
One of the world's endangered species, the Loggerhead Turtle, requires the beaches of Zakynthos to lay its eggs.
Unfortunately the increase in tourism, particularly the use of beaches by man, and the proliferation of artificial light, is having serious effects on the Loggerhead Population.
The infant turtles use the moon to guide them to the sea; if the inland lights are stronger they get confused.
A great step forward in their protection occurred when on the 1st of December 1999 the National Marine Park of Zakynthos (N.M.P.Z) was formally established by Presidential Decree.
There are many fabulous gardens to see in Cornwall. We chose Trebah on the Helford. A few miles from the very characterful Mawnan Smith, its about 20 minutes drive from Falmouth.
With a children's adventure playgrounds, a beach, lake, rare fish, and a Monet's bridge its a great day out for the whole family.
Did I mention the giant 12 ft rhubarb?
Trebah (pronounced Tree-bâ) is Celtic for ‘The House on the Bay’. The land was not originally the gardens they are today. Its recorded history starts with an entry the Domesday Book of 1086 stating it to be the property of the Bishop of Exeter. Over the next 745 years after passing through the hands of various farmers and families, in 1831 it was acquired by a Falmouth family called Fox .
Charles Fox laid out 26 acres and being a perfectionist exactly positioned every tree, requiring the Head Gardener to build a tower to represent the eventual height of each tree.
In 1944 the beach was concreted over and the rocks dynamited. This was because on June 1st 7500 men of the US 29th Infantry Division with their tanks and vehicles, embarked in ten 150 foot flat-bottomed landing craft for the D-Day landings. The garden was used as an ammunition dump, slit trenches were dug and Messerschmitts attacked, without success.
During the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach in Normandy, they suffered enormous casualties. There's a memorial at the bottom of the garden which commemorates them.
The old road used is still there, on the western side of the gardens.
After the war the gardens fell into significant neglect, only being rescued by new owners who bought the gardens in 1981. After being opened to the public in 1987, in 2000 visited numbers increased to over 100,000.
Zakynthos is the sixth of the Ionian islands, west of the Coast of Ilias. The other Ionian Islands are Corfu, Paxos, Lefkas, Ithaka and Kefallonia. Homer refers to Zakynthos in The Odyssey as 'woody Zakynthos'.
Today Zakynthos is a very green and fertile island assisted by sensible sustainable irrigation and underground springs.
This area of the Ionian sea has a long history of seismic activity, and forming the island itself and all the smaller islands surrounding Zakynthos.
As recently as August 9th 1953 a devastating earthquake hit the island, destroying seventy percent of the buildings on the island. You can still see many abandoned buildings today.
Of the Mediterranean's many geological features, one of the main ones is south east of the island. The Calypso Deep (also called the Pit of Inoussae), is the deepest part of the Mediterranean sea at 5,267 metres (17,280 feet). When the Mediterranean was completely dry this would massively deeper than Death Valley at (only) −86 metres (−282 feet) or the Dead Sea at −418 metres (−1,371 feet)!
One of the highlights of a visit to Zakynthos is sighting the beautiful loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). The turtle is an endangered species and can be found both on Zakynthos and Kefalonia.
The highest point on Zakynthos is Mount Vrachionas at 2487ft (758m). From the top you can see the Greek mainland to the east and Kefalonia to the north. (Kefalonia has a much higher peak - Megas Soros / Mount Ainos at 5,338 ft (1,627 m).
The very famous wrecked ship is a good day trip. Although the wreck appears at first site to have been there for a long time in fact it was run aground in 1980 by its crew after the Greek Navy caught up with them smuggling.
Man has inhabited the area for thousands of years building the Iron Age forts of Pilsdon Pen, Lamberts Castle, Blackberry Castle and Coney Castleand, and Lyme Regis on England's South Coast has a history going back over 1200 years. In the middle ages it was one of the most important ports on England's south coast. Today it has great importance as a gateway to the World Heritage Site the Jurassic Coast - Lyme Bay as seen in the picture above.
The Romans knew current day Lyme Regis as "Lym Supra Mare" and a Roman Villa has been found at the nearby village of Harcombe. The name comes from the river Lym which means a torrent of water. The Town is located in the Coombe formed by the river valley.
In 774AD the West Saxon King Cynewulf gave the land along the river Lym to the monks of Sherborne Abbey, who made sea salt.
Lyme Regis was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and received its Royal Charter from King Edward I in 1284, and saw action in the English Civil War - the Royalist forces laid siege in 1644 and the Duke of Monmouth landed here in 1684 in his attempt to gain the Crown.
To the east is the Majestic Golden Cap at 618 ft. which is the highest Cliff on the south coast of England. Westwards is the famous Under Cliff.
Lyme Regis' geology now means it is on the western edge of a World Heritage Site - the Jurassic Coast. 180 million years ago in the Jurassic period, a soft sedimentary rock layer called Blue Lias formed. It is this rock that all the fossils are found. One of the first recorded finds was when Mary Anning (born locally in 1799), excavated a fossil ichthyosaur.
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