http://www.travel-to-zakynthos.com/images/map/zakynthos-map.gif

Zakynthos is the southernmost and third largest in both size and population of the Ionian Islands. It is situated 8,5 nautical miles south of Kefalonia and 9,5 nautical miles west of the Peloponese and approximately 300 kilometres west of the capital of Greece, Athens. Its geographical position ensures easy travel to the other islands and even the mainland of Greece. A short journey across the Peloponese brings one to the ancient city of Olympia, the birthplace and original venue of the Olympic Games. Due to the islands location, it is an ideal base to link up to the larger cities of Greece such as Patras, Athens and Thessaloniki.

An island full of contrasts, Zakynthos consists of mainly woodland, with an abundance of pine tree covered mountains and fertile plains. In the north, east and south numerous picturesque beaches can be found, whereas in the west the imposing, rocky landscape has a number of sea caves such as the famous Blue Caves on the north-west of the island.

The climate in Zakynthos is mild mediterranean with both heavy rainfall during the winter months and brilliant sunshine in the summer. The rich vegetation is probably due to this, and has resulted in the nicknames of Fior di Levante (Flower of the East) and Iliessa (full of woods) by the Venetians and Omiros respectively.

It is productive island agriculturally, supported mainly by the cultivation of olives, raisins, citrus fruits. Apart from this, the main source of local income is from the recently developed business of tourism. The island has a wealth of history as for many centuries it was the crossroads for numerous nations and cultures.

http://www.harrys-60-greek-islands-guide.com/greece-travel-greek-islands-maps/ionian/map2_zakynthos_zante.gif

CHORA
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The Shipwreck
http://www.pbase.com/dead_poet/image/28176322.jpg

this island have a very Venesian atmosfere, the cenary is amazing, just beatiful!! this is not the big island of ionians correct? Corfu is the bigest 1 supose.

Have a swim at the wide sandy beaches in the company of sea turtles, go snorkelling or scuba diving between rocks and in underwater caves.

Take a sailboat out or go surfing. Make a trekking-tour in the mountain-areas.

Enjoy the great weather on the sunniest island in the Mediter-ranean, and let yourself be swept away by the rhythms of Zakynthian life, joining the hospitable people of this island. Welcome to my home island of Zakynthos my favorite place on earth!

http://www.travel-in-greece.net/zakynthos/zakynthos.gif
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/gallery/2001/01/29/zakynthos.jpg
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Gorgeous.

very nice !

http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/places-and-sights/_more2001/_more10/Greece-Zakynthos-aka-Zante-Kianou-Caves-aka-blue-caves-white-rock-JR.jpg

I went snorkeling at this very spot in 2001. Bad ass!

gorgeous place, looks like paradise on earth! :)

Zakynthos - Zante, the southern most of the lonian islands, owes its name to the son of Dardanos, the king of Troy, who according to myth built the first city here. It is also mentioned in "The Iliad". All who came to this island fell under its spell. The Venetians baptized it "the flower of the Orient" (Fior' di Levante). Others gave it just as evocative names like "earthly paradise", and "Perfumed Isle", while Dionysios Solomos, the father of modern Greek poetry and a native son, wrote "Zakinthos could make one forget the Elysian Fields".

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http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/places-and-sights/_more2001/_more11/Greece-Zakynthos-aka-Zante-Navagio-aka-Smugglers-Cove-aka-Shipwreck-Cove-cargo-ship-remains-half-buried-white-sheer-cliffs-1-JR.jpg

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http://www.zanteguru.com/images/ZanteTown/2004StDionysios.jpg

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Some history:


Zakynthos had the misfortune of being leveled by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale in 1953, right when Greece was really beginning its efforts to rebuild its economy and civil society after 10 years of war, occupation, famine, almost total destruction of its infrastructure and, finally, 4 years of bloody civil war. In those 10 years, 2.5 million people died of war and famine and the country was in ruins. The UN relief organizations were still here doing their work and the government had just devalued the drachma.

That was when the Ionian seismic fault line awoke, and, in 3 consecutive massive earthquakes, over 4 days, it left Zakynthos and Cefalonia a pile of burned rubble, never to recover their former grace and beauty. It is almost certain that, had those 3 tremors occurred today, massive amounts of reconstruction funds would have flowed from the Greek budget, the European Union, and the Greek immigrant communities worldwide to rebuild the stricken islands as they were before the earthquake.

In 1953, though, when the country was not even able to feed itself, there was hardly any thought of rebuilding Zakynthos to its pre-earthquake self; the primary concern was providing shelter not preserving architectural grace, and the main economic strategy was jump-starting commerce and agriculture, not rebuilding a traditional tourist attraction. Tourism was not even a glint in anybody's eye in 1953.

So, Zakynthos, the favorite island of the Venetians, the "Fiore di Levante" (the Flower of the East) of the Serene Republic, was lost forever, not only as far as architecture and grace but also in social terms, as a large number of the surviving members of the island's aristocracy fled it. The social effect of the tremors was to put an end to what was, until then, one of the few pockets of a western European-style bourgeois society on Greek soil, one that was developed uninterrupted by Ottoman rule.

Zakynthos was a place of charm and grace, of arts and culture. Dionysios Solomos, the poet who wrote the Hymn to Freedom, whose first two stanzas became the Greek national anthem, and Andreas Kalvos, the poet of Odes, a very important Greek poem, were born here. These two are credited with playing a major role in helping evolve the Greek language to its present form (the Dante Aligheris of Greece, so to speak) and are considered as two of the greatest Greek poets of modern times.

Solomos composed his 152-stanza poem during the Egyptian Army's 1827 siege of Messolonghi, the town where Lord Byron died a few years before, across the straights, on the mainland shore. Greece's national poet, sitting at his hilltop estate, on Strani Hill above Zakynthos Town, is said to have written his magnum opus with tearful eyes, moved by the sound of the great Egyptian cannons pounding the walls of the heroic town of Messolonghi.

One of the island's homegrown attractions and lasting influences on the rest of the country is its music, the "cantades". Although influenced by the Italian tradition of bel canto, Zakynthian cantades have a distinctive sound, and they celebrate love for women and love for Zakynthos. In older days they were sung in the street, by bands of wandering singers accompanied by guitars, sometimes under the window of someone's object of desire. That was the Zakynthos way of expressing love and admiration in an agreeable manner.

Today cantades can be heard in various restaurants around Bohali, the hilltop suburb of Zakynthos town, and, most recommended, in Arekies, a small, friendly little outdoor tavern, on the coastal road, about 800 m. north of Solomos Square.

Like every Ionian Island, Zakynthos has a Patron Saint. In this case, Saint (Agios) Dionysios, whose preserved body is displayed in his Cathedral, on the harbor. The legend says that the saint, a monk, gave shelter to the assassin of his brother who was being chased by the Turks. Zakynthians are very protective of their Patron Saint: in typical Greek fashion they swear by and at him, alternatively, hundreds of times a day.

In his honor, most Zakynthians are named Dionysios (which, affectionately, becomes Nionios) and Dionysia (ditto, Soula). Some Zakynthians will state, with a straight face, that they don't really believe in God at all, BUT they believe in Agios Dionysios. Go figure, but this is part of the charm of the place.

The eastern part of the island is very accessible, with nice beaches along the coast and the town of Zakynthos in the middle. The western part ends in cliffs that plunge into the deep blue waters of the southern Adriatic and provide some spectacular swimming spots, like the famous Navagio ("Shipwreck") and the lagoon at Limnionas.

In recent years Zakynthos has been associated with the worldwide effort to save the caretta-caretta loggerhead sea turtle from extinction. The unplanned and somewhat grotesque building boom at the Laganas and Kalamaki beaches, geared toward attracting as much of the €100-a-week-including-airfare crowd as possible, has destroyed the turtles' breeding grounds on those beaches raising serious doubts about their future.

The Gerakas beach is the only remaining refuge for the giant beasts, although the locals have started being more conscious lately and there is some active involvement on their part in saving one of the island's natural attractions. The save-the-turtles movement maintains an information center on Solomos Square as well as at various beaches around the island.

cool pics Christos!!

My father's family moved away from Zakynthos and came to Athens after the earthquake in 1953 but I still have many relatives there. I may be biased but I believe it is the nicest island in Greece.

Excellent :okay:

Here is another thread of mine for my home island of Zakynthos. Enjoy! :cheers:
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And what Zakynthos thread is complete without some pictures of beautiful Navagio? :)
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http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/1264/zak156bt.jpg
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I hope you enjoyed! :okay:

The pics aren't working.... all I see is red X.


If you have the time, save the pics to your computer then upload them here: http://imageshack.us/ it should work then.

Ok thanks.

I fixed it!

Jaw dropping photos!
Amazing, simply amazing!

^ Oh my God! A Greek city with green trees and colorful buildings - you're laughing at me, but I really didn't know, at least not like this. It's perfect. It looks almost like a more random version of Rovinj, and some other northern Adriatic towns in Croatia.

The landscape is more impressive though. Those cliffs, wow. I wouldn't want to be in Italy when those mountainsides tumbled into the sea. How many tsunamis must the centuries have brought?

I wish there were more pictures close-up of the downtown buildings. I'm curious to see how they do look.

Anyhow, this is my favorite Greek city so far (sorry Fira, however you spell it. I just call it Santorini, you'll know which I mean). I can relate to this one, finally! It looks a lot like home.

I said something nice about Greece and I didn't even have to force it. :D

@ ZORBA

Excellent photos ! Amazing beauty ! When all is said and done ... these photos speak for themselves

@ Sarajka

You must have missed those threads on Corfu Town (with the AMAZING aerial photos) or Nafplion - Might be able to find them in the categorized topics thread.

^ Oh my God! A Greek city with green trees and colorful buildings - you're laughing at me, but I really didn't know, at least not like this. It's perfect. It looks almost like a more random version of Rovinj, and some other northern Adriatic towns in Croatia.

The landscape is more impressive though. Those cliffs, wow. I wouldn't want to be in Italy when those mountainsides tumbled into the sea. How many tsunamis must the centuries have brought?

I wish there were more pictures close-up of the downtown buildings. I'm curious to see how they do look.

Anyhow, this is my favorite Greek city so far (sorry Fira, however you spell it. I just call it Santorini, you'll know which I mean). I can relate to this one, finally! It looks a lot like home.

I said something nice about Greece and I didn't even have to force it. :D

Well you are looking at Zakynthos) an island in the Ionian Sea which is south of the Adriatic. Zakynthos is right next to the island where I was born- Kefalonia. The Ionian islands are much more lush in general than the Aegean Islands.

^ Oh my God! A Greek city with green trees and colorful buildings - you're laughing at me, but I really didn't know, at least not like this. It's perfect. It looks almost like a more random version of Rovinj, and some other northern Adriatic towns in Croatia.

The landscape is more impressive though. Those cliffs, wow. I wouldn't want to be in Italy when those mountainsides tumbled into the sea. How many tsunamis must the centuries have brought?

I wish there were more pictures close-up of the downtown buildings. I'm curious to see how they do look.

Anyhow, this is my favorite Greek city so far (sorry Fira, however you spell it. I just call it Santorini, you'll know which I mean). I can relate to this one, finally! It looks a lot like home.

I said something nice about Greece and I didn't even have to force it. :D
Glad to see that you like my home island. :)

Zakynthos is an Ionian island(the southern most in Greece) and all of the Ionian Islands are much greener than those of the Aegean.

As for the buildings they reflect the Venetian architecture and influance. After Byzantium fell Zakynthos was conquered by the Venetians not the Ottomans so that is why much of our architecture is slightly different than the rest of Greece.

If you are refering to the red roofs on the houses then you should know that almost all Greek cities and towns have red roofs except for the big cities like Athens, Thessaloniki, etc... who have white flat tops.

The Capital of Zakynthos which is just called "Zakynthos" or "Zakynthos City" was actually destroyed in a major earthquake. Only the Agios Dimitrios Church survived the quake, everything else was destroyed. They rebuilt the city just like it was before. :)

Here is where Zakynthos is located.
http://www.zanteweb.gr/images/greecemap.gif

@Zorba
thank you for the beutiful photos and welcome to agora.
Μιας και είσαι καινούριος θα σου προτείνω (όπως και σε όλους όταν πρωτοεμφανίζονται ) να ρίχνεις μια ματιά στη σελίδα του Christos7
(categorized archive of greek forum cities) όπου υπάρχουν σχεδόν όλες οι προηγούμενες σελίδες για κάποια πόλη η περιοχή της Ελλάδας.

Συγκεκριμένα για τη Ζάκυνθο υπάρχουν ήδη 3 threads .

Μην με παρεξηγήσεις σε παρακαλώ απλά πολλές φωτογραφίες έχουν "παίξει" πολλές φορές και καλό θα ήταν να απαναλαμβάνονται πάλι.
Οπότε την επόμενη φορά που θέλεις να κάνεις ένα post για μια περιοχή ρίχνε πρώτα μια ματιά να δεις αν υπάρχει κάποια σελίδα ήδη και τι φωτογραφίες έχει , και αν έχεις κάτι καινούριο τότε δημοσίευσέ το. :)
καλώς ήλθες και πάλι και καλό φθινόπωρο.


@Sarajka
^ Oh my God! A Greek city with green trees and colorful buildings - you're laughing at me, but I really didn't know, at least not like this. It's perfect. It looks almost like a more random version of Rovinj, and some other northern Adriatic towns in Croatia.

The landscape is more impressive though. Those cliffs, wow. I wouldn't want to be in Italy when those mountainsides tumbled into the sea. How many tsunamis must the centuries have brought?

I wish there were more pictures close-up of the downtown buildings. I'm curious to see how they do look.

Anyhow, this is my favorite Greek city so far (sorry Fira, however you spell it. I just call it Santorini, you'll know which I mean). I can relate to this one, finally! It looks a lot like home.

I said something nice about Greece and I didn't even have to force it. :D

Thank you Sarajka but i guess your are not a frequent visitor of Agora , otherwise all the last months were posted tons of quality photos of various places and islands of Greece with all the kind of green and landscapes.
Dont stack to Cyclades islands only with their beautiful white-blue combination architecture.
I invite you to explore all the places , starting with a look at the archive of greek forum cities.

More precisely about Zakynthos , it is one of the many green islands (together with all the islands of Ionian sea , the sporades islands in central aegean sea , the north aegean islands of thassos,samothraki,lesbos, chios etc , and many of the south aegean sea islands (mostly dodecannese)...
Also there are many many coastal villages and towns very green with clear waters.
The stereotype of dry land stands for some specific places and only , and usually it is cyclades (but that is why they have this special beauty you cant find somewhere else in the mediterranean).

@Zorba
thank you for the beutiful photos and welcome to agora.
Μιας και είσαι καινούριος θα σου προτείνω (όπως και σε όλους όταν πρωτοεμφανίζονται ) να ρίχνεις μια ματιά στη σελίδα του Christos7
(categorized archive of greek forum cities) όπου υπάρχουν σχεδόν όλες οι προηγούμενες σελίδες για κάποια πόλη η περιοχή της Ελλάδας.

Συγκεκριμένα για τη Ζάκυνθο υπάρχουν ήδη 3 threads .

Μην με παρεξηγήσεις σε παρακαλώ απλά πολλές φωτογραφίες έχουν "παίξει" πολλές φορές και καλό θα ήταν να απαναλαμβάνονται πάλι.
Οπότε την επόμενη φορά που θέλεις να κάνεις ένα post για μια περιοχή ρίχνε πρώτα μια ματιά να δεις αν υπάρχει κάποια σελίδα ήδη και τι φωτογραφίες έχει , και αν έχεις κάτι καινούριο τότε δημοσίευσέ το. :)
καλώς ήλθες και πάλι και καλό φθινόπωρο.

Skaros then ime kernoulios. Ime o "Mr.T" omos alaxa to onoma mou. Laio pou afto ine to trito "thread" yia ti Zakynthos yiati ekana thio ala kai tora ine to trito.

^ Oh my God! A Greek city with green trees and colorful buildings - you're laughing at me, but I really didn't know, at least not like this. It's perfect. It looks almost like a more random version of Rovinj, and some other northern Adriatic towns in Croatia.

The landscape is more impressive though. Those cliffs, wow. I wouldn't want to be in Italy when those mountainsides tumbled into the sea. How many tsunamis must the centuries have brought?

I wish there were more pictures close-up of the downtown buildings. I'm curious to see how they do look.

Anyhow, this is my favorite Greek city so far (sorry Fira, however you spell it. I just call it Santorini, you'll know which I mean). I can relate to this one, finally! It looks a lot like home.

I said something nice about Greece and I didn't even have to force it. :D


Boy oh boy Sarajka....

Check out these topics them, I think you will enjoy them and they will enlighten you a bit more:


More Ionian islands (similar to Zakynthos)


Kerkyra (one of my favorite islands...)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=174304

Kefalonia

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=161554


Nafplio, Peloponnesos (one of my favorite cities)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=232271

Meteora, Thessalia

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=176195

Xanthi, Thraki

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=217566

Samos, Aegean Islands

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=177243

Thassos, Aegean Islands (tons of greenary)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=180834

Mytilini, Aegean Islands (my home island)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=181235

Hydra

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=193444

All of them are wonderful, but this one is amazing http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/4407/zak49cp.jpg I loved it so much...

what a wonderful place you live in, amazing.

Boy oh boy Sarajka....

Check out these topics them, I think you will enjoy them and they will enlighten you a bit more:


More Ionian islands (similar to Zakynthos)


Kerkyra (one of my favorite islands...)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=174304

Kefalonia

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=161554


Nafplio, Peloponnesos (one of my favorite cities)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=232271

Meteora, Thessalia

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=176195

Xanthi, Thraki

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=217566

Samos, Aegean Islands

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=177243

Thassos, Aegean Islands (tons of greenary)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=180834

Mytilini, Aegean Islands (my home island)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=181235

Hydra

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=193444


Ahhh! Your home island is beautiful:

http://www.nyloo.com/ast/cov/My/MytiliniMolyvos0015_b.jpg

You see, my God! This is what I love! I didn't know Greece really was like this. I thought it was all like...well...you know how I feel about Athens. :D And it's not because it's Greece, and it's not even that I don't like it so much. I mean, I like cities like Nablus and Amman, etc.

But this is just nice! It's like...more like a place with warm and history and heart and less like a hospital ward.

It's like Croatia, and Bosnia, but different enough that you know it is not in either. It's really good!

The heart, the soul and the vibrancy of a place is not made of RED ROOFTOPS Sarjka ! At least not for me !
One will NOT find the heart, soul and vibrancy UNLESS not willing to go past their own stereotypes, their prejudice, their self inflicted ..propaganda.

ALSO ...

what you may find soulful and beautiful, might leave someone else utterly indifferent. It is all cultural. And also ...Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But projecting our own preferences and judging by our own standards AS IF EXPERTS (be it because of our memories, our upbringing, our religion, or politics, our definition of beauty bacause of the input we get in our homeland, can vary A LOT) the landscape / beauty and ....THE SOUL of other places is - may i say - the least, narrow minded.

And coming back to the thread, I bet a proud inhabitant of a cycladic island could NOT care less for the lack of greenery or the red rooftops. His own home is The most beautiful (in his eyes and the eyes of millions of visitors). It is ALL relative, after all.

^ Accepting that doesn't change what is...everything good...to us. :) I can know that someone from London loves it there, doesn't mean that I have to - or that I have to pretend I do to around him.

For me, red rooves and greenery is warm, and friendly, and...it feels like a real home and not some...desert. Like some...dry carcass crawling with human maggots. Likewise someone from Moscow could look at red rooves and green and think...how primitive.

We all have what we like and what we don't like, and we all understand that not everyone feels the same way. But that doesn't mean we all need to feel the same way, that would be boring. I like this side of Greece, you like it all. You like perhaps some side of Bosnia, I like it all. Things like... "Nothing works perfect in Sarajevo, that's what so great about it". You turn on your water and it takes 10 minutes to get warm, you're angry. I do it, it feels like home.

And I won't not love it just because someone else doesn't. :D

Honestly, Athens does not really represent Greece as a whole as far as the city looks itself. It is a city that had it's historic (neoclassical) areas destroyed, it's a city of mass urbanization and urban sprawl... it's a sea of concrete for the most part. (Although do not get me wrong, it has it's nice parts, it's green areas, it's neoclassical buildings, it's nice suburbs and modern areas, it's coast and beaches)


The picture you posted above can literally be any town in Greece.... The only areas that greatly differs from this are the Clyclades Islands. These are the islands like and around Santorini, they have the white and blue box theme. It's very beautiful in it's own way, but when you go to mainland Greece or the other islands, you find different looks such as red roofs and green villages/towns like the picture.


I am actually suprised you had no idea. You thought all of Greece looked like Athens? Funny enough, speaking in greater terms I think this is a greater reflection of your views on Greek people as a whole. I think you have preconceptions and notions, and have experienced just enough to form an opinion, albeit a negative one. But I think you haven't really tasted Greece nor Greek people. There are plenty of "villages" out there waiting to be discovered, you just haven't discovered them yet. ;) (and I think it would hit alot closer to home than you think...) There is a whole other side of Greece and it's people I don't think you have experienced. Greek people are a passionate people, they are a warm people, they are very tied to family and have a great sense of hospitality. They have big hearts and try to enjoy life.... Each one of us may live or have a house in Athens, but we are all tied to our villages and islands. This is where we go when we have vacation, this is where our families live, this is where the soul of Greece lies. You can see this in any village in Greece. Go to the Ionian Islands if you ever visit again, I garuntee you will love them. Visit Peloponnesos region, go to Naflplio and Ancient Olympia. Visit any town in Central Greece, or Epirus, Macedonia, Thessaly, Thrace.... I think you would be very pleasantly suprised. :) I will create some new threads and find some more pictures to show you. I really think there is a whole new way to discover Greece you just haven't experienced yet. Maybe it can break some of the stereotypes and ideas you have. This is what these forums are for. We can see new places and learn new things. For example, liek I have learned a whole lot about Bosnia from you. I had my own stereotypes and visions of what it was like, but I experienced something pretty different from the pictures and the willingness to learn, to break those preconcieved ideas. We should all do that and try to learn more about each other, not just the things on the surface that seemingly make us so different.

^ Accepting that doesn't change what is...everything good...to us. :) I can know that someone from London loves it there, doesn't mean that I have to - or that I have to pretend I do to around him.


I dont disagree with anything you wrote in your post. BUT there is a slight difference between being prejudiced, biased, simply NOT aware of certain thinks (we cannot KNOW it all) or simply NOT Interested (for all sorts of reasons) and being a self-appointed judge of the beauty or soul of a place.

And I would not have brought it up, if I had not noticed that you seem to stereotypically and rather passionately label places NOT just in terms of beauty (where there can be some element - if only slightly - of objectivity) but also you extend it to far more vague terms like "soul". i find that rather absurd, not productive and pointless.

However, you have every right to do and say what you like.

It just works both ways. What you mind find as soulless, I can also think is the hottest place on earth.

I am in no mission to change anyone's mind (and certainly not yours). Just felt I had to point out the obvious.

Excellent photos!!! Thanks for sharing them with us :okay: By the way, this is the nicest close-up of the famous ship wreck I've seen so far:

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/1952/zak163dh.jpg

:eek2: :drool:

I just viewed these photos of Zakynthos for a second time, and I must say that Zakynthos is quite stunning. I visited there in 2001, against the advice of my cousins who live in Kefalonia lol, remember there is a rivalry between the two neighboring islands.