Our second excursion of the week comes a couple of days later. When the promised sunset tour of the island falls through Coman and I find an outfit called Smile Tours in Tsilivi who after a bit of healthy negotiation promise us they can step into the breach and offer a private ‘Discover The Past’ tour, including a sunset meal. Somewhat trepidatiously we await, along with six fellow guests, to see if they arrive as promised and sure enough, at the appointed hour, a minibus pulls up at Rodis Studios and we all jump in.
Callinico vineyard & factory
Our driver, Johnny, speaks very little English but is quite a character. Coman and I sit upfront with him and he pumps out Greek hits from random radio stations, singing along and at times waving his hands in the air. He frequently forgets to fasten his seatbelt and has an erratic view of speed limits, often slowing to a snail’s pace for no reason before taking bends at eye-watering speeds.
Eyebrows are raised by the entire bus when we arrive at our first stop, Callinico vineyard, and Johnny steps straight behind the bar, puffing on a cigarette, and helps himself to a glass of wine. However Yiannis, the vineyard’s tour guide, seems to think this is entirely normal behaviour and doesn’t bat an eyelid.
Johnny (r) helping himself to wine
Although the Callinico estate harvest grapes from 20 hectares, has multiple varieties of white, red, rosé and fortified wines, and produces 120,000 bottles a year, all sold only on Zakynthos island, I’m not sure they’re prepared for the eight of us when it comes to the €3 a head tasting session.
We plough through the various bottles on display with gusto and their social media photographer is so impressed at our unbridled - and conspicuous - enjoyment of their wines, that he sets up a photo shoot, probably as some kind of payback for the losses they’re taking at the bar as we all work our way through their entire range for their nominal fee.
Coman and Catherine are the stars, appearing seated like a couple dating over a glass or three, while Val and Bev chat as extras in the background. The rest of us think it’s hilarious, and purchases are duly made.
Photoshoot
Johnny’s next stop for us is the Aristeon olive press at Lithakia. 28 villages use this communal press and there are thirty similar enterprises on the island, pressing hundreds of thousands of litres of oil between December and February each year. We learn that while there are 54 different varieties of olive trees in the Mediterranean, and 2 million trees on Zakynthos alone, the island only has two varieties. Our bags fill up with oils flavoured with garlic, chili and orange - the latter proving unexpectedly delicious.
On we drive, up the western spine of the island, through verdant and beautiful landscapes, passing through Kiliomeno village with its old tower from 1700, still standing despite the devastating earthquake from seventy years ago, before we stop at the tiny village of Exo Chora. At its heart is an ancient olive tree that has flourished on that spot for well over 3000 years. We all have our picture taken next to it, with a couple of yogis trying to hug it for good measure… no doubt fuelled by the earlier generosity of Callinico!
Ancient tree at Exo Chora
Our final destination is Kampi, dramatically situated on a cliff on the west coast of the island where we join hundreds of other diners in a sunset meal at one of the restaurants providing beautiful views of the glowing end of the day. The eight of us massively over-order a Greek feast, and large carafes of white wine make frequent appearances, with us all chatting and laughing as we share life-stories and anecdotes across the table.
As the meal comes to a close, a musical duo take to the stage providing traditional music, joined after a few numbers by a trio of dancers. The highlight of the night however comes when a slightly tipsy man tries to make his way through the crowd with a tray full of drinks, stumbling as he gets towards the stage and the whole tray goes flying through the air and crashing to the ground, much to his drunken consternation and our fellow diners’ merriment. The dancers carry on their routine around the broken, wet mess until a waiter manages to clean it all up, without them breaking their stride.
Dancing around the broken glass
Johnny collects us from our table before the entertainment ends, to drive us back over the mountains to Tsilivi, and in hugely cheery mood, he starts Greek dancing with us all in a circle in the road outside the restaurant, leading us like a pied piper to his bus. The tunes are banging out the whole way back and as we cross the island, above us the night sky is dense with stars, the Milky Way vibrant and visible above us.
Our visit to Greece has been memorable in many ways, and we’ve had a wonderful time. We can’t wait to discover more of its beautiful islands on future visits. But for now, we cry ‘Yammas’ and raise a glass of retsina to our Ionian adventures. And to Johnny, may he safely drive tourists around Zakynthos for many years to come. God help them all!
