Zakynthos 2012 Part One - The Journey....

Hello my lovelies!!!!! How have you all been? 

On Tuesday we got back from our fabulous fortnight on the Greek island of Zakynthos and its taken until now for me to have the time to post and tell you all about it.

I suspect this will be lengthy and so this will be part one!!

Since my Mum sold her Spanish villa a few years ago we hadn't had a "proper" holiday and so we were excited to be going away this year.

We flew from Stansted to Patras Araxos on the Greek mainland (which was waaaaay cheaper than flying direct to the island).

I had a serious wibble before we went, I hate flying and we didn't go to bed the night before our 6.00am flight as we had to leave for the airport at 2.00am. The stress all conspired to bring on my anxiety induced nausea and I was not feeling great at all.

Soon it was time to board the plane:

The flight took 3 hours and before long (after a very turbulent landing!!) we were landing in the sun.

Patras airport is a Greek air base recently opened up to commercial flights, so it was tiny and stress free to collect our baggage and hire car and soon we on the 60 mile journey to the ferry in Kyllini where we had a few hours before the ferry for the island left.

The airport is right out in the country and the scenery is very "foreign" looking in a way it isn't in France or Spain - big wide roads lined with bamboo and fields containing hundreds of melons as well as poly tunnels filled with unidentified crops. My Mum said it looked like Africa (where she and my Dad lived for two years). 

It was an easy drive though and soon we arrived in Kyllini. The ferry port is right next to a beach and you just park your car in the ferry queue and leave it.

We enjoyed our first meal in a Greek taverna (well everyone else did, I was still feeling queasy):

My sweetheart....

H looking very pale....

And W....

And my Mum with her "Willa Wonka" sunglasses....

We spent the afternoon on the beach and just before 5.00pm it was time to board the ferry:

View of the beach from the ferry - the boys (including Mr G!!) had great fun on the inflatables....

W and Nannie....

W trying not to do his "Wallace and Gromit" smile that occurs every time you point the camera at him!!

Approaching the island....

Docking at Zakynthos Town....

The surroundings on the island were very different to the mainland, very lush, green and filled with olive groves. We were staying in Alykes in the north east - a quiet and unspoilt spot popular with families and older people and it took just 20 minutes to arrive at our home for the fortnight:

I found the home on eBay of all places, it's set in an olive grove 60 seconds from the beach with just a handful of other private mobile homes.

It was soooooo hot when we arrived that the first order of the evening (after a quick trip to the mini market in the village for essentials) was a swim.

You walked out of the gates of the campsite (which we could see from our caravan) to see this across a little road:

The path to the pool and beach....

The pool and the sea - how perfect?

We went down the steps to be greeted by this:

I have never seen water so crystal clear, and the way it fades in from deepest navy in the distance to teal, turquoise and aqua was just breathtaking.

We all ran in and it was sooooooo warm, there was no hesitation like we have found even in the Spanish med. It was at least body temperature or more.

As we played and splashed the sun began to set over the mountains to the right and the moon rose over the mountains to the left. It was truly one of those moments in life that I will remember forever....

So, that was the journey - tune in soon for more!!

hugs,

S x