Today did not start out the best; but it ended up being amazing. We packed for our excursion and went to breakfast. Then we drove I to town to find the meeting place for our pick up. We located the place but parking was I possible. I was driving and it was very stressful. We finally found a tight spot up on the curb on a side street. I thought we were cutting it close on time and I was a little anxious and irritable. It was also very hot and humid so by the time we walked a few clocked right the meeting place we were very sweaty. We stood in what little shade we. Oils find and waited. After 10-15 minutes began to get worried because we still had no word of our transport. We figured out that 2 Luther couple from Canada were also waiting. Ine of their group and I both attempted to contact the travel service with no answer. We were all trying to decided what to do when the pick up was 45 minutes late, when finally, we located a driver who said he was here to pick us up.
We began our trip in a minibus which had one set of seats facing backwards which later caused some issues for some of the group. However, as we wound our way up the mountain, we found our first stop on the excursion at Fountain of life church. There was a spectacular view of the port town.
After spending a few minutes there, we continued on our winding drive to Xigia beach which is sulfur water beach. You could definitely smell the sulphur but the water felt so refreshing after our hot trek so far today. We were able to swim here for scout 30 minutes and then we had to come to us our journey.
Next was Porto Vromi where our driver took us to the head of the line to board the glass bottom speed boat named Spartacus to go to Shipwreck beach. Upon boarding and casting off, the captain explained that the boat was unable to make it to the beach this morning due to strong wind and rough waves. He explained that we were lucky that things had calmed down enough that we would be able to disembark and enjoy the beach.
It was absolutely breathtaking to see the location of the shipwreck in the cove with the high cliffs around. The water was a beautiful color but there was a strong current. The actually shipwreck was cool to see as ir rusts on the secluded beach. The history of the shipwreck is interesting to research. We had a our an hour here in the beach before getting back on the boat.
From the shipwreck beach we stopped along the way back to port at Golden beach and dolphin rock for pictures, although we remained on the vessel.
The absolute highlight of this return to port was the stop at the blue caves where we could jump off the boat, literally, or climb down I to the clear blue-colored water to cool off and if able, do some snorkeling. Thankfully, John had suggested purchasing a snorkeling set this morning. He went first and I stayed on the boat since I am not a confident swimmer. He returned to tell me he was able to see a lot of fish and that they also had life vests. So, I was fortunate enough to enter the water and see some amazing saltwater fish among the rocks. I could also see to the bottom of the sea floor who h was very deep. This was an amazing experience!
After returning to our driver, we headed to the top of the cliffs to view the shipwreck from above. Here John was able to fly his drone and obtain the most awesome footage of the shipwreck beach. We were able to take some pictures fro the one remaining viewpoint since all other areas have been closed due to people falling from the heights trying to get the perfect selfie by not following the safety guidelines that were in place.
Following this stop, we headed to a taverna for lunch. John and I each got sea bream to eat and a Greek salad, as well as house wine. The fish was freshly caught today and was good (even for someone—me—who isn’t a big fish person).
Our stand-in driver, George, who was contacted at the last minute to fill in for the regular driver who couldn’t make it and why pick up was so late, made the trip very enjoyable and informative. He explained that he moved to Zakynthos from Athens when he and his wife were going to have a child. Here they have a large plot of land where his son can have his dogs and enjoy outdoors.
Our excursion ended with a tasting stop of local wine, local alcohol, olive oil, and cheese made by an acquaintance of George. It was delicious and we ended up purchasing several items including 2 bottles of wine, 3 small bottles of alcohol (lemon cello, cinnamon, and one that is more like moonshine), goat cheese, and 3 containers of olive oil. All of this only cost 36€! I asked about the distinction of extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil and regular olive oil and learned it has to do with the acidity of the olives.
We returned to the port town and said good bye to our Canadian companions and driver. By this time it was already around 8pm. So this tour truly was all day (8 hours).
The port town was truly bustling and reminded me of the fair or Ocean City, MD with street vendors and people selling balloons to the kids. It was so hot even at this time, so we stopped for ice cream and of course, John’s cappuccino, before heading back to the car and our Airbnb.
Take aways from today:
Often the end result or experience is worth the wait.
Engage with people you are traveling with, even if they are strangers.
Try something new, like snorkeling or fresh fish.
Extra virgin olive oil has acidity of 0.8% or less. Acidity up to 1.5% is considered virgin olive oil and anything with a higher acidity is considered regular olive oil.
When in this part of the world, always get the house wine.
Engage with the excursion driver because he or she is local and is a wealth of knowledge.
The USA is one of the only places where it’s people are not bi or trilingual. 😫
We have seen that true Greek salad does not contain lettuce!
The island of Zakynthos was named for a young man who Zeus fell in love with. He did not want to be involved with Zeus so he threw himself in the river. (At least this is what we were told. We are unable to verify this on the internet. However, Homer does mention this island in the Iliad and Odyssey.) Apparenrly, this yon g man’s name is related to the word for hyacinth.
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