This won't be a fully detailed blog of this holiday as so much of it would be the same as our week here last year and in 2008, so feel free to go back through time and read those. Yes it was great to go back and with the same friendsL&K and great to see the Clio Hotel family again as they make us feel like old friends rather than just customers! Not so good is the inadequacies of Greek plumbing and the very small shower stall and waving curtain that nearly always gets stuck to my ample frame, but the power and temperature control of the shower is great so minor irritations are easily ignored.
The highlights of the week are as follows....
Tuesday 23rd
It was heavy rain when we left the UK, so we were all looking forward to our week in the sun, but getting off the plane was like stepping into a furnace and that's how it stayed for the whole week, 34-36C every day and dropping to about 25C at night....phew! We ate at the hotel and stayed for quiz night which was really daft but amusing and out of the five teams we came second and presented with two bottles of wine.
Wednesday 24th
We discovered that today is St Dennis's Day, the patron saint of Zakynthos who although he lived some 300 years ago still walks the streets daily to help the residents. So twice a year he is removed from his tomb presented with new slippers and paraded through the streets! The four of us bought coach tickets for transport into Zante town to join in the celebrations, which was really good and processions, marching bands, priests and dancers walked the streets while on the marina the fireworks kept going off and the big ships sounded their hooters very noisily. Only problem being K stepping back onto L's foot and bending back her big toe nail ouch ouch ouch!
Thursday 25th
Today we got out a hire car and ventured to Gerakas famous for the Caretta Caretta (Turtles) but we didn't actually step onto the beach as L didn't want to get any sand near her toe now sporting a couple of plasters. We wouldn't have seen any Caretta Caretta anyways as they said they are all nesting under the sand and under huge obvious protective marker frames. Then onto Argasi where we found a lovely restaurant and had lunch. Next stop was Keri where we admired the views and light house while having an ice cream break. We did try to stop at Macherado Monastery which should have been open for us to look around but unfortunately was not so we headed back along lots of tiny roads through small villages.
Friday 26th
All we did today was sunbathe or move to the shade and back again, me with my BeBook and hubby with his crossword book and L&K with their books.....we were saving our energies for Greek Night which was just as good as last year in fact probably identical to last year, even to the Ouzo dance that hubby did.
Saturday 27th
L's birthday, so hubby and I arrived before them at breakfast so I could put her card and inflatable cake on the table...she was surprised and it really made her giggle. Soon after we came back to our rooms L&K came to show us the beautiful basket of fruit and champagne that had been left in their room with a birthday card signed by the whole hotel family. I had to confess that I had emailed ahead to tell them today was her birthday, what a great present from them! We walked the short distance into Alykes, sent the men into a pub to wait for us and we went souvenir shopping while L's phone bleeped continuously with greetings from family and friends. Then for the evening we met in the hotel bar to drink champagne and then into town for dinner. I had also taken with a musical candle holder but struggled to get it to play happy birthday until hubby fiddled with it and even then it croaked quite a bit, very funny. Also while we sat there another procession went by, this time from various countries....L asked me if I had arranged this too (joke) to which I took all the credit of course.
Sunday 28th
Unfortunately L said she was feeling a bit unwell today and couldn't go far from her hotel room, so we all stayed and did little. In fact we all ate little too which isn't a bad thing although we all carried on drinking water by the gallon. L&K stayed in the hotel all evening but insisted that hubby and I went out to eat, which we did, but came back with two large bags of crisps for L as I was worried her salt levels shouldn't drop in this heat and she said she really enjoyed them and they didn't upset her stomach more which was good.
Monday 29th
L feeling much better today so after breakfast we took a slow walk from Alykes to Alykanas which takes about half an hour each way along the river. Found a lovely beach bar (run by a cheeky Glaswegian) and took about 2 hours over our lunch break, mostly people watching. The hotel dad had given us two bottles of wine per couple (as he has done each holiday) but with the quiz bottles we were worried that three bottles each would take our suitcase over it's 20kg maximum so we sat on the balcony of L&K's room to drink two of them....actually they are not the best wines so quite a bit of it went down the sink. So at least only four to carry back instead of 6.
Tuesday 30th
All too soon it's the end of our holiday and time to pack and fly home! Thankfully we didn't need to leave the hotel till 4:30pm and they kindly said we could keep our rooms till we left, so another morning of sunbathing then after lunch it was showers and throwing everything into our suitcase and backpacks then home!
The UK was bloody freezing when we got back!!!
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