The windmill known as the Mill of Lesianitis stands at Tranakatika, just outside Gaios, on a spur crowned by the building itself.
It is round, built of stone, with an internal stone stair and four windows set symmetrically at the top. It stands on a base twice its own diameter. It was raised in about 1780, which makes it one of the earlier mills of Paxos; the oldest, the Paliomylos of Vellianitis, goes back to around 1700, and in 1818 the municipal council was asking for more to be built.
More than sixteen windmills are known on the island and many survive in good condition. They have been declared protected monuments by the Ministry of Culture. Grain was never grown here in quantity, so the mills were a service the island could not do without and could barely justify, a reminder of how far Paxos had to go to turn its imported wheat into bread.
Below the mill a road drops towards Trypitos, where a spring runs out near the sea. In summer, when the cisterns ran dry, that is where people went for water.
Tip: climb the stair for the view, which runs from Gaios all the way to Antipaxos.
