The Island of Zakynthos....Greece
GREECE | Sunday, 4 July 2010 | Views [600]
Well we were determined to get to the Mediterranean one way or another!! We had a quick search of the internet and were absolutely overwhelmed with the choices of destinations, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Morocco, Tunisia and of course all the standard European countries.... were do we start? In the end we just selected the Greek Islands and it just so happened that the first picture of a resort we liked was on the Island of Zakynthos or Zante as it is sometimes called. So we booked a seven night package in the Alykanas Village Resort. Decision made on Sat morning holiday departs Mon morning, we don't mess around!
We flew on 28th June from Manchester airport direct to the Island, this was great, 3 hours later from the north of England and we were deposited on an Island in the middle of the Mediterranean, we can't do that from Perth! We transferred to the village in a coach with a maniac driver, these roads were every-bit as bad as in France, winding and narrow and we were either in a race or being chased by the police we weren't sure!
The resort was pretty much as we anticipated, very organised and full of British tourists, probably due to the package holiday being sold by a British airline/holiday company. There are activities for kids and adults alike, we can use one of the 3 pools or lay on the beach, not as nice as Perth beaches but who cares this was glorious with postcard views and temperature in the low 30's.
We had a late lunch in a little family run cafe, food we loved and missed, sardines, olives and fetta cheese and icy cold beer; everybody is so friendly and always smiling. The pool was calling for us so we spent the rest of the day swimming and lounging, as you do when the weather is hot and the water cool. Dinner was at a real Greek taverna, great fresh salads, grilled seafood and cheap wine; we have now fallen in love with another country, it's getting harder and harder to think about ever coming home again!
Tuesday was a tough day, bit of a sleep-in then comfortable lounges by the pool and reading a book, when we got too warm we just flopped into the pool or had another icy cold beer. We had a walk up and down the beach and on into the adjoining village of Alykas only 500m down the road. We stopped for a couple of cocktails and got mistaken for being Irish by the bar tender until I explained we were Australian, he was amazed that we were so far from home, he had lots of questions about Oz he had seen bits and pieces on TV and wanted to make sure it was real and not like a hollywood version! he was a nice guy, typically Greek, tanned and super hairy. We checked out the different island tours and made some loose plans for the rest of the week.
Wednesday was a boat trip around the island, it is a large island and the trip was an all day event with stops at some fantastic sights. We swam in a cove called smugglers cove named after a boat that was wrecked on the beach when caught smuggling whiskey and cigarettes back in 1979, the beach was very different, not sandy but made up of very coarse grains of limestone a bit like giant grains of sand! it was like walking on sandpaper. The sea is a deep blue unlike any other colour you've seen, our sea in Perth is an aquamarine blue, you know, more green than blue, but here it is a cobalt blue; absolutely amazing and crystal clear. We saw lots of large caves set into the cliffs that surround the island; the boat even went into one really big one. We had a great day swimming, the boat had a water-slide on the back that made it fun getting into the water. Grilled souvlaki straight off the BBQ on the back of the boat topped of a nice day out.
Thursday was another relaxing day around the pool and on the beach, we managed to squeeze in a little bit of shopping in the village, just browsing the tourist shops and looking at the restaurant menu boards, eating out here is good fun all the tavernas and restaurants have touts out the front all spruiking that their place is best, number one in town, free
glass of wine etc...so to read the boards without being talked at was interesting. We picked out the ones that hopefully had the most original sounding Greek food.
The highlight of today was riding the jet skis, this was the first time Chris had ever done this, it was great fun zooming around the bay.
Friday was an adventurous day we hired a quad bike for 2 days and set off exploring, we couldn't read the map and most of the road signs are in Greek so it was fun getting lost. We headed for a really high hilltop we could see from our resort about 10km away, we barely made it up the tightly twisting hairpin bends on the quad bike. When we reached the top we walked even higher to a church, the views were magnificent. We had a well earned lunch in a hilltop cafe, really nice homemade food with bread from the stone oven, it was really special as we were the only ones there we had the place to ourselves high on a hill. We covered quite a few kilometers that day, each little village had it's own sights to see and some of the bays and little stone beaches were postcard perfect.
Day 2 on the quad-bike saw us travel to the other end of the island about 40km away, cruising through acres of old olive groves and vineyards, getting lost and going up impossibly steep mountain roads made for a great day out. We found time to stop in the main town, Zakynthos Town, unfortunately most of the shops were closed it's a bit like France they have a siesta here between 2:30 and 6:00, but everything stays open till midnight!! Considering we have the same climate back in Perth maybe this would be a good idea having a break from the hottest part of the day and staying open later at night. It was pretty warm today around 37 degrees, the poor English are finding it a bit hot, we haven't used our air conditioning yet!
The resort had a cabaret show advertised for tonight, we were a bit skeptical we remember that cheesy British TV show Hi-De-Hi, set in a holiday resort and all the cheesy entertainment that went with it. Well tonight was no exception, we weren't disappointed. It was a one man show with all the really bad jokes, audience participation gimmicks, mimed songs and the audience loved it!! loads of participation, we lasted 40mins and had to escape. I guess you have to have grown up with this stuff to enjoy it, each to their own.
By now we are well known in town, mainly because the locals picked out we were not English or European, we made a point of telling everybody we were Aussies, the locals all wave and shout out to us now when we walk through the streets, it makes it all great fun. We have been having a cold drink each night in a great bar, they give out free shots every 30mins
so the party gets started really quickly! The Greeks are very welcoming and always happy to see you.
We have eaten some great Greek food, really great salads made with super fresh tomatoes that actually taste of tomato (take notice coles & woolworths), creamy fetta cheese, moussaka, lamb kleftiko, beef stifado etc.. but unfortunately some restaurants cater to the main tourists and everything comes with chips, tonight's dinner was a prime example; Chris had a really nice garlic prawn entree, creamy garlic sauce & prawns on a bed of rice with some vegetable garnish and half a plate full of chips, her main course was mixed souvlaki, grilled meat on skewers, a nice salad and even more chips!!! my calamari entree came with chips as well as my main course grilled snapper, I'm not just talking about a few chips on the side of the plate I'm talking half a plate full of chips, this makes the meals absolutely huge and not necessary.
Sunday today and our last day in paradise, we rode the quad bike to the next town and had a nice breakfast with real Greek coffee, you know that thick sludge type coffee that you spoon would stand up in. Back to the pool and beach to soak up the last bit of summer we will have, we are not looking forward to the chilly Perth winter awaiting us at home.
Back to England tomorrow for the final few days of our holiday, we are trying not to be too sad.......
