Tag: Zakinthos

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A Pilgrimage to the past – day 3

Plans!

Having planned our route and itinerary way back in September and October, it was in May that our plans began to unravel. Our route was based on the availability of ferries from one island to another, and accommodation booked to accommodate the days they sailed. But a part of our planning was scuppered by the Lefkada Palace ferry not being granted a licence to operate, creating our first hurdle, how to get off Zakynthos and over to Ithaca.

Instead of hopping on a ferry in Zante town a=on Saturday morning, sitting on a ferry for a couple of hours and arriving on Ithaca, the only solution I could find was to get an evening ferry from Agios Nikolaos in northern Zante on Friday night, then a taxi across Kefalonia, stay a night in Sami, before catching a 30 minute ferry to Ithaca the next day.

To add to our difficulties, I could find no bus to take from Zante town to the port, so a 60 euro taxi looked liked the only option. But once we’d landed in Zante I made two key discoveries: starting this week, there were two busses a day from Zante town to the port, to coincide with the two, not one, ferries to Kefalonia – there was also a morning sailing from Zante to Kefalonia but Fotolife some reason this does not show on any electronic ticket booking platform.

Anyway, it was up with the sparrows (6am alarm) for a 30 minute schlep – ladden with our heavy packs – across the habour in Zante town (of course, the bus stop was the other end from where we were satying)

But it was beautiful, serene and calm,

before catching the bus to the port. It was only the two of us on the bus, it was air conditioned and we got to see some of north Zakynthos which looked beautiful, and possibly worthy of a return visit in the future

We arrived in the port ten minutes before our ferry, persuaded the crew to let us use our tickets for the night time sailing, and soon we were on our way to Kefalonia

When we first realised our plans needed to change it was a disappointment, but we enjoyed a simple crossing to a new island (for one night only!) and then had a lovely afternoon in Karavomylos on the outskirts of Sami, ending the day with a picnic on the beach outside our apartment.

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A Pilgrimage to the Past – Day 1 and 2

Zakynthos

33 years ago we had our first holiday together, in Corfu, 30 years ago, on 3rd August 1996, we got married, so this year we are on an Ionian Adventure, a pilgrimage to the past, revisiting many of the Ionian holiday spots we visited in the ‘90s, before children came along an clipped our wings.

First stop Zakinthos, where we last visited 32 years ago in 1994, and didn’t we look young then …

Back then, we stayed in Laganas. Yesterday, we landed in Zakinthos (or Zante) and made our way to our accommodation on the edges of Zante town – now with air con, wi-fi and other mod cons that couldn’t even be dreamed of back then. We’d only ever planned a few days in Zante, and that has been cut shorter due to transport woes (the Lefkada Palace ferry, upon which several legs of our journey had been based, has not been granted a licence to operate this summer, so we need to leave the island a day earlier on a different ferry) and so today is our only full day on the island.

We felt we had to go back and see Laganas as it is now – well renown as a party resort for the youth – so we hopped on a bus and 30 minutes later we got off onto a different planet. In ‘94 it was beginning to get a reputation for cheap booze and loud music and as you walked the strip propers would try and entice you into their club, but now the strip was strewn with rubbish, fast food joints and, worryingly, a couple of emergency treatment rooms. Not the natural habit of two fifty-somethings!

Nevertheless, we had a chilled morning in the Greek sun and heat, walking along the beach – a thin strip of sand, with very shallow sea – enjoying breakfast overlooking the sea and later, a delicious fruit salad in a bar/restaurant and chatting with the owner, she opened in 1993 the year before we first came.

Mid afternoon, we caught the bus back to Zante town and had the first swim of the holiday from a spot we’d spied yesterday – very much a locals swimming spot, not a beach, just a ladder into the sea from some rocks alongside the road. The sea was beautifully clear, amazingly warm (perhaps too warm?) and a delight to be in.

In the day and a half we’ve been here, Zante town has grown on me. Not stunningly beautiful, and a little run down in places, but very calm and relaxed, the food has been wonderful, a great place to leave any UK based troubles behind. And in the evening light and refreshing breeze I was more than happy here.

The pics at the top show two very young hap-pea travellers, this is us now, still smiling, still together, and still in love 30 years and more on

And ready for a whole new Greek adventure, with the occasional detour down memory lane along the way.