Aretha

SHIPWRECK BEACH – ZAKYNTHOS

JULY 3 – 10, 2017

I have been blessed to visit a beautiful Greek island for the last few summers called Zakynthos or Zante to the locals. It’s not a fancy island like Santorini, nor a touristy one like Mykonos nor as charming as Paros or Naxos. It is one of the lesser popular Ionian islands that few North Americans travel to.

I come here through a very interwoven, multi layered, Technicolor sort of way to which I would bore you with the details. So I won’t. But do know that the title of this piece is twofold. One is that as I type, the song Think is blasting in the starry sky and secondly Aretha happens to be a Greek name that means beauty, virtuous and excellent. Three apt adjectives to describe the mood, the food and drink and the company that surrounds me. I hate, which is a strong word, but sometimes appropriate to use another word – unfortunately. Unfortunately, the mattress stinks. The next 2 weeks will be tough. If it wasn’t for the aforementioned, this trip would be πολύ άσχημα.

SET UP

The Mrs. and I in one king size euro style bed – 2 twins pushed together. Not as awful as it sounds, this is what we have at home with our adjustable beds but these are regular length twins. Toes peeking off the end. Wood frames, toe stub hazard every night. This, by the way, has nothing to do with the local wine which, by the way, could start any type of engine.

MATTRESS

No name, no tags, no codes, no dates, tipota – look it up.

Awful and more awful.

If I wasn’t in Greece, I probably would take this to the dump, which is probably where it came from in the first place.

SLEEP

So far I have been getting the usual dose of island sleep. 11pm or 12 right through to 9 am. No lack of sleep here. Even been able to catch an occasional nap by the pool or sea. The lounges are giving the mattress a run for the money.

LINENS AND MORE

See above and below.

OVERALL

Really just horrible sleeps so far. 3 nights in and 6 more to go. Looking forward to moving on to the next town for sleep related reasons only.

GREAT RELATED LINKS

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakynthos

https://draxe.com/feta-cheese-nutrition/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navagio

Stouvega