July 25, 2004
Zakynthos
(more pics)
We recently returned from spending a week on the Ionian island of Zakynthos in Greece. It was absolutely fabulous. We stayed at the Oniro Studios a couple of kilometers north of the resort town of Tsilivi. It was a bit of a fluke as we just phoned teletext a week before we wanted to go and asked for somewhere cheap on a Greek Island that was fairly quiet.
The location was brilliant. It was about a ten minute walk from the lovely, sparsely populated Ambouli beach. The beach was mildly pebbly, but not bad and the water was gorgeous. The road to the beach had about five or six lovely tavernas that served mainly Greek food (as opposed to burgers and chips), etc. The food was delicious. The local homemade wine was less so, but very very cheap. Actually one of the tavernas had wine that was remarkably good. Unfortunately I can't remember the name. "To Akroyali", perhaps. It was about half way down on the right hand side as you walk towards the beach. We also discovered a nice Zakynthian white wine called Verdea which is really very nice and about two and half Euros in the shops.
The studios themselves were lovely. From the back of our studio we had a gorgeous view over olive groves to the sea and Keffalonia. The kitchenette was decent: two rings, a fridge, and a modest supply of kitchenware. There was no air conditioning or tv but we didn't notice their absence really. If we were in our room and the heat became a bit too much, we just jumped in the pool. The bar at the Oniro was a bit pricey by local standards but the family who run the place were so friendly and charming that it was a small thing to forgive. There's a local shop run by the same family just across the road and the prices in it were quite reasonable compared with what we saw elsewhere on the island.
I forgot my driver's license so we went on a coach excursion in order to get to see the island and used the local bus service to check out Tsilivi and Zakythnos town. Tsilivi was a nightclub and resort strewn hell, but probably fun if you like that kind of thing. We heard that Lagana is even worse (or better, depending on your point of view). Zakynthos town was much prettier but it is just a Greek port town so don't expect any beaches or the like.
The local bus service to Tsilivi and Zakynthos was fine, by the way. Nice, air-conditioned buses, driven safely with a conductor who was helpful and spoke pretty decent English.
Anyway, it was gorgeous and we had a fantastic time.
Posted by YandaMan at 10:34 PM | Comments (1)