Zakynthos 2012 Part Four - Out & About, Cont'd....

I managed to nab Mr G's laptop so I can continue to tell you about our trips out whilst on our hols.


We ventured out one day to visit Porto Vromi - the most difficult beach on the island to reach - it was doable by car but it was pretty hair-raising up and down hair pin bends and across some pretty desolate, almost lunar landscape.


The island although small, had distinct areas of very different scenery - the north where we were was very lush and green with lots of olive groves, across the west side was barren and volcanic looking and the middle was very rural with countryside, hay fields and farms.


Porto Vromi is famed for its clear waters, the picture in the guide book made it look as though the boats were floating in mid-air it was so clear.


It was also tiny, with no sun umbrellas, so we just stayed long enough to take a swim:

One evening towards the end of our holiday we set out in search of the lookout point for the famous Navagio Beach - home to a shipwrecked smugglers boat. The beach is only accessible by boat so the only other way to see it is via the lookout point:

We took the opportunity to get a passer-by to take a group photo:

Even though it was about 7.00pm in the evening when we visited it was sooooo hot!! We're glad we went "out of hours" as the viewing platform was only tiny and had it been crowded there would have been queueing:

Nannie with the boys....

I took advantage of the beautiful backdrop to take some pics of H and W:

The view was indeed breathtaking:

The visit to the shipwreck was one of my favourites, it really was sooooo beautiful and on the way back we came around a corner to see this:

Wonderful!!

hugs,

S x

Zakynthos 2012 Part Three - Out and About....

Hello my lovelies!! I've given up waiting for Mr G's laptop to be free to finish my holiday posts so I'm on my iPad and will just have to use the pics I have on here.

Whilst we were in Zakynthos they had something of a heat wave - the temperature topped 39 degrees for much of our stay and we were told by the locals that they rarely had more than day or so of temperatures that hot and then usually in August!!


Due to the heat we perhaps didn't take as many day trips as we might as even thought the car had air con, all we really wanted to do was stay by the pool and sea.

We did make a few trips though, we made our way a little further north, braving the hairpin mountain roads to Makris Gialos, a picturesque little cove:

This beach was completely different to the one near to our caravan which was gently shelving and you had to wade out for ages before it got deep enough to swim (great for little ones) - at the cove you went out about three feet and were neck deep!! It was much colder too, but that was kinda nice as the heat meant you could only sit on your sun bed (even under the brolly) for half hour before you needed to take a dip.

We did a bit of snorkelling, but although crystal clear there were surprisingly few fish. You could swim into some little caves but as I went in Mr G decided he didn't like the idea so wasn't coming in - I thought he was a bid wuss until he put the idea in my head that the roof might collapse!!

Another evening Mr G, W and I took a trip out to explore a bit further (Nannie and H stayed behind) - we aimed to check out a few of the other little coves, like this one:

W doing his Wallace and Grommit smile again!!

Mr G nearly put the three of us and the car over the cliff edge and into the cove as the car shot forward and he went "Ooops,mthat wasn't reverse"!!

The next stop along the cove was Xigia beach which has underwater springs rich in sulphur - its beautiful but a bit smelly!! We did stop and brave the steep steps down so we could take a dip:

The water was very cold and kind of milky, it's full of sulphur and collagen and supposed to be very good for your skin. W wasn't impressed with the smell though!!

On the way back be stopped at a lovely cafe bar for some dessert and a cocktail:

Another evening we took a trip to the lookout point to see the famous shipwreck beach, I'll have to pop that in another post though as I have no pics on the iPad of it and you must see them!!

Stayed tuned for the final installments of our hols, and then normal service will resume - going to try and blog more even if it is here on my iPad as I've leith things slide!!

Hugs,

S x

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Zakynthos 2012 Part 2 - Settling In....

So, it took a long time to get to our holiday home in the sun, 16 hours door to door, but apart from the Stansted part it was a very enjoyable trip. Needless to say we all fell in to bed the first night rather early.


When we awoke we took a few pics of our surroundings:

View from our decking....

It is a really dinky little site, with a handful of caravans....

We set off in search of breakfast - I had done a lot of research and had a list of taverna's with good reviews - we all had a full English at the Asteria which is virtually right on the beach:

View from the breakfast table....

Me and my boys....

The waiter was lovely and taught us a few words of Greek, having been numerous times to both Spain and France we found the Greeks a whole lot friendlier and more welcoming.

We had a mooch around the little shops which were for the most part filled with the usual holiday tat - H bought a fetching hat and sunglasses though:

Oooooh, he's going to have the ladies queueing up!! 

We made the short trip back to the camp and got ready for a day by the pool and sea (how lucky were we that they were so close together?!!):

View from my sun bed - the pool is behind me....

Never mind the yummy milkshake, look at that sea!!

After a lovely day at the beach we got ready to go back to The Asteria for their Greek night - cocktails were imbibed:

An "Asteria On The Beach" (tasted like a Singapore Sling)....

Pina Colada!!

The boys had chocolate crepes:

On virtually every holiday we have a pic of W having polished off a chocolate crepe (one year he screamed all the way up Mont St Michel in France because it was nap time, only shutting up to eat his pancake!!) - I think this is the first year he is not covered in it!!:

As we ate we watched the sun set over Kefalonia:

Next time I'll tell you all about the days out we had....

hugs,

S x

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