Day 17 - Thursday 10th September

As promised, the boat departed from Ithaca at about 6:30am and headed back south – past Cephalonia towards the island of Zakynthos.

We arrived at the port in Zakynthos town (on Zakynthos island) at about 11:45am. This is quite different from other towns we have visited on the island because it is a busy commercial area with lots of people and traffic. Apparently almost every building on the island was flattened in the 1953 earthquake and so most buildings have been constructed since then.

We had put our names down for the optional bus tour of the island. Carolina had found another tour that visited some of the islands and so her family and the Dutch group did that tour. It sounded better to us but we felt we were committed to the bus tour because it would not have had the minimum numbers to run.

The bus left at 2pm and stopped at Kalamaki Beach, a church, a museum, a winery and finally an area on the hill above Zakynthos town with great views of the town. At the end of the tour, we visited St Dennis’s Cathedral in the port area. The cathedral is ornately decorated inside and was one of the few buildings to survive the 1953 earthquake.

When we got back on the boat, the captain was at the back of the boat along with various other crew including mechanics. I decided to have a rest before dinner. At about 7:45, Suzy told me that they were starting to serve a barbecue dinner on deck rather than in the normal dining area. On my way upstairs I noticed more activity by the mechanics that reminded me of the problems we had in Argostolli.

Sure enough, Thanos announced during our dinner that the boat had broken down again. He said they planned to use a series of buses and ferries to get us back to Corfu by tomorrow night.

I guess the reaction could have been anger, fury, bewilderment, shouting, etc. Instead our reaction was rolling-on-the-floor laughter. After what we have experienced this week, this was grand farce - if not completely unexpected.

When I posted yesterday's blog, I wondered whether I might have been somewhat harsh describing these people as turkeys. I no longer have any such doubts. I could tell you more details about the events of this week and tonight's announcement but I don't think you would believe they could have happened.

They tell us that breakfast will be at 5am tomorrow morning and so I had better go and get some sleep so I am prepared for the next episode in this unfolding Greek drama.