Hotel Contessina Zakynthos

... tape again!

Hopefully Brian’s starting to learn that everything doesn’t need to be in ‘brand new’ condition to be functional. But I love him for caring so much. I go too much the other way. I would rather things be rickety and worn than new. There’s quite a few things on my bike being held together with duct tape which are asking for ...

Sailing stops: Agistri, Epidaurus, Poros and Aegina

After our first overnight in Piraeus/Athens we took a taxi to the port and found the sailboat which we had booked for a 4 night sail around the Saronic Islands of Greece.

The weather was unbelievably hot and humid. The temperature outside when we boarded the sailboat was 102 and the high was forecasted to be 106. The sailboat was new and quite nice, and we learned a lot about sailboats during this portion of our ...

... are marked on it. While your stay in Zakynthos you have some must see points: the shipwreck beach which is absolutely divine, the caves around the eastern and northern shore and a magic location for swimming. The shipwreck is reachable by boat, rather you hire your own boat, or go take an organised tour of the island wich costs around 18-10 Euros/person and it lasts form 10 am to 4 or 6 pm. The caves are seen also by boat but if you go on a cruise you won't see much, because ...

... we met was extremely friendly, including the nice young men who invited us to share their cars with them. Niiice. Did not finish Corelli's Mandolin as I had intended to. Thus, I will need to come back again to better appreciate the locations.



photos are yet to be downloaded.

... of bronze figurines, pottery and armor that are remanants
of the tributes. The ruins are very vast - like a modern Olympic
villiage they had buildings for officials and athletes with sleeping
quarters, baths, training facilities and of course the stadium.

We headed to Andravidha to get a drink and a rest before tracking down the church of the Holy Sepulchre. This was the church of the Frankish princes of the Morea, when they had their capital here in Andravidha in the thirteenth century; I had wanted to see it for some time. Andravidha doesn't show its princely past, being a pleasant low-key town which was bustling with a lively market. We were (as far as we could see) the ...

... all a sandy beack just down the hill. In sum, although we had originally planned on just a night here, we swiftly decided to stay longer (in the end we did three nights). A late afternoon swim followed by bargain beer obtained from the shop contributed to this sage decision...

In the early evening Paul played his flute for a while in an handy adjacent olive grove, as the sun set into the sea. We ...

... late. Fortunately, another Greek lady that spoke English had the same destination as us and was able to show us which bus to get on and explain things a bit because these bus systems are not the most clear things in the world. The bus had already picked up a bunch of people along the route so when we got on, we finished filling the last open seats scattered throughout the bus. This means I had that extra little seat in the way back that is in the middle of 5 ...

Isn't that funny? I love sun, heat, swimming-pool, seaside, but I got bored in such conditions on Zakynthos. I thought as if I was in a cage. Touristic zone, small Porta Koukla, near Laganas - was too small for the city dweller like me. One restaurant and two shops when I could pay with credit cards. Is it EU at all? With such a huge touristic demand and therfore experience they didn't think much of the facilities.

... Three quarters of the Island is mountainous, however the last quarter is incredibly fertile and is put to good use with every square inch cultivated with vegetables, grape vines and millions of olive trees, some hundreds of years old which over the years have become twisted into some weird and wonderful shapes. The west coast is very rugged with sheer white cliffs cascading into a cobalt blue sea, our day trips have discovered some amazing scenery, small coves, caves ...