We spent the very first week of September 2005 on the last member of the Ionian Islands, Zakynthos. We chose a hotel in Planos right next to the popular resort, Tsilivi which has the clearest waters on the island shown by blue flags.

All the six buildings of Hotel Caravel are located right on Planos beach, 6 km out of Zakynthos town. You can find the website of the hotel at www.caravelzante.gr where you can also take a 3D tour of the beach, the reception and the rooms.

The hotel has its own beach in a nice sandy bay, it is only slightly sloped, the water is turquoise and crystal clear: just ideal for our two-and-a-half year old daughter and for us too! On the south part though the sea is darker as pebbles and stones cover the seabed: you shouldn't try walking in the water there.

We asked for a room looking over the sea and got room 304 upstairs building Hera. There was a nice garden in front of us with a palm tree, the sea was about 40-50 m, and only some trees "disturbed" our full view.

To the left from our balcony we could see one of the main buildings in front of which the pool was located, the playground and the part of the garden where there were sunbeds for guests having a passion for lying in the sun or rather preferring the shade.

To the right there was the sea everywhere: turquoise and darker greenish blue during the day and the nice colors shown in the picture at sunrise. We never pulled in the curtains for the night so that we could see the big Neptune all through the night!

We went for a swim right on our first night but Dora just wouldn't go in the sea with us: it took her a whole day to try walking in it! We also needed a trick to make her forget her fears: we showed her how interesting it was to throw pebbles in the water and then find and pick them up. We pretended not to be able to see the pebbles so every time she needed to show us where the pebble was... After that we were just bound to win!

The next step was bouncing in the water which Dora seemed to have a passion for: she welcomed every jump with a hearty laughter. First she found the water rather cold but she soon got used to it and from then on she was only interested in playing.

She especially liked when some breakers arrived in the trace of boats passing along the coast: she jumped even higher and laughed even louder: she was not afraid of waves at last!

Then she was even willing to sit in her boat but somehow she still felt her waterproof boat much safer. She liked when we pushed her boat around and to one another, we made her rotate or swam with her.

When we made her try the other boat that let water come in, she said we should bring that boat next time too, still she preferred the old one that we had also used in Crete the year before. She hated when salty water got into her eyes and ears, so we avoided playing wild games.

What she loved from the very first minute was playing in the sand! We bought her a beach set and she played with it alone for a long time but first she made us bring the water she needed from the sea. Then she soon became self-serviced in this respect too, she just loved sitting and playing with the wet sand.

But sometimes she was upset by the sand covering her body: first she told us to take her to the shower to wash it down, then she used the sea for this purpose. She took great care in washing down every inch of her body and always told us to do the same when she noticed there was sand on our skin.

The third day we went paddle-boating in the morning. First Dora was not fond of the thing at all but when she realized it was a rather safe activity she just smiled and laughed all the way. We visited the beach of Tsilivi too and recorded our way back on video.

We took this close shot of our block from the sea. Our room was upstairs, the second from the left.

There was no day without going to the playground: Dora loved the slide even though it was the first time she had tried it in her life! She climbed the steep stairs alone and threw herself down without thinking, laughing or talking loudly all the time! We could hardly make her stop, she would run around the slide even in the dark!

There were two slides, four swings, a spring-motorbike, a see-saw and a roundabout with four different animal figures: she went only a round and then immediately wanted to sit on the next... Hardly had she sat on something when she was already thinking about the next thing to try and the main question for her was that how many times she should go on the slides... Haggling was just impossible with her: she always made sure to have the last word...

One evening we sat on a horse-carriage to go along the main streets of Planos and Tsilivi: Dora loved it too! If you click on the picture you can also see the horse and more from the street too. It refers to all the pictures: clicking on them you can see enlarged versions with more detail.

On the dawn of the fourth day we were woken up by thunder and lightning unfortunately. The rain stopped in the morning, still the beach was not really inviting with its wet sand... So we rented a car and toured the romantic northern part of the island full of winding roads. Our first stop was Cape Schinari, the northest point of Zakynthos. We had a look at the windmills and the lighthouse.

From the square in front of the windmill stairs take you down right to the shore. From the first terrace there is a nice view over the sea: a great white cliff with greenish blue water to the left, and several caves hollowed out by the sea to the right. It's worth spending a few minutes here but our next destinations looked even more promising!

The following stop was the famous Shipwreck Bay also called Navagio surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. The rusty wreck is the remains of a smuggling boat abandoned by her crew, and was left on the beach as a tourist attraction to make this bay even more memorable. The colors of the water are amazing: all kinds of sapphire shades!

The beach can only be accessed by boat but from above you will have an unforgettable view beyond belief! Amazing colors of the the water meeting the rocks, breathtaking depths and heights, still you are not frightened at all! We only took pictures from a place with bars but you can take even more beautiful pictures walking along the edge of the cliff which looked just too risky with Dora with us.

We took this picture looking down to the left, though you can also see another bay to the south with its dark blue waters. People only seem as ants and huge boats are just like toy ships being looked from the edge of the cliff of about 200 m's height!

Looking down to the right the afternoon sun makes the white cliff almost blinding white, the sea is wonderfully blue, but pictures are just not able to convey the kind of beauty you experience at this place, you must see it yourself! Only the ships shown in the picture might help you realize the actual sizes!

We made a video too and Dora took control with excitement as always... She was not at all surprised by the great height, she didn't feel a straw of fear while we were holding her hand all the time even though the bars were made safe for small children too.

The bars almost ruin the picture still they make it possible for you to see the head of a child, which perhaps helps you realize the height we stood at. Dora just said: "Look Mummy, there are some toy ships on the water!"

Then we headed for Porto Vromi along the winding roads of the wild rocky western coast of the island. Once we stopped to enjoy another breathtaking view. There were no bars this time and I held my husband's hand out of pure reflex: he took pictures right from the edge as if he didn't realize it's possible to fall down!

What we saw to the right was just amazing again, but the photo just can't show the wildness of the place unfortunately! Dear reader: if you are in Zakynthos, remember the winding road to Porto Vromi: if you see a path somewhere along the road, just stop immediately: the unforgettable experience is guaranteed!

And here is Porto Vromi, one of the few natural ports along the wild rocky western coast. We went down right to the shore but the picture from above shows so much more.

The weather was rainy the next day and although there was hardly any wind, our cruise got cancelled unfortunately! We were lucky enough to have a second chance on our last day as we found a local travel agency offering the same boat trip (it was the 5th try!) We wanted a smaller fast boat with glass bottom not going around the whole island, only the northern part so that Dora wouldn't find the voyage too tiring.

Our ship was named Stella Oceanis and started her voyage from Zakynthos town to the north. Her two main destinations were Shipwreck Bay and the Blue caves. The organizers promised two hours on the beach instead of the other ships' one hour but somehow the cruise started an hour later so we only had a short hour at Navagio, unfortunately... Still we were more than happy just to be able to see it!

Our boat made way farther from the coast overtaking all the other boats, so we could see the dual feature of the island: lower and greener in the east, higher and relatively bare in the west. The picture above also shows our hotel photographed from the sea, while on the photo to the right you can see the windmills at Cape Schinari that we had visited two days before.

On our way to Navagio we only passed along the Blue Caves also called Blue Grotto, the ship only stopped when we were coming back. Somehow it was windier here than in other parts of the island, so we couldn't really see the amazing colors of the sea everybody talks about, for the waves. Still I was hoping to be able to swim inside the caves on our way back.

Dora really enjoyed the cruise. She watched the scenery and the boats, she invited her father to the open deck for a walk quite a few times: upstairs, downstairs, round and round until Daddy got really tired... We were with British tourists and everybody was laughing at Dora and her double-sized father as it was clear who played the leading part despite the sizes... She was talking and asking questions loudly all the time, so the two hours passed really quickly.

It was amazing to see this wonderful bay again now from the sea! We had a completely new visual angle, the emphasis was not the same. We already knew how the bay looked from above so perhaps we had a different vision of this incredible place. The picture shows our boat.

We spread our beach towels right next to the water as our ship was the first to arrive. We knew where to look for the place from where people were looking down, although it looked so tiny that we could hardly spot it. We had to use maximum zoom to take a photo of it! Looking upwards was just as much amazing!

I immediately went for a good swim while Dora and Peter rather stayed on the beach. Dora especially liked playing with the white pebbles spreading them everywhere on our towels... While I was swimming in so far, Dora managed to spill a good amount of peach juice on herself so I found the towels under siege when I came back...

While we were enraptured by the scenery with Dora, Peter went to explore the wreck itself, but it turned out to be a rather painful experience as rounded pebbles surprisingly were sharp enough to hurt your feet! The pebbles got smaller and smaller as you got closer to the wreck still you had to get there somehow!

As our beach time was coming to the end, Peter went back to the ship to have a look at the water through the glass bottom. It was beautiful but the glass was not at its clearest state so it was not worth taking pictures there. So he decided to take a photo of me and Dora instead as we were trying to get back to the boat my feet sinking into the pebbles up to my ankles at every step. It must have been quite a funny scene...

This picture was taken right before leaving Shipwreck Bay. The sea looks amazing, isn't it? Almost hard to believe! There were four big ships at the bay at that time with hundreds of people. We had been promised to spend a whole hour before the crowd arrived but it remained only a dream as we started from Zakynthos exactly an hour late...

Nobody counted the people on board, our English guide just stood at the back looking if anybody was waving on the beach wishing to join us but nobody did that. We could cast a last glance at this incredible place we will never forget for sure!

On the way back we stopped at the Blue Caves but couldn't get close enough to see those amazing colors because of the waves, unfortunately. I also had to give up swimming inside the caves as it was said to be too dangerous in the waves. Bad luck! Dora was sleeping all the way back laying her head in my lap while our boat made way right along the coast.

This picture was taken on our last dinner. The hotel had a really nice dining room, there were several kinds of delicious dishes every time with fruits, cookies and ice cream too. I had hoped that Dora would try new foods too but it was not the case at all... She ate quite a little, water melon carried off the palm for her just like the year before...

Our last morning was just perfect for the beach again. We were there already at a quarter past eight and nobody else came for a whole hour so it was as if we were on our private beach! The surface of the sea was just like a mirror, so Dora walked into it full of confidence after playing in the sand and with a dog for a few minutes.

She picked up three big pebbles and kept throwing them into the water one after the other, collected them and started the whole thing again. She went further and further in the sea, the depth was not bothering her at all.

Then she started to build a sand castle with her father. The picture shows the beginning state, but my dears had just enough patience to build a huge pile of sand so I had quite a long while to enjoy swimming for the last time. We could only stay on the beach until 11 but Peter had enough time to do the same too.

Dora sat in her boat for the last time too but didn't want to stay long this time, she would rather do something more active in the last hour.

She was running along the edge of the sea laughing, enjoying as the arriving small waves washed down her feet. She even wanted to push a paddle boat into the water from the sand and we could hardly persuade her out of the deed as we had no time for things like that.

Only for playing with a ball in the sea...Then quickly up to the room, taking a shower, packing the suitcases... The usual rush hour of every holiday. After leaving the key at the reception and having our lunch we went to the playground for the last time too, and again had the usual difficulties around the slides... Then we took our last photos of the place and soon were off to the airport.

From above we could just cast a last glance at this wonderful island where we would rather have stayed for another week to explore the south part too with all those beautiful sandy beaches: Gerakas, Porto Roma, Porto Zoro, Banana Beach, Marathonisi island... We might come back one day, we'll see!

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