Sunshine & Saints

Today we escaped for a quick visit to Zakynthos town. Apparently, the island has 1 town and 44 villages. Our guide book has a great description of Zakynthos Town; "a working port that has made few concessions to tourism". Excellent! We happened upon the monastery of St Dionysius, wonderfully decorated & whilst we were there it was visited by a constant stream of locals who came to pray & pay respect.

Twice each year the Zakynthians honour their patron, St Dionysus. Christians arrive at the church where their attention is drawn to the remains of Dionysius, reputed to be untouched by deterioration. The clergy and thousands of worshippers process through the town, with the remains, and "the hearts of the faithful shiver, their eyes fill with tears and they kneel in supplication in front of their saint." Now that is a festival to remember!

Zakynthos fact #4 - Zakynthos and Rhodes share top place, both having the longest annual recorded sunshine in Greece.