Post Holiday!

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long silence, this was due to a longed for holiday. This year it was Zante, a much recommended place to be. So I went.

Zante is the place for sun, sea, sand, and anything else beginning with s!

It's probably the greenest of the Greek Islands, and the action is mainly beach based. Plenty of water sports for those inclined, with shallow water, toally safe for little ones, and those who just like a paddle.

Now here's a fact. Zante is the name the Venetians called the island when they were in occupation for a few hundred years. The Greeks, however, call it Zykanthos, which is the Greek name. So far I haven't heard anyone who lives on the island call it Zante, it's always Zykanthos.

The temperature was almost 100 degrees every day, and it's not much under 80 at night. Having air conditioning is wonderful. It makes sleep possible, which you need after a hard day lying on a sunbed on the beach. Well, someone has to do it!

All this heat tends to trigger off forest fires. On our first day on the beach helicopters were gathering water and flying off to dump it on fires. Then we heard there were huge fires near Athens. Nowhere near us, but there were lots of foresty bits prone to ignite on the island.

Zykanthos is an ideal place if you're looking for a relaxing holiday to get a suntan and make the folks back home envious. The only drawback are the mosquitoes. And there are lots of them! They're BIG and very hungry. So if mozzies look on you as a walking dinner, this isn't the place for you.

You're definitely not going to have a Shirley Valentine experience covered in mozzie bites!