Never go back! (Laganas, Zakynthos)

 

15 July 2020 (Laganas, Zante)

They say ‘you should never go back’ and our current mooring writes that in big bold letters and underlines it three times!

We’re at anchor just along the beach from our honeymoon destination of Laganas on the island of Zakinthos. Arrived here yesterday after a long tiring sail down the West coast of the island. Last night was a disturbed affair, with an army of mosquitoes whining their high pitched song in our ears. This chorus went on as a frequent and at times fairly vicious swell had us rolling to and fro to the sound of glasses rattling in the cupboards. That was last night, this morning, calm waters once again prevailed, loggerhead turtles frequently popping their heads up around us (the bay is known for them) and Chez laying in the boom strung hammock. 

After lunch, and for me after my siesta, we headed across to a small jetty closer to the main town to tie up - We were gently waved away from the jetty with an explanation of ‘its private’ so we tied up quite close to it on some suitable rocks and made our way into town by foot.

What we’d assumed would be a quick stroll along the beach turned out to be quite a long walk through the not unpleasant olive groves and low level attempts at tourism, by a number of previously optimistic apartment and restaurant builders. 

Once we did make it in to town, (this is where the ‘never go back’ feeling comes in) we were greeted by a repugnant strip of grubby and dusty shops and bars offering fast food, strip clubs, tattoo parlours and punching machines galore, and catchy chalkboard slogans advertising ‘Pints of ‘HeadFuck' only €5!' The beach, an equally sad affair, was made up of dark builders sand mixed with cigarette butts and beer cans. The few tourists we saw hanging around had a Russian 18:30 holiday look about them. 

We’d hoped to relive our honeymoon with a romantic dinner out, but deciding that here, that was simply not going to happen. We did grab a quick bit to eat (me succumbing to the lure of Ronald McDonald’s Golden Arches) and headed back to our lovely little home on the water for a nice cup of tea!