The monastery of the Panagia stands on the small island at the mouth of Gaios harbour. Everyone on Paxos calls it simply the Madonna.
The present church appears to have been built over an early Christian one. The catalogue of 1686 records it as old and ruined; it was probably restored by the Vellianitis family, and in 1720 it became a monastery of ten monks with a considerable income.
By 1885 the community had come down to a single nun, who had been there twenty-six years and alone for the last six. Broken glass was already set along the top of the enclosure wall then, as it is now.
The square white tower beside the sanctuary, about twenty metres high, was converted into the lighthouse of Paxos. Its light stands thirty-one metres above the sea and showed a fixed beam visible for ten miles; three keepers lived in the room below, reached by a wooden stair of four floors.
The 15th of August is the great day. The faithful cross before dawn in small boats, the icon is carried in procession, and beef broth is served to everyone on the benches of the courtyard, a custom the islanders call the vrasto.
On Easter Monday the icon used to be taken by boat to Gaios with the clergy and a crowd of boats behind it, the ships dressed with flags and guns fired from the shore.
Getting there: by boat from Gaios. The island is opened mainly for the feast.
