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Product Description
This is a general guide to Zakynthos, but with special emphasis on the island s countryside and the National Marine Park. It covers getting there and getting about, recommended accommodation and restaurants (with price guides), practicalities A-Z, history, customs and traditions, religious festivals, and all the major sights.There are five car tours (with fold-out touring maps), highlighting places where you can stop for a walk or just a stroll to a lovely picnic setting. Much of the book is devoted to over 20 main walks, each with several variations and charmingly 'mapped out' with the authors own 3D drawings.But even non-walkers will appreciate the walking section: while the walk descriptions themselves are brief, each walk is followed by two facing pages focussing on the islands geology, habitats, agriculture, flora and wildlife all illustrated (there are over 10 photographs for each walk).The author is a biologist who has lived on the island for over a decade, working with various non-governmental organisations and the Marine National Park; she is particularly interested in sea turtle research and conservation of the islands many habitats.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Map
As very experienced Greek hikers, we bought this book specifically for the walks. We attempted 7 of them, but had to abandon 4 and retrace our steps as the descriptions did not give us enough information to continue. Throughout the walks we looked for the waymarks, but could only find very old faded marks or none at all.
Here are a couple of examples of our problems: In walk 17, Kampi coastal trail, we could not find point 7, which was described as a T junction, despite several attempts and we therefore never actually made it to the coast on this coastal walk. Also in walk 22, Pigadakia hills trail, the stone seat at point 5 seems to no longer exist and as this is a pivotal point of the walk we again had to retrace our steps to the start.
We were very disappointed that we could not complete the walks and felt that we would probably need GPS to frequently check our position. Appoximate timings for each stage of the walk would be helpful (We have found these to be helpful in other guide books)
The rest of the book is informative, nicely laid out with lovely illustrations and the car tours look OK, but if you want to walk, take care.
Here are a couple of examples of our problems: In walk 17, Kampi coastal trail, we could not find point 7, which was described as a T junction, despite several attempts and we therefore never actually made it to the coast on this coastal walk. Also in walk 22, Pigadakia hills trail, the stone seat at point 5 seems to no longer exist and as this is a pivotal point of the walk we again had to retrace our steps to the start.
We were very disappointed that we could not complete the walks and felt that we would probably need GPS to frequently check our position. Appoximate timings for each stage of the walk would be helpful (We have found these to be helpful in other guide books)
The rest of the book is informative, nicely laid out with lovely illustrations and the car tours look OK, but if you want to walk, take care.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I had high expectations from this book since I saw it on amazon.co.uk and although I had the impression that it will not fulfil them, I was not disappointed by it.
I searched everywhere. On the Internet, in libraries, in every bookstore that I could find, but although I found a lot of general guides on the Greek islands, they could only provide a small description of the island and the all known tourist attractions - water park, navaggio, carreta turtles, etc. Having the experience of Paris, when doing some walking tours in the old town was the best part of out trip, we searched for the same thing for Zakynthos, but weren't really finding anything. When this book opened its pages to us, it was all we are looking for, and even more.
I think one of the best things about the book is that the author, Gail Schofield lives there and knows the surrounding and also that she was a zoology student, so has insights on all the plants and animals that live on the island. A book on culture and architecture is a marvel in large cities, but on islands as Zakynthos, where the main attraction is it's savageness, you need to know everything about the environment, beaches and life in general.
I skimmed the book preparing for our trip to Zakynthos this summer, and I found interesting the fact that it has hand drawn maps of every walking tour, a thing that I haven't encountered that frequently in travel books. The illustrations of plants and animals are also high quality but the best part of the book is the folding map at the end which is by far the most complete map I have found to date. It has all the walking tours and car tours on it so you don't have to struggle planning them by yourself and if you go on the official site you can also download the GPS waypoints for the walking tours (that of course if you're not to lazy to enter them yourself from the end of the book).
I highly recommend this books to anyone visiting Zakynthos, as it seems the most complete and reliable one for the traveller that wants to see more that clubs, bars, restaurants and beaches.
I searched everywhere. On the Internet, in libraries, in every bookstore that I could find, but although I found a lot of general guides on the Greek islands, they could only provide a small description of the island and the all known tourist attractions - water park, navaggio, carreta turtles, etc. Having the experience of Paris, when doing some walking tours in the old town was the best part of out trip, we searched for the same thing for Zakynthos, but weren't really finding anything. When this book opened its pages to us, it was all we are looking for, and even more.
I think one of the best things about the book is that the author, Gail Schofield lives there and knows the surrounding and also that she was a zoology student, so has insights on all the plants and animals that live on the island. A book on culture and architecture is a marvel in large cities, but on islands as Zakynthos, where the main attraction is it's savageness, you need to know everything about the environment, beaches and life in general.
I skimmed the book preparing for our trip to Zakynthos this summer, and I found interesting the fact that it has hand drawn maps of every walking tour, a thing that I haven't encountered that frequently in travel books. The illustrations of plants and animals are also high quality but the best part of the book is the folding map at the end which is by far the most complete map I have found to date. It has all the walking tours and car tours on it so you don't have to struggle planning them by yourself and if you go on the official site you can also download the GPS waypoints for the walking tours (that of course if you're not to lazy to enter them yourself from the end of the book).
I highly recommend this books to anyone visiting Zakynthos, as it seems the most complete and reliable one for the traveller that wants to see more that clubs, bars, restaurants and beaches.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Map
As others have said, this is a very attractive and well laid out book (although it often calls for a lot of fussy cross-referencing).
As experienced walkers in Greece we are the first to appreciate how difficult it is to find, never mind describe, walks. As the author says, suitable maps are unavailable and we can remember walking in Crete in the early eighties when there were no maps at all!
An example of the difficulties we encountered can be illustrated by Walk No 20 'Volimes Monastery Trail' - the directions to the start of the walk were simply wrong, or misleading. On following the instructions we passed the town hall on the right, not on the left (as the guide said)and made many convoluted diversions before arriving at what was the right start point. However, the path was almost completely overgrown and any signage had disappeared (no fault of the author). We solved the problem by doing the route in reverse, as the return path was a well used track.
It was a great day out, eventually.
We walked at the end of May this year (2009) and completed 9 of the 22 walks and our favourite was Walk 15 'Loucha Monastery Trail' - it combined a ridge walk with a visit to a charming monastery where we were shown round by the caretaker nun and returned through charming meadows edged with masses of wild flowers.
There was some confusion on one other walk but with persistence we completed them all.
Don't be put off trying but don't expect things to be as straight forward as the book might suggest. We note that some of the reviews have been made by those who haven't actually tried the walks yet, or who have used the driving section only.
We can appreciate that GPS would solve all these problems but we are of a generation that think that's cheating.
There is still a mass of useful information in the book and we feel much better informed about the wildlife we encountered.
Great walks and a great holiday.
As experienced walkers in Greece we are the first to appreciate how difficult it is to find, never mind describe, walks. As the author says, suitable maps are unavailable and we can remember walking in Crete in the early eighties when there were no maps at all!
An example of the difficulties we encountered can be illustrated by Walk No 20 'Volimes Monastery Trail' - the directions to the start of the walk were simply wrong, or misleading. On following the instructions we passed the town hall on the right, not on the left (as the guide said)and made many convoluted diversions before arriving at what was the right start point. However, the path was almost completely overgrown and any signage had disappeared (no fault of the author). We solved the problem by doing the route in reverse, as the return path was a well used track.
It was a great day out, eventually.
We walked at the end of May this year (2009) and completed 9 of the 22 walks and our favourite was Walk 15 'Loucha Monastery Trail' - it combined a ridge walk with a visit to a charming monastery where we were shown round by the caretaker nun and returned through charming meadows edged with masses of wild flowers.
There was some confusion on one other walk but with persistence we completed them all.
Don't be put off trying but don't expect things to be as straight forward as the book might suggest. We note that some of the reviews have been made by those who haven't actually tried the walks yet, or who have used the driving section only.
We can appreciate that GPS would solve all these problems but we are of a generation that think that's cheating.
There is still a mass of useful information in the book and we feel much better informed about the wildlife we encountered.
Great walks and a great holiday.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Far below Sunflowers usual standards
This book basically fails at being both a general tourist guide and a walking guide and is badly organized. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Harald Haugli
Made holiday unforgettable
Checked out loads of travel books until I came across another review praising this one. Was so impressed that I decided to buy it and was not disappointed. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Silver Fox
Another winner from Sunflower
As a keen walker I have used Sunflower Guides for many years. Indeed I tend to select holiday destinations only from the list of guides that they have produced. Read more
Published 14 months ago by DesBrown
Excellent guide for the active explorer
An excellent guide book that was an invaluable companion on this otherwise poorly mapped island. This book led us to many attractive spots and greatly contributed to the success... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Pamela
Excellent book for handy recommendations
I used this book throughout my week in Zakynthos. Even though I didn't follow the drives exactly it was interesting to read about the towns that we chose to go to. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Dee
Zakynthos: Sunflower Complete Guide with Walks
This guide is a must have for outdoor naturalists living on or visiting Zakynthos! It will surely help you turn a short stay on the island into a memorable one.
Published 20 months ago by Outbackgirl
Very informative
Have just bought this guide book for an impending holiday to Zakynthos. It seems to have all the information you could want, especially if you plan to walk a lot. Read more
Published 21 months ago by M. C. Amor
A great guide to the hidden Zakynthos
We got this guide book specifically because I wanted to get off the beaten track and see parts of Zakynthos that we otherwise wouldn't see on a first visit. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Patrick Mahon
Zakynthos Complete guide with walks
Wanted this guide as we are going on holiday there this summer and found the book to be very informative and will be very useful
Published on 8 Mar 2010 by B. Sharman
Best Guide
I spent ages trying to find a decent guide to Zante (Zakynthos) as most of them were just for the Greek Islands or Ionian Islands. Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2009 by Frances Donovan
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