{"id":1791,"date":"2014-08-02T18:15:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T22:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetanyc.com\/?p=1791"},"modified":"2016-09-20T06:39:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T10:39:07","slug":"zakynthos-greece-july-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/192.168.2.119:1984\/svetanyc\/2014\/08\/zakynthos-greece-july-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Zakynthos, Greece. July 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 29, 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, D. and I were getting into an island state of mind and driving\/ ferrying to the island of Zakynthos to visit D. grandma and see the places where D. spent his summers as a child. The name of this island doesn’t usually bring many associations among people unless you mention the Navagio beach (also known as Shipwreck beach) – whose picture decorates the\u00a0cover of pretty much every travel guide to Greece. Well, I have to stress the fact that no filters were used to enhance this picture, it is THAT beautiful there!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2902\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We planned to stay on the island for 3 days and head back to the mainland on August 1st to attend our friends’ wedding in Athens. In the morning, after saying goodbyes to D. mom, brother and his family, off we went! Our 300 kms route took us along the western coast of Greece with magnificent views of the mountains, islands and sea through Rio-Antirio bridge<\/a>. <\/strong>One of the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges and the longest of the fully suspended type, this 2,280 m bridge, connecting mainland with Peloponnese is widely considered\u00a0to be an engineering masterpiece, owing to several solutions applied to span the difficult site. These challenges include deep water, insecure materials for foundations, seismic activity, the probability of tsunamis, and the expansion of the Gulf of Corinth<\/a> due to plate tectonics.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2828\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Once on the Peloponnese, we headed to a village\u00a0of Kyllini<\/a><\/strong> where we were supposed to take a ferry to Zakynthos, located only 28 kms southwest. Kyllini, a settlement of only 600-700 people, was built on the ruins of the medieval town Glarentza<\/a>,\u00a0once\u00a0the main port and mint of the Frankish<\/a> Principality of Achaea<\/a>.\u00a0Little remains of the town today: traces of the city wall, of a church and a few other buildings, as well as the silted-up harbor, but if you have time, make sure to check them out. We arrived an hour before our 17.15 departure, so we comfortably situated ourselves in the conveniently located beach-bar and enjoyed a few cold drinks.<\/p>\n

There are two ferry companies\u00a0that run to and from Zakynthos – Ionian Group<\/a>\u00a0and Kefalonian Lines<\/a>, which in summer have 3-4 daily departures in each directions. We used Ionian Ferries on the way to and Kefalonian Lines on the way back from Zakynthos, and I couldn’t tell the difference. Both of them were efficient, comfortable and cost the same (\u20ac7.50 per person and \u20ac28.50 per passenger car).\u00a0From port to port is under\u00a0an hour ride.<\/p>\n

\"GOPR0051\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Zakynthos<\/a><\/strong> is one of the seven islands comprising the Ionian Islands<\/a><\/strong>. The origin of the name “Ionian” isn’t clear but thought to derive from the myth of goddess Io<\/a> – one of Zeus lovers, who fled the wrath of Zeus’ wife Hera, by passing through the waters now known as the Ionian Sea. The islands were populated by Greeks possibly as early as 1200 BC, but certainly, based on\u00a0the archeological evidences, no later than the 9th century BC. One of the Ionian islands, Ithaca<\/a> was made famous by Homer’s Odysseus as his home island, however, the geography of Ionian Ithaca doesn’t fit Homer’s description. By the 8th century BC, the islands were in the hands of the important city-state Corinth but during Ancient Greek times, they were considered to be black-water and played little role in Greek\u00a0politics.\u00a0By the 4th century BC, most of the islands were absorbed into the empire of Macedon<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0remained under their control until 146\u00a0BC, when the Greek peninsula was gradually annexed by Rome. After 400\u00a0years of peaceful Roman rule, the islands passed to the Byzantine Empire<\/a>, where,\u00a0from the mid-8th century, they formed the Byzantine district\u00a0of\u00a0Cephallenia<\/a>. From 1204, one island after another fell under the rule of the\u00a0Republic of Venice<\/a>\u00a0(Zakynthos joined in 1482) thus becoming the only part of the Greek-speaking world that escaped the Ottoman Rule.\u00a0Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian (or Venetian in some cases) and converted to Roman Catholicism, but the majority of people remained Greek ethnically, linguistically, and religiously.<\/p>\n

From 1797, Ionian islands frequently changed hands, from Napoleonic France to Russia (1799-1807) to Napoleon again to British Empire (1815). However, by 1864 under nationalistic pressure, the Brits, having already acquired Malta, relinquished the islands to Greece. During the WWII, the islands where handed over to the Italians who tried to Italianize the population and deport all jews living on the islands to the death camps. Zakynthos’\u00a0Bishop Chrysostomos<\/a>\u00a0refused to turn in a list with the names of 275 jews, instead hiding them in the rural areas. Due to his actions, every jew of Zakynthos survived the war. In August 1953, particularly strong series of earthquakes hit the islands. Zakynthos and Kefalinia were practically leveled to the ground, but managed to resurrect and become one of the tourists favorite destinations.<\/p>\n

Once we docked in Zakynthos town, we quickly disembarked and drove to a\u00a0hotel.<\/p>\n