ZAKYNTHOS

There are few Greek islands that have a history as rich as the history of Zakynthos. The history and civilization of the island span the ages, as far back as the times of ancient Greece. The life of a Zakynthian was a continual battle for survival and development, a battle that was always armed with an unbeatable spiritual energy. It was never overcome by the disasters and hardships that it suffered. Due to the island's riches it was raided and pillaged many times by barbaric tribes, who destroyed everything that lay before them. Pirates were a permanent and constant danger for the inhabitants of the island. The geographical position made it an ‘apple of Erida’ which lay between many nations, where one leadership would succeed the other. In the days of Ancient Greece the leadership changed many times between Athens and Sparta, then came the turn of the Macedonians and later the Romans, the Byzantines, the Franks and the Turks who wiped out every trace of life. The island suffered a holocaust, a genocide that had never before occurred throughout its troubled history. In more recent times the Venetians, the French, the Russians and finally the British occupied the island before it united with the rest of Greece in 1864. The murderous epidemics of cholera, plague and small pox wiped out large numbers of the population, and the earthquakes razed buildings to the ground destroying a rare civilization and culture. Despite all its misfortunes, the island managed to develop culturally and was able to produce monuments with rare architectural beauty, paintings, works of literature; it developed the theatre, its own traditional songs and dances. It also managed to sustain a flourishing economy with its own ethics and traditions. Come and let us introduce you to the unknown side of Zakynthos.