For a very long time, Greece has held a special place in my heart. The many memories I have there with my mum as we visited the island of Crete every summer to stay in the village of Stalis. I decided it was time that I ventured out of Crete and travelled to a new greek destination and share my love of all things Greece with my boyfriend, Aiden.
In May we landed in Zakynthos. What a beautiful island. The weather during our stay was mediocre. It was around 18oC during the first few days and it rained a few times but after that it soared to over 30oC and I ended up with a nice little tan.
If you are looking for a quiet week away, I highly recommend visiting the small town of Tsilivi. This is a small town beside the sea with plenty of tasty restaurants, ice cream shops and beautiful beaches. We ate in a range of different restaurants including m-eating, Micri Acropoli Restaurant & Bar, Dionisos Taverna, Il Gusto and a small family restaurant in Zakynthos Town which we can’t remember the name of but did the most amazing homemade Garlic and Cheese Breads. We enjoyed every single one of these restaurants and we absolutely adore the food in Greece. The hospitality in M-Eating especially was magnificent and we thoroughly enjoyed our night there.
For dessert we opted to leave the restaurant and go to a small cafe called Gelato Cafe where we made friends with the lovely sisters who own the place. They were more than welcoming throughout our stay and even gave us free desserts to say goodbye when we were going home. They made the most incredible crepes I have ever tasted and yummy banana milkshakes. During the day we always had plenty to do.
Zakynthos offer many different excursions and boat trips and we did quite a few. We visited Shipwreck Beach (I highly recommend wearing a LOT of sunscreen if you plan to visit), The Blue Caves were absolutely stunning and the clear blue waters were breathtaking.
We visited Ancient Olympia which is a full day trip. You have to be at the port for 7am in Zante Town to get a ferry to Kyllini on the Peloponnese (mainland Greece). The ferry takes around 1 hour and after that you get a bus that takes around an hour to an hour and a half to get to the small town of Olimpia – the birth place of the Olympic Games. The site of the ruins is amazing and it is so easy to see what once stood in the place of the ruins. It is amazing to think that the Greek Gods once competed there and to hear the stories and the history makes it an enjoyable day. The tour takes around an hour and a half and then unfortunately you have a 3 and a half hour wait before the bus comes to take you back to the ferry. The town is very commercial with all of the shops in the town selling the same touristy things and selling the same tourist food unlike the authentic towns and villages in Zakynthos. We found it a tough day after the tour but it is definitely worth the visit, just prepare yourself for the wait.
I highly recommend renting a quad or something similar during your stay to get to see the island. There is so much to see and explore but still plenty of time for relaxing at the pool. We stayed in a beautiful hotel called The Contessina Hotel. It has a beautiful pool area and spacious rooms with nice bathrooms. The staff were very friendly especially the wonderful bar man Sot who merrily told us every night that one day he would own the hotel and told us of his hopes and dreams while making us his random potions.
We honestly had the most wonderful time in Zakynthos from start to finish and we would visit this beautiful place again and again.
Until Next Time,
Elisha.
Life as Elisha 