After what seemed a very long wait departure day finally arrived! Our flight with XL was bang on schedule and soon we were coming in over the bay with my camera clicking away. Our cases were amongst the last to come off the conveyor and then we were on our way to the Venus. Checked in, pulled on some shorts and flips flops and then straight down to the pool bar for a cold drink. It was a bit like ground hog day with so many people there who we knew from previous visits, in fact in the bar later that night Donna looked around and said I think everyone is here now!! We had an afternoon stroll up to Cronulla and caught with yet more people up there and then it was the supermarket dash for water and wine. Eventually unpacked and got ourselves ready for an evening out. We spent our first evening in Cronulla, Buon Amici and the Venus Bar, great food and drinks and a very late night.

On our first day we just relaxed around the pool chatting and soaking up the sun. On day 2 our hire car arrived and we trundled off to Kerri and Ag Sostis. With Manthos gone we tried another taverna for lunch which was fine, generally Ag Sos was very quiet. The following day we went off to Vasilikos and spent the day on Plaka Beach. It was so nice just lazing on a lounger and then cooling off in the sea, perfect! Day 3 and we decided to do a bit of an island tour and set off to Porto Vroma, stunning views and the colour of the sea was amazing. Stopped for lunch in the village of Maries, amazing views from the terrace of the restaurant. We then trundled up to Volimes in search of a tablecloth for our yet to be delivered dining room suite. From there to Alikes stopping on the way to take pics of Kefalonia, a quick stop at Micro Nisi and back down the coast road to Zante town. A long day but a good one. That was the extent of our activity apart from a long walk on the Sunday morning around Kalamaki. The temperature went up to the 40’s so it was sun lounger and the pool for the second week.

That’s the potted version of our stay, so where did we eat and who did we see! Lesley arrived the same day as us and we caught up several times over the two weeks and ate together at Buon Amici, Dias and Gastronomy. Gastronomy was a first for us and we went there after a few drinks up in town at the Strada Marina roof top bar. Gastronomy is a great place for a special evening out as it is a little way out of the resort and a little more expensive. That said the food is wonderful and the ambience of the restaurant terrific.

We also went to Zeppos which was very reasonable, the haloumi cheese and grilled veggie starter was superb and Phil’s kleftico was he said one of the best he has had in the resort. The service was good and it was nice to meet Deanna (who recognised me from JZ) who is working there this summer. Paolos and Buon Amici never fail to please us and we spent many a happy evening in both places enjoying the company and food.

Had many a cooling beer in Iguana late in the afternoon where we saw Ian several times, spent loads of time up at Cronulla Bar where we met Lesley & Andrew for drinks many times and on our last night met Sarah, Colin and Harley. Many a late night was spent in the Venus Bar with the regulars. We went in to Mojitos for a drink but to be honest it wasn’t very busy and there was not much of an atmosphere, maybe its sour grapes as we miss Paris! We also popped in to oceanic and met Geoff briefly and I also caught up with a Lynne who I had been chatting to on line in the lead up to the holiday. She was a first time visitor to Zante and they were really enjoying their visit. As we waited for our flight we finally met Emmzie.

The new departure terminal was ok and it was good not to queue outside in the searing heat so definitely an improvement. We liked the new duty free area as its much larger. The lack of seating lets the terminal down but you are only in there for a short time so bearable.

Kalamaki was reasonably quiet but the popular places were busy every night. Outside the resort the roads were quite empty which did much for our sanity on those mountain roads so not too many OMG moments.

We had a brilliant holiday, had loads of fun, the Venus remains outstanding and our favourite restaurants never fail to please, who could ask for more We are now counting down the days to September