trees,

and they're using it in the ovens.

So, what Vasili is saying is, some of his clients,

'cause he doesn't only sell bread to the village,

but he sells it to restaurants,

some of the restaurants want well done bread,

well cooked, dark bread.

And that's the bread that goes in first and comes out last.

The other standard loaves are up the front here.

They go in last, come out first.

So there's a variation of cooking across this whole oven.

I personally like bread that's not that well cooked,

and it's spongy and soft in the middle, and almost moist,

and that's the loaves at the front.

They're the ones that are gonna come out first,

and one may disappear.

This daily routine

is one of those behind the scenes processes

that impacts our lives, yet most of us take it for granted.

Having seen the hard work and dedication of Vasili,

I now have so much more appreciation

for the artisans that make the delicious bread

I love to eat.

So next time you're sitting by the water,

enjoying your bread and olive oil,

think of the labour of love that went into making it.

If you're anything like me,

knowing where it came from makes it taste even better.

Mm!

(gentle music)

It's fantastic.

Organic.

Mm!

Vasili doesn't need to say much.

He lets his bread do all the talking.

I, for one, am thankful for people like him.

He's passionate, hardworking,

and understanding of the importance of his craft.

He brings joy to the lives of people every day,

and that's something we should all aspire to.

From the smoky and dark bakery

to the bright and colourful coast of Paxos,

the environments couldn't be more contrasting.

Behind us is Italy.

In front of us is the northwest coast of Paxos.

And just in behind here, we're about to see it,

is another cave that the submarine Papanikolis

used to hide in World War II.

We saw it in Meganisi, it happened in here as well.

We're gonna go and have a look.

Wow, look at that.

Mate, that looks like it's gonna fall on us any second.

- I know. - Eh?

- We should be careful. - We should be careful.

- [Driver] You wonder how they fit a submarine in here.

It's only five metres deep. (chuckling)

- Well, they were little submarines back then.

They're not those big ones that they have today.

Should we head out? - Yeah.

- Let's do it buddy.

This is a perfect example of nature doing its work

over millions of years.

Over there you can see that collapse, that cliff collapse.

That happened in 2007.

And it actually formed that beach.

That's what it looked like before.

That's probably about 20 metres deep there,

we're in about 30 metres of water here.

But now, all that dirt coming down,

all of that limestone has formed that beach.

The other thing I like about this tectonic structure here,

the earthquakes and the tectonic movement

is pushing Paxos towards the mainland.

And what happens is you see this limestone gritting away,

you see these little shelves, this pancaking.

It's absolutely awesome.

It's changing all the time,

but we don't get to see the big changes,

except for this one here.

(gentle music)

What a spectacular and fun way to finish my time on Paxos.

After a swim at a private beach, it was back aboard Mia Zoi

for a cruise to one of our final stops of the series.

In the next episode,

I'm visiting the tiny island of Antipaxos

before heading to our final port of call, Corfu.

As they say, you want to end on a high,

and it's the perfect place to do just that.