The week before Easter we left Athens and went back to Zante for the first time in four years. I can't remember if we planned it that way, but Easter is a good time to arrive anywhere in Greece - the weather's good, and people are out and about, dressed in their finest. A burst… Continue reading A Long-delayed return to Zante
Category: Zakynthos
Back in Zak
Denmark was three different places in three nights. Russia was six in fourteen. A lot of Lego and Museums of Great Revolutionary Wars. In Russia, furthermore, there were also side trips to Veliky-Novgorod (south of St. Petersburg, on the way to Moscow) and Smolensk (west of Moscow, on the way to Belorussia, not that we… Continue reading Back in Zak
The end of a long road
It’s nearly time to leave Zákynthos. Our year-and-a-half-long odyssey to Europe is nigh-on over. What a time we’ve had! And yes, I can feel another book about Zákynthos, or better, about the whole trip, coming on. View of Ναύαγιο When we got back here, after leaving Ireland, and spending six weeks in France and Italy, people… Continue reading The end of a long road
Giostra di Zante
One day on our previous visit to Zante two years ago we noticed workmen clearing up a large amount of sand on Solomós Square, the main square in Zákynthos town. We went about our business and thought no more about it. Reading the local paper the next day I found out what the sand had been for:… Continue reading Giostra di Zante
Zante’s French connection
Of all the nationalities I could have been if I wasn’t Irish, French would have suited me best. That has nothing to do with my French-sounding surname, which actually comes from a far-flung corner of county Mayo on the west coast of Ireland, but rather from the affinity I've pretentiously felt with the language and… Continue reading Zante’s French connection
Walking the sage-scented hills of Marathiá, Zakynthos
After dropping one pair of Aussies off (Alexander and Eoin, at school), we proceeded to the crossroads at Lithakiá to pick up another. Louise, who runs the Zakynthian tradition, food and culture facebook group, and her sister Julie, had arranged to meet us there and come walk the Marathiá coastal trail with us this fine May morning. In fact, it'll soon… Continue reading Walking the sage-scented hills of Marathiá, Zakynthos
Zakynthos Update
Okay, this is going to be more of a newsy blog with an update of all the little bits and pieces that we've been up to lately. We've been here just over five weeks now, and Spring is in full bloom. There was a frenzy of activity in the fields about a week ago with… Continue reading Zakynthos Update
Protomagiá at last
Mayday in Greece The first of May is known as Protomagiá (Πρωτομαγιά) in Greece. People get the day off work, kids get the day off school, and everyone heads out into the countryside to pick flowers. Knowing far better than to ask Alexander and Eoin if they wanted to go for a walk after breakfast, we… Continue reading Protomagiá at last
Making ladotiri – the local cheese of Zakynthos
Our good friend, Yorgo, is a self-sufficiency guru. Not in the modern "let's escape consumerism and go back to our roots" kind of way but out of tradition, inclination, and to a large part, necessity. A lot of the people around here have never escaped from their "roots" and take pride in growing a lot… Continue reading Making ladotiri – the local cheese of Zakynthos
A Morning Walk around Kalamáki
We parked on the edge of Kalamáki near the beachfront hotel that probably wouldn’t get planning permission anymore, and walked around it to get to Crystal Beach. Had the hotel taken its name from the beach, or vice versa? With the sun right in our faces, we tramped along the sand, appreciating the fact that there wasn’t… Continue reading A Morning Walk around Kalamáki
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