This week was spent on holiday in Zakynthos, Greece, with four of our oldest friends and their families. We’ve been on many brilliant holidays together over the past few years and we were excited to do it all again.
It started with an alarm at 2:45am on Saturday morning, waking us up in time for our taxi to the airport. Most of the group had managed a few hours of sleep, with one person not bothering to go to bed.
Once we got on board the plane, we shuffled our 12 seats so that the children could sit together. I ended up in the middle of a block of three seats. A woman in a purple tracksuit was one of the last people to board, making her way to the vacant seat next to me and sitting down with a bump. She lowered her table, pulled out a bottle of Budweiser and started glugging it, before letting out a mild groan and scrabbling around in the seat pocket to find the vomit bag. It was barely 6:30am. As the cabin crew wandered down the aisle to check our seatbelts they saw the beer and asked the woman to put it away. She responded with a slurred, unfocused “ok”. Shortly after, a more senior member of the cabin crew popped by to tell her that she couldn’t travel as she had consumed too much alcohol and wasn’t safe to fly. The woman refused to get off the plane and started swearing at the staff, so the police were called to remove her. Despite being at an airport where I assume police are plentiful, it took a while for three officers to reach us and get on board. It was fascinating to watch them being firm but fair with her in trying to persuade her to leave; they were empathetic but didn’t tolerate abuse. Eventually she saw that there was only going to be one way out and decided to get up and leave. We were delayed, but I was so grateful that I wouldn’t be spending the next three or four hours wondering whether I was going to be puked on.
Zakynthos was hot, with blue sunny skies for the whole week. It’s difficult to tell exactly how hot, as our different weather apps gave very different readings and we didn’t see an old school thermometer anywhere. For most of the week, Apple Weather was telling us that the warmest part of the day was about 31°C whereas BBC Weather suggested it was at least 38°C. Based on how it felt — if we sat doing nothing it felt as though we were slowly melting — I’m inclined to believe the latter.
We stayed at the Villa Ionio Beach House, a restaurant that was recently converted into a seven-bedroom villa with a pool. Situated in Vasilikos on the east of the island, it was perfect for us. The rooms were kept cool with air conditioning and the communal space by the pool never felt crowded, even when all 12 of us were out there. A restaurant and bar were a few steps below us and the beach was a few steps beyond that. We had a small supermarket ten minutes away by foot as well as many different Greek restaurants scattered all around. It was lovely to have a holiday where we didn’t need to hire a car.
Someone brought along a Soundcore 3 speaker for the trip which performed superbly. We had a constant stream of music as we sat around the pool. As well as lots of greaIt was lovely to have the time to sit and listen
On the first morning I got up early to head out with my eldest son for a 10km run. I asked Strava to plot us a route, just as I had done many times before in many different places. My understanding is that Strava routes are based on the popularity of the roads taken by runners that have been there before us, so I had no hesitation in following the directions. The confidence we felt started to evaporate as soon as the route told us to leave the road and head through a field. Halfway across the field we were met by a ditch, wide enough to require us to take a run up in order to jump it. A few kilometres later, we found ourselves blocked by a locked gate with no easy way around it.
We backtracked and tried to take a different route to get us where we wanted to go. At home this faffing around would be no problem, but I had started to struggle in the heat. When we came across our second locked gate, we decided to call it a day. But then trouble hit. For some reason I couldn’t quite work out our return route. After stopping for the fifth or sixth time to look at the map, I realised my clothes were completely soaked with sweat and I had shivers and goosebumps, which didn’t seem right given how hot it was. So we ended up heading towards the sea to try and run along the beach, taking the shortest — and surest — path home.
Across the week I got out for a few more runs, but limited them to a much more manageable 5–8km, which was more than enough in the heat.
The pool area of the villa had an outdoor feature of some glass windows that look like they have been recovered from another building, which you can see in the distance in the main photo on their website. They seemed to be problematic for the local birds, who kept flying into them. The first time it happened I was sitting on my own on the porch, tapping out some weeknotes, when there was a massive thud on the glass. I wasn’t sure whether the bird was going to live or die; it just sat there, opening and closing its beak. I tried to help it with a little water in the lid from a plastic bottle, but it wasn’t interested. After half an hour or so, it suddenly gathered itself and flew off into the trees.
We ate well, and a lot. On a couple of evenings we stayed in for some simple pasta, pitta bread, halloumi and salad but for the rest of the time we dined out for lunch, dinner and the occasional breakfast. The nearby restaurants — Ionio Beach Bar & Restaurant, Vasilikos Garden, Giovanni and Kostas Brother — were lovely and all had very similar food. Bowls of tahini, bread, baked or fried aubergine and courgettes, feta pies, feta covered in honey, baked feta, feta many other ways, Greek salads, spaghetti, more feta, plus all kinds of meat. One evening we ventured to Nikos Beach Bar, which was beautifully set in the neighbouring bay, but it wasn’t worth the extortionate ten minute €50 taxi ride to get there, and another €50 to get back. Sit and Share was excellent for a cooked breakfast, with the kids enjoying chocolate-drenched pancakes. On our last night we went to Skartsofoli which was probably the best food we ate, but also the most expensive. Typically a dinner for 12 of us cost around €230 and included generous starters and main courses, lots of bottled water, a little wine, and a few other drinks too.
Before we started the trip, one of our friends pointed us at the Splid app, which proved to be brilliant. We all downloaded the app, set up a ‘group’ for our trip and added three ‘persons’, each one representing one of the families on the trip. Every time we paid for something on behalf of the group — meals out, groceries from the supermarket, sunbeds — we added it to the app, logging how much it cost (and in what currency), who benefitted from it and who paid. It kept track throughout the trip and then at the end told us how to settle up so that we had all paid the same amount in an equitable way. I think I’ll be using it for any group travel in the future. It’s incredible that it’s free.
Looking out across the sea from the villa you would always spot at least two or three activities happening at once — parasailing, riding on a banana boat or ‘bouncy sea sofa’ thing, or riding a jet ski. They all set off from a spot ten minutes’ walk away along the beach.
I’d never seen a Flyfish before. You either sit on the inflatable parts or lie down in between them and then cling on for dear life as a boat tows you along, with the inflatable leaping into the air. Our boys thought it was amazing.
On a couple of days we booked some private trips through Nefis Travel. The first one started in the late afternoon, taking us by minibus to a beach where we left our shoes and waded out in the shallow water to a glass-bottomed boat. Zakynthos is famous for its sea turtle population and it only took a few minutes before we spotted one, coming up for air before diving down again a couple of times, before considerately swimming directly under our boat. They are indescribably beautiful to see in real life.
On the beach closest to our villa we found one or two simple wooden protection cages for the turtle nests. People seemed to be respectful of the nests and gave them a wide berth.
Our boat stopped at Marathonisi, an island full of turtles that is itself shaped like a turtle. Tourists can hop off their boats and swim in the busy water or grab a drink, ice cream or hot dog from the floating vendor boats. It felt very crowded and a little inappropriate to be so close to the nesting ground of an endangered species, particularly when the children found that the snorkelling area was filled with litter.
After a little time on the island, we got back on the boat to speed around some nearby caves, swim in the water and watch the sunset, which was beautiful. The limestone rock that makes up the cliffs around Zakynthos is stunning, with clear layers of sediment visible in every cross-section.
Later in the week we took another minibus and boat trip, this time to take in the other ‘must see’ parts of the island. Our first stop was the small and busy Northern Xigia Beach, reached by some steep steps and a slope. It is famous for the water being fed from sulphurous springs in a nearby cave which apparently are also rich with natural collagen.
Despite only having a handful of sunbeds and umbrellas, the beach was staffed by someone who radioed food and drink orders to the cafe at the top of the cliff. They then used an ingenious method to get the order down to the beach.
After an hour or so and a stop for lunch, we went on our way to find our boat.
Nearly all of the children thought that this part of the trip was their favourite. We hopped on board and then powered our way across the sea, landing with a series of massive thuds as we hopped one wave crest after another. Our captain was a skilled driver, taking the boat through ridiculous turns as we sped past rocky outcrops and coves. It was like being on a fairground ride without any rails.
We sped on to the cove containing the wreck of the Panagiotis, a ship that was beached and abandoned in a storm on 2 October 1980. People are no longer allowed onto the beach, giving the ship a little more life as a major tourist attraction. Compared to the images that I had seen online, the ship was in an advanced state of decay. Our tour guide told us that his father had worked for the coastguard at the time of the sinking and confirmed stories that the ship was carrying a vast amount of cigarettes, most of which were taken by the people that arrived first on the scene. Apparently, cigarette sales were down on the island for quite some time after the wreck took place.
The colour of the water around the coves in this area was stunning. The eroded limestone cliffs produce a fine white sand which turns the sea a brilliant blue. It was incredible to look at, and to swim in. Fish darted all around.
In the middle of the week, my fabulous wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. Our August wedding date means that we’ve been making a habit of celebrating on various summer holidays over the years. It was lovely to be with our family and friends for the evening.
And just like that, it was all over so quickly. Thankfully our trip home was uneventful and didn’t require any police intervention. England seems to have suddenly turned autumnal while we’ve been away. I’m not quite ready to put the flip-flops and shorts away yet.
Next week: Back to work.