Zante. The island requires a car or a motorbike and willingness to travel!
Holidays in Zante
Do not take Zante for an island where you just lie on a beach, relax and that’s it! The things Zante offers are so many that it dares you to explore it. So, the best idea is to have your own means of transportation
Zante is full of attractions
The best view in the town ofZanteis from Bohali. There, you can relax and drink your coffee under the castle. In the square, there is the Church of the Life Giving Spring. Going to Bohali, you arrive in Stranis Hill. It is a magnificent location. Here Dionysios Solomos wrote the Hymn to Freedom.
The mausoleum of Solomos, Kalvos and Zakynthi is located in thesquareofSan Marco. Here is the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of All Saints. In 1614, in this square, the Rebellion of the populace took place. It was the first social revolution inEurope, when the populace burned the Golden Book (libro d’oro) of the nobles.
In the town ofZanteis the second most important museum of post-Byzantine art inGreece. A visit there, is something like a call to visit the old churches of Zante, where you can see great icons. Particularly worth, are the images of the Virgin andSt. Johnthe Baptist in the parish of St. Lazarus.
A visit to thechurchof St. Dionysiusis like a call for your soul. For those who originate fromCrete, the most important Church is in Gaitani, a lowland village about 3 kilometers from the main town. In the temple of the Almighty is kept the holy relic of St. Joseph Samakos, in honor of which so many Cretans are called Sifis (the Greek equivalent to Joseph). But Zante residents refuse to give the holy relic to the Cretans,.
A walk in Zante
Map of Zante: You open it before your eyes, and you begin! From the town ofZante, you take the road to the north until you findKatastariVillage. It is the biggest village in Zante. It’s a beautiful village beneath the mountains and above the sea. Its port, Alykes, is one kilometer away. There, is a pure blue sea with beautiful sand. Twenty to thirty years ago, here were salt pans from where they produced salt.
Above Katastari, at approximately 2 km away heading to Volimes, you find yourself in Hartata. Here is a stone – built, Byzantine monastery, the monastery ofSt.John the Baptist. It is abandoned, except for one monk from Kefalonia.
SPA in Zante
Five kilometers away from the monastery, continuing in the new coastal road that connects the city of Zantewith Volimes, a beach you should visit is Xigia. The road has many turns, but it is paved and fairly wide. This spot is not preferred by Greeks the same as Germans and French, who have discovered it and come here for the spa. Through the rock, water with sulfur comes out to the sea and the whole creek seems like it has had milk dissolved in the water. If you come down in August noon, the air brings a sense of brimstone in your nose. This water is amazingly refreshing. You get inside tired and you come out full of energy. Not to mention that it gives you the soft skin of a baby. On the spot where water comes out from the rock, it feels cooler than the sea temperature in summer while warmer in winter. Of course, you have to be able to swim because the sea here is very deep.
Zante – Kefalonia
Continuing north, you reach St Nikolaos, a nice place and a beach with clear water. If you wish to stay here, there are studios and a small hotel. Many people come here, take the ferry, go to Kefalonia to worship St Gerasimos and return the same day in Zante. That means that you are able to combine rides between two islands easily if you take the ferryboat from theportofSt Nikolaosof Volimes.
In St Nikolaos you will find traditional taverns. You can order delicious rabbit you’ve never tasted before. The rabbits are local. They let them roam freely across the islands and then they go and catch them.
I do not remember who has made the translation of the Sonnets of Zante by Edgar Allan Poe. But, I dedicate to you as a farewell to theislandofHyacinth, the Flower of theLevant, the Flower of the East.