ChristianTour | blogCâte un drum spre fiecare vis

I’ve just returned from my short, beautiful trip to Greece and I can share with you my personal impressions, thoughts and memories and maybe give you some recommendations . This is my first post and if you have any comments, notes, please feel free to write them down.

I’ve landed in Athens airport after a flight from Tarom, and experienced some soft turbulences just before landing, probably because of the strong marine currents. Our final destination is Zakynthos, the island of the caretta-caretta turtle, the favourite island of Artemis Godess and now the best place for great summer holidays if you want to relax on the beach, visit historical sites, and especially if you want to have fun and party all night long . Now, in april there are no direct flights to Zakynthos from other European cities, but immediatly when the summer season starts, direct charters are operated. From my city Cluj-Napoca, the charter starts in May and lasts until the end of September.

From Athens we drive by bus towards the Kilini Port, where we got the Ionian ferryboat : Prices: Per person 8,20 €, kids up to 5 years free, age 5-10 for 4,10 €. Car 37,50 € – with trailer 8,90 € per meter, trucks 10,20 € per meter, motorbike 12,50 €. These modern ferries have huge capacities and crossing in summer 7 times and more daily between the harbours. On our way from Athens to Kilini (about 3.5 hours) we stopped for a short coffee break at the Corinth Canal.

The Corinth Canal connects the Ionian Sea with the Aegean Sea (the Corinth Gulf and the Saronic Gulf) and transforms the Peloponnesian peninsula into an island. The canal construction started in VII th century BC, by Periander (the Greek Tiran), who dreamt of cutting the Istm in two, but he failed because of the technical difficulties. Others who tried an failed as well: Demetris Ist of Macedonia, Julius Caesar, Nero. In the beginning of the XIXth century a French company took over the construction but also stopped due to financial problems. Finally in 1881, the Hungarian architects who also worked at the Panama Channel project: István Türr şi Béla Gerster, managed to design the project and a Hellenic company took over the construction that was innaugurated in 1893. The Corinth Canal is 6,5 km lenght, 21m large, minimum 8 m depth. Due the fact that is very narrow, the canal cannot be crossed by big cargoboats and usually nowadays it is used by touristic boats only. It’s recommended to visit it at noon on a beautiful weather when the water colour is of magnificent turqoise, because of the sunshine.
to be continued on : http://creativeideea.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/zakynthos-the-greek-ibiza-on-2010/