Zyknthos -Land of Greek Gods - Life is a beach

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Life is a beach

Beaches here are like Silver Sands in Malindi( Kenya - East Africa) .....white

silver sand.....calm warm waters Six of

the best beaches have names and character of its own:

Laganas

The largest and liveliest resort on Island. Laganas is laden with music, bars,

shops and Tavernas ( traditional Greek

eating out places) Its main street is known as the Golden mile. The sweeping

beach is long stretch of sand backed by a

string of tavernas and bars. Definitely a beach for someone like me - Young at

heart. My favourite Bar here is called "

MARABU " ....must mean something in Greek. . Everytime I pass by Marabu ....I

never fail to notice Marabu attracts all

the best thongs to this bar! So a drink at this bar is a daily

must!

Kalamaki

This is situated at the end of Laganas beach and one can walk from Laganas to

Kalamaki beach or if strong enough swim

parallel to the beach to get to the end. It is a peaceful and widely spread

resort, which boasts some of the best

restaurants. Its long and soft sandy beach is the main nesting ground for of the

endangered loggerhead turtles. Around

about lunch time it is great to swim alongside these wild yet gentle turtles.

Jiwan was scared silly at first as he

calls them Ninja Turtles. But these turtles are very playful and gently nudge

one for titbits! So its better to go in

water with some cabbage! One day Jiwan and I were surrounded by five large

turtles or well they might be thinking Oh!

one big and small human! Water sports and motor boats are not allowed on this

beach to protect the turtles. This is the

first time I have swam with the turtles. Every now and then they brush past you.

Quite scaly legs and I would put Jiwan

on a turtle and immediately the turtle took a dive which shocked my son. There

was one turtle we started to recognise,

young with a cheeky grin who constantly tried to seperate us and would come

between us and push my son away.

Argassi

A growing resort set in attractive pine clad hills. Gently going towards the

beach. The beach here is shingle and narrow

and the sea is calm. Great for families. But come out of the Sea and put a feet

on shingle its like walking on hot

coals. Now could I practice Indian art of yoga and show the locals I can walk on

these red hot shingle.

Tsilvi

Pronounced - " C-h-I-l-v-I " - Quite busy resort that appears to be rapidly

expanding as there is lot of construction

work going on to build new hotels, bars, Tavernas. Tsilvi has a good range of

Nightlife yet manages to retain Greek

Traditional feel. An excellent sandy beach stretches for miles, shelving gently

into sea. As soon as one ventures out

into the Sea, playfull dolphins appear all of a sudden out of nowhere. We

started going to this beach a lot as my son

loved swimming with the dolphins....Though I used to worry, unwittingly dolphins

might carry him deep down. But they

seemed to be quite gentle but recognised that he was young and pretended to be

young and indulge in lot of play with

him. We started taking titbits for them and feed them. For the first time in my

life I found out that dolphins are quite

noisy and make a strange purring kind of sound when patted. If one slaps them

they take a dive, vanish and then suddenly

one gets a slap of tail fin! Which used to throw us off balance.! Not painfull

but a big push.

Lithakia

This resort has essence of Greek Village life, markets and street vendors.

Narrow sandy beach but very quite.

Great Greek cuisine here at local Tavernas where one eats with the locals. Only

place I shared a bottle of Ouzo with

five Greeks. Half a bottle latter I gave up speaking in English and spoke to

them in Swahili, Punjabi and Urdu...they

replied in Greek! What an afternoon.

Here Jiwan and swam with dolphins....Gentle creatures ....appear to be

frightening as they seem to come at one at top

speed.....Jiwan adored them!

Having savoured all the beaches in the first few days, I settled for Laganas

Beach. I gave each beach a Thong

grading.....and Laganas scored the highest marks! Ambi also loved early moring

walks beginning at five am returning at

10am. watching sunrise and baby turtle hatchlings making their way to the sea.

Hatchlings need the early morning rays of

the Sun to guide them to the sea. First journey from land to the sea develops

their muscles. It was miracle of nature to

see them walk and leave tracktor type marks on the sand.

I used to go on long walks in the evening when the temperature was bearable -

32C. Laganas beach has two distinct Greek

Dog gangs. The owners release pets in the evening and early mornings, who run

onto the beach and go for walks in gangs.

Ambi told me about these gangs she had encountered during the early morning

walks. I wanted to see them being a doggy

man myself ( hate cats).

One large gang I came across consisted of 15 dogs with a gang leader. Its great

life for Greek Dogs. During the day

being pampered as pet dogs. Released twice a day to go back to nature when

primitive instincts come out. They stage mock

fights, chase each other, run into the sea, fornicate and generally have a great

Greek Doggy Time! Off course the Gang

leader has pick of best Greek bitches. Stray dogs join these gangs. Poodles are

strange looking here....completely

shaved! Gang dogs being pets are domesticated enough not to attack humans. So

one day I took a packet of biscuits with

me....Thought a Greek Dog cannot be beyond corruption! Quite strange....other

doggies would not eat a biscuit until

the gang leader had eaten one first! Locals tell me occasionally there are great

sraps when the two gangs come face to

face with each other.

This gang followed me around the beach playfully - I felt great sorrounded by

twenty dogs!

Laganas beach also has open air cinema. Large serene on the beach is put up at

night. Film project by means of modern

multifunction video projectors! We have been watching Titanic, Star Wars,

Bond Films. Great to either sit on

chair, on sand or sun bed watching film.....vendors come to sell popcorn,

roasted corn, drinks!

Great experience!

Great experiance has been dramatic drop in sugar level due to lot of swimming

and walking. Its the hypos that caused me

most concern - I could not cope with them such a hunger feeling accompanied by

sweating, shaking hands and generally

feeling of being flaked out. I have totally been confused whether I should stop

all medication all together or half the

tablets.

Yammas

Karam Bharij

Email karam@...

FAX - 0870 7066419

web site

http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/7348/index.html