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Let me whizz you back to the late 90's - I was at college and was living a carefree life - still living at home, working weekends only, ahhhh those were the days! In 1998 myself and my boyfriend (now husband) took our first holiday together to Zante in Greece, I was 17 and he was turning 20 and it is such a great memory. So much so that we would love to take our own children there soon. There are some brilliant vacations with Voyage Privé that I would urge you to look at if you are planning a holiday.
Although I love to relax on holiday I also love to take trips to see the culture and history of the places that we visit. In 2002 we visited the Greek Island of Kefalonia and were blown away with the beauty of the island. There are so many trips you can take the landscapes of the Greek islands are breathtaking. I am sharing some of our photographs with you of places we have visited on our Greek travels. These were the days where I took at least three rolls of film for my little compact camera and there was no such thing as social media, so all have been scanned in from my photo albums.
Beaches
Myrtos Bay in Kefalonia is apparently the 8th most photographer beach in the world - it lies between the foot of two mountains and has a mile and half long beach of white pebbles and turquoise sea.
Navagio Beach also known as Smugglers Cove in Zakynthos is stunning. I remember the boat trip well, we had to jump in to the sea and swim to the beach, I am not the strongest swimmer but it was worth it - just look at the water!
Turtle Island or Marathonisi in Zante actually looks like a turtle. We took a boat trip there to see the endangered Loggerhead Turtles, the island is uninhabited except for the sea turtles.
Caves
The Melissani Cave in Kefalonia is surrounded by forest - the cave contains an underground lake which we were rowed around in a little boat. The water is an incredible shade of blue.
Drogarati Cave is also in Kefalonia - more than 300 years ago, a strong earthquake revealed the entrance to a miracle of nature, these caves are 150 million years old! Orange and yellow stalactites hang from the roof whilst stand tall from the cave floor.
The Blue Caves in Zante are one of the most popular attractions you can visit them on a boat trip which is what we did, again the colour of the water is amazing.
Scenery
Kefalonia is very mountainous we took a coach trip and I can remember the winding roads through the mountains and feeling convinced the coach would plunge us to our doom. From the towns of Argostoli, Assos and Karavomylos there are great views with the mountains in the background.
Fiskardo is a lovely little fishing village that was not damaged in the 1953 earthquake so you can still see lots of original buildings. I am pretty sure we tried some delicious sea bream along the water front.
Argostoli is a beautiful town with the St Theodore lighthouse, water wheel and some lovely shops and tavernas. At Katavothres the sea flows inland and enters sinkholes on the earth that is below sea level. The mills used to be run in these holes. At Katavothres the sea flows inland and enters sinkholes on the earth that is below sea level.
Lassi. We stayed in an apartment in Lassi, it was a very hilly area with beautiful flowers and stunning views. The nightlife was pretty good there and our local beach was pretty and quite secluded. The sunsets in the evening were spectacular.
Have you visited any of the Greek islands before - do you have a favourite?