If you have been wondering what a family trip to Zakynthos looks like with all the ups and downs, I will try to describe it to you in the next few paragraphs.
The end of May, the beginning of June - the last week of school, all students are fighting for grades, giving the last atoms of strength and can't wait for the holidays. For me, it is also a period of researching the sites of all possible travel agencies, reading comments, travelogues, tips on places that are possible for holidays, but also those that I am pretty sure will wait for some other time. I knew one thing, I really want to go to the sea as soon as possible. I also browsed through all the catalogs that were in the agency where I was on practice (there are quite a few) but everything that would fit into the budget and other conditions was already taken. So the choice fell again on the Last Minute offer. For the last 3 years I have been vacationing with my family in Leptokarya, although I adore Leptokarya this year I wanted the destination to change. My mother and I decided on the choice as before. It somehow works by mom sending a link along the way and adding “What do you think? Look at this ... ”, I send an inquiry, pass on the information to her And then we decide if that's it. This year, the desired Corfu escaped us by a hair, so we were subsequently attracted by the price of Zakynthos, and somehow planned but still unplanned, we paid for a holiday in Zakynthos in the popular summer resort for young people Laganas.
Until then, I knew about Zakynthos, hmm almost nothing but pictures of the famous Navajo beach. Before the payment we read the basics, what was most important was that the sea is warm, and that there is a place to walk and what to see.
11.6. We set off for Belgrade, where, as before, we rest with our relatives for one night and continue the next day. Usually it will be the next evening, but this year it was the next day at 11am. The detail that my mother, fortunately, omitted is that it takes a very long time to travel to Zakynthos, but what is there is. We said goodbye to our uncle, got on the bus and our adventure officially began. Luckily, it's the pre-season, so my mom, brother and I each made ourselves comfortable in 2 seats.
The road through Serbia passed quite quickly, and before sunset we entered Macedonia. We passed Macedonia and at the border I see the inscription Welcome to Greece. It is already dark, I wave off for Leptokarya and continue reading the book because everyone is already asleep, we are the only driver of the moon that lights our way and I am awake. The first rays of the Greek Sun awaken the other travelers. As it usually beats, there is a spontaneous story with other passengers. I find out that this gentleman from Secija travels this way very often. Namely, he is a professor at the University of Patras. Until then, I did not know that Patra was a sister city with our Banja Luka.
The sound of still sleepy yawning is mixed with delight because we are just crossing the longest suspension bridge in the world, RIO Antirio, which is 2880m long and connects the Peloponnese with the rest of Greece. After another hour of driving we arrive at the port. We get off the bus and breathe in the morning freshness of the Ionian Sea.
We decided to stretch our legs, I stop at one bench while my mom and brother, like many others, go in search of the toilet. I sit on a bench, have a sandwich for breakfast And while the rising sun caresses my sleepy face I think of…. he doesn't think at all, I just enjoy the moment.
The ferry is coming soon, okay this miracle seems huge to me, maybe because I'm riding it for the first time.
We board and set sail slowly. During the drive of about an hour, we just sat down to peek at every corner. The last one we left the open part at the top, just as we came out I realized that we would be landing soon and that this was Zakynthos in front of us. After breaking through the crowd at the exit, we found ourselves on the ground of the southernmost island of the Ionian Sea. We are separated from Lagans by another 15 minutes of driving, which, along with an interesting guide's story, flow quickly. The bus is now already passing through the streets of Laganas, stopping every few meters so that all passengers can get as close as possible to their villas. What we all realized is that this place is really full of cafes, restaurants, but mostly clubs… We were the last to go out and stay in Villa Lefka.
Not very kind host gives us the key to the studio. Immediately upon entering our tired smiling faces lose their smiles. We see that this where we are does not match that description from the internet. Instead of the paid 1/3 of the studio, we are in the 1/2 studio in which an extra bed is somehow tucked. In the end, the unconditional kitchen turned out to be a good thing, because if it was more conditional, they would certainly spend more time there, and they would not try so many different dishes. While we are still quite disappointed with what we see, our agency representative Ljubiša is knocking on our door.
His monologue reads: “Hello, are you the Kos family? Everything is OK? See you. ", I didn't even have time to say:" Good afternoon ", and that man has already disappeared. There is some good in every evil, so here too, unlike our neighbors, we had water from day one. And this Ljubiša, in fact, is a great example for me of how a worker in tourism should not behave. We decided not to let anything spoil our vacation, so we didn't even think too much about the situation in the room, we spend the least time there anyway. Although we traveled 24 hours, we changed our clothes and headed to the beach which is fortunately only 100m away. We walk slowly along the hot sand, looking for a good cafe and free deck chairs.
We decided to spend the first day in the loungers of the Sea Site bar. Since the three of us are the only ones who speak English, I expect my communication with all possible workers to start right now. This time I was lucky, I went to order, but she said, "You can on ours." I don't even need to mention that we spent all our days right there. But I should definitely mention that the beautiful Daniela helped us a lot, she gave us all the information we did not get from our representative, but more than that. There was always a warm smile and conversation that later grew into a friendly one. We could hardly wait to get into the water. Step by step I enter the surprisingly warm Ionian Sea. The hills of sand formed by the waves at the bottom come as a foot massage. The beach as well as the bottom is sandy and very suitable for all generations. The shoal is very long and the only drawback is that you get quite tired until you reach a depth where you can swim. But also shallowing in the shallows sometimes comes in handy.
After returning from the beach and taking a shower, it was time for the first evening walk in Laganas. Holidays are even more dear to me because only then do we all walk together every night, somehow it is the time of year when we actually get closer. After about 5 minutes of walking we reach the main street. This street has little to compare. It is only in the evening that you can see how many different, so-called, catering facilities there are.