Last time I wrote about the 5 highlights we saw when sailing along the west coast of Zakynthos. Now I would like to show you the highlights on the east coast, which are numbers 6 to 10 in yellow on the map below:
The island of Zakynthos, also affectionately called Zante, was together with the Ionian Islands the first Greek regions to receive a democratic constitution during the British rule, 1817. In 1864 the Ionian Islands were finally united with Greece.
Zakynthos, like many Greek areas, has known many foreign rulers: Venice (1485–1799), Russia and the Ottoman Empire (1799–1807), France (1807–1814, under Napoleon Bonaparte) and finally the United Kingdom (1814–1864).
Nowadays Zakynthos is truly Greek and the 5 highlights at the eastcoast of Zakynthos that we visited and would like to recommend are:
Laganas Bay
We really liked the bay below the place Laganas! From here we sailed to the Keri caves (see the previous blog no. 5) and there is much more to see here. Like Cameo island.
Cameo Island is a small private island in the bay of Laganas. In the drone video below you see the entrance to Cameo Island which is already special: the wooden walkway that hangs above clear blue water. The gracefully fluttering white cloths that can be seen above the beach create a dreamy atmosphere, especially when they stand out against the blue sky. The island is therefore a popular location for weddings.
I will never forget what happened to us when we dropped anchor in the bay of Laganas. We suddenly heard a puff coming from the water. It turned out to be a sea turtle that swam at the back of the ship and came up for a moment. We were surprised, because we knew that this bay was famous for sea turtles, but we did not expect to see one right away. And it was impressive, because the sea turtle was at least 1 meter long and weighed 80kg, which means that she is certainly more than 50 years old.
The sea turtles have become the symbol of Zakynthos, they are called Caretta caretta and can grow up to 1.20 meters and weigh 100 kg. They mainly eat jellyfish, shellfish and seaweed.
The breeding season runs from May to August. Females come ashore at night to lay their eggs in holes, after which they cover them with sand. A nest can contain up to 100 eggs. After about 60 days the young turtles hatch. They navigate to the sea by following the moonlight.
The caretta caretta is very threatened by pollution, fishing and tourism. We spent 3 days in the bay, saw a sea turtle behind our boat a few times every day, but often 8 tourist boats immediately came to see the turtle very close as it tried to swim to the beach.
And that really irritated us: we were apparently in a great spot where many turtles came swimming by, but because of that, a few times a day tourist boats came around our boat at breakneck speed, all wanting to see the turtles. So, as peaceful as the video with the turtles above was, below you can see what it looked like around it….
Our friends Margo and Robert were also still on board with us and we also had a great time with them on Zakynthos. Of course, we went out for dinner, always tried an ice cream and also had a lot of fun and conviviality!
When we continued sailing with the catamaran, we passed a small island off the coast, Marathonisi, which is also called Turtle Island and if you sailed past it from a certain angle, you understood very well why the island was called that! And what a coincidence in this area!
St. Nicholas Beach
The southeast corner of Zakynthos is a protrusion that is mainly known among beach lovers. Here you will also find many tourists and tourist shops. We found this a less beautiful area, until we came across Nicholas Beach. Because this wide beach was very relaxed with a few nice beach bars. Here we had a coffee with a view of the beach and the Chapel of Agios Nikolaos. A charming church on top of a hill.
In the evening we had a nice meal in a grill restaurant, where they served it very originally in this way, see photo 3 above.
The city of Zakynthos and Bohali
The city of Zakynthos is the largest city and also the capital of the island of the same name with about 13,000 inhabitants. The place was destroyed by a major earthquake in 1953 for almost 90%. The reconstruction took place according to old building plans, which allowed the city to largely retain its old appearance. Zakynthos has therefore become a mixture of old, reconstructed and adapted new construction.
We were especially charmed by the village of Bohali, which is located on the mountain directly above Zakynthos city. From here there was a panoramic view of Zakynthos city, the port of Zakynthos city and the peninsula Vassilikos behind it with the 492 meter high mountain Skopos. which looked out over Zakynthos.
Also a little further into the village of Bohali, you were surprised by small streets and a number of old squares, including this gate.
Xigia Sulfur Beach
On the east coast of Zakynthos is a small hidden beach, Xigia Sulfur Beach. It is set in beautiful surroundings with steep cliffs and the water has healing properties.
There are natural sulfur springs that flow from the cliffs into the sea. This makes the color of the water a beautiful light blue and the water contains collagen and sulfur, which helps to relieve muscle and joint pain, improve skin problems such as eczema and acne, and stimulate relaxation.
We flew the drone over this small cove so you can clearly see the color of the water and the beautiful surroundings with the cliffs!
Fun fact: around 45 seconds into the video, look at the top right corner. There comes a small square white object down from the hotel, diagonally over the green trees you see it go to the bottom left corner on the beach in 10 seconds. You could order ice cream and snacks on the beach at a small stand, but there was no food, it came per order via the white container attached to a nearly invisable zipline, from the restaurant above the steep cliff down. Now that’s a delivery service!
Agios Nikolaos
We also have fond memories of staying at the quay of the village of Agios Nikolaos in the northeast of Zakynthos. The weather was beautiful here again and I took this photo of a small beach that harbor master Dimitri recommended to me. The beach was out of sight in a hidden bay in the corner had beautiful water. This photo looks like it came straight out of a brochure!
We spent 4 days at the quay of Agios Nikolaos among all kinds of other boats at the quay and the special thing was that we had to drop the anchor about 40 meters before the quay and then sail backwards. Let the anchor out about 5 meters from the shore, stop and then secure it with our own lines at the back of the ship. We had not done this method before, but in itself you are just as stable as if you have 2 mooring lines attached to the front. We actually prefer this, because we discovered that some boats had their anchors over the chains of other boats, which makes it a hassle when sailing out and retrieving your anchor. So if all the boats are close together, this is not our preference, but if there are no mooring lines like here on the quay, you have no choice.
The mooring with electricity and water was free, provided you ate at the restaurant run by the sister of the Dimitri. We did that twice with great pleasure.
We also cycled around the area, which gave you a beautiful view of the island that lay in front of the boulevard and quay of the town.
In short, we enjoyed the island of Zakynthos! There was so much to see, both on the west coast and on the east coast, we hope you also enjoyed reading the 2 blogs!
