Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
has decent-sized rooms whose stark white linen is
tempered by the brown
woo
d-panelling. The attached
taverna offers a full menu.
€40
Vasilikos Beach
Áyios Nikólaos
T
26950 35325,
W
hotelvasilikosbeach.gr.
Huge beach-resort complex
that has a variety of rooms but also offers a pool, jacuzzi
and watersports among it
s m
any amenities. Buffet
breakfast included. May-Oct.
€65
THE WEST COAST
Antonis
Dháfni
T
26950 26989.
Fine taverna-cum-bar,
where you can have a full meal of fresh fish or home-
cooked meat, a lighter snack or just sip a sunset cocktail.
June-Sept daily 10am-10pm.
Ì
To Triodi
Yérakas
T
26950 35215.
Excellent taverna
with a leafy garden, where you can sample fresh fish or
well-prepared meat dishes, plus all the usual salads, dips
and good local wine.
May-Oct daily 11am-1am.
Laganás Bay
The large sweep of
Laganás Bay
, anchored on the major party resort of
Laganás
itself,
dominates southern Zákynthos.
Kalamáki
is another busy resort at the eastern end,
while delightful
Límni Kerioú
in the southwest completes the picture. As the bay is also
a prime home to the loggerhead turtle, there has long been an uneasy coexistence
between mass tourism and conservation (see box below).
11
Laganás
The majority of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Zákynthos each year
find themselves in
LAGANÁS
. Set amid the fine 9km beach that runs almost the entire
length of the bay, it offers entertainments from watersports to ballooning, and even an
occasional funfair. Beachfront bars and restaurants stretch for well over 1km, the bars
and restaurants on the main drag another kilometre inland. Some stay open around the
clock; others just play music at deafening volume until dawn. The competing video
and music bars can make Laganás at night resemble the set of
Blade Runner
but that's
how its predominantly English visitors like it.
LOGGERHEAD TURTLES
The Ionian islands harbour the Mediterranean's main concentration of
loggerhead
sea
turtles
, a sensitive species which is, unfortunately, under direct threat from the tourist
industry. These creatures lay their eggs at night on sandy coves and, easily frightened by noise
and lights, are therefore uneasy cohabitants with rough campers and late-night discos. Each
year, many turtles fall prey to motorboat injuries, nests are destroyed by bikes and the newly
hatched young die entangled in deckchairs and umbrellas left out at night.
The Greek government has passed laws designed to protect the loggerheads, including
restrictions on camping at some beaches, but local economic interests tend to prefer a beach
full of bodies to a sea full of turtles. On
Laganás
, nesting grounds are concentrated around
the 14km bay, and Greek marine zoologists are in angry dispute with those involved in the
tourist industry. The turtles' nesting ground just west of
Skála
on Kefaloniá is another
important location, although numbers have dwindled to half their former strength and now
only about eight hundred remain. Ultimately, the turtles' best hope for survival may rest in
their potential draw as a unique tourist attraction in their own right.
While capitalists and environmentalists are still at, well, loggerheads, the
World Wildlife
Fund
has issued guidelines for visitors:
•
Don't use the beaches of Laganás and Yérakas between sunset and sunrise.
•
Don't stick umbrellas in the sand in the marked nesting zones.
•
Take your rubbish away with you - it can obstruct the turtles.
•
Don't use lights near the beach at night - they can disturb the turtles, sometimes
with fatal consequences.
•
Don't take any vehicle onto the protected beaches.
•
Don't dig up turtle nests - it's illegal.
•
Don't pick up the hatchlings or carry them to the water.
•
Don't use speedboats in Laganás Bay - a 9kph speed limit is in force.
