my favorite place on holiday! |
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tipsyletti |
| Gender: | Female | | Lives in: | South West United Kingdom | | Registered: | 29 July 2007 | | Last visit: | 16 February 2008 |
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| Kalamaki Travel Guide: A typical Greek Island
| | Written by tipsyletti on 30 Jul 2007 about a trip in Oct 2005.
Trip was for a couple on holiday. tipsyletti would maybe visit again.
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kalamaki main street |
Amazing 'Shipwreck Bay' from viewing platform above |
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Kalamaki shopping | | The shops in Kalamaki are really good and you can get some real bargains. They are typical of the tourist shops throughout the Greek Islands.
We found some places did not charge for cashing travellers cheques but most charged a small fee for changing cash.
There are a few supermarkets dotted around but I did not always find a good selection of food in them, maybe due to the time of year we visited.
We were surprised to learn that there is a Lidl Store somewhere on the island and were finding the items from there in local supermarkets. |
Kalamaki nightlife | | We spent alot of time at 'Drunks Corner', a small bar down the main street. We were able to watch a few British tv programmes on certain evenings ie Coronation Street, X Factor etc
The cocktail list is brilliant and the prices are good although I do wonder how much alcohol was in the drinks? I never got over tipsy there once!
The other bar we found the night before leaving was a UK owned bar down toward the beach called 'The Safari Bar'. We really wished we had found this earlier in our holiday. I left that night high as a kite! The owners were absolutely brilliant, they run games such as bingo during the evening and give great entertainment. |
Kalamaki restaurants | | We were pointed toward Michaelos which is right at the top of Kalamaki. It must be just about the best food I had ever tasted! The restaurant gets very busy and there is often a queue to get in. Well worth the wait, try the Lamb Kleftico, wonderful....
We also ate around the town at many of the spaghetti/pasta bars, the food was good wherever we went. There is a little cafe half way down the main road (sorry do not know what it is called), which sells mainly deserts and offers cappachinos. They did a savoury crepe which I cannot describe in words, it was between an omelette and a crepe. |
Kalamaki attractions | | We found the beach halfway between Kalamaki and Laganas to be the best spot. The water was very clear and the sand cleaner.
If you enjoy a good walk, we walked from Laganas by road back to Kalamaki one day, it was quite a long walk but we got to see alot of scenery that we would otherwise not have seen. The slighty shorter route is over the beach, but even that seems quite a long walk.
There is a crazy golf course down between the beach and the main street and if you fancy a trip to Laganas, you will find a Reptile House. |
Kalamaki events | | Kalamaki bay is famous for the loggerhead turtles nesting. When walking over the beach you will see little poles set up with red flags to protect where the nests are. You will also find many turtle droppings along the beach. These are like little parcels of shredded wheat. I sat for days pulling them apart trying to figure out what they were before I was informed!
By October, most of the turtles have hatched and left the island again.
We found the local Zante FM radio station was brilliant to listen to. It was all in english and advertised places in our resort. So if you take a radio, look out for this station. |
Kalamaki day trips | | The trip to 'Shipwreck Bay' is a must.
I have been by boat twice but never been able to land due to rough water. However, an island tour will take you to the top where you get the chance to climb out onto a ricketty old viewing platform to take photos. Can be a bit scary but worth the picture result if you get it right! Don't forget the camera!
Zante town is also a must. It does get very busy and not as big as I would expect a main town to be.
The Keri caves trip is nice, we really enjoyed this trip from a local vendor on the street. We stopped off at the caves for anyone to go for a snorkel or swim then went on calling in on Turtle Island where once again you could jump off and swim to the island. Just watch your feet if you decide to swim in, there are millions and millions of tiny peebles which really hurt your feet and get inbetween your toes! |
Kalamaki History and Culture | | Unfortunately, Zakynthos was flattened in 1953 by an earthquake. There is only one original building standing from before then.
Zakynthos does still have tremours, we got caught out by one on our last trip which was over 6 on the ritcher scale. A bit frightening at the time!
There is a nice square at the end of the main road as you enter Zante Town. It has a church building which I think is St Marks? |
Getting to Kalamaki | | Kalamaki is a short distance from the airport. Usually the coach will drop off in other areas first but it does not normally take long to get to your accomodation.
Our flight times were around 3hrs 40mins from Bristol UK airport. |
Getting around Kalamaki | We chose to walk between Kalamaki and Laganas either over the beach or by road. There is a bus which goes between and also travels to Zante Town. There are plenty of car and scooter hire shops throughout.
There are plenty of tours available and these can be booked via tour operator reps or on the street. |
When to visit Kalamaki | | We chose to travel in October the last time we visited although we have travelled in July previously. July is very hot whilst October is a little cooler. We still caught an amazing tan! It is still warm enough to swim in the sea although we found the evenings were a little chilly and we were glad of a fleece, cardigan or light jacket. |
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