Zakynthos

Ζάκυνθος

Also referred to as Zante and Zakinthos.

Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos) is one of the seven islands of Heptanesia (the others are Corfu, Kithira, Lefkas, Ithaki, Kefalinia, and Paxi) and lies in the Ionian Sea, facing Sicily, Italy, on one side and the Greek mainland on the other.

The island was ruled by the Republic of Venice while most of Greece was under Ottoman rule, so Zakynthos and the other Ionian Islands have the distinction of having largely escaped the strong Ottoman Turkish influences that spread across much of Greece during nearly four centuries of Ottoman domination.

Sometimes called Il Fiore di Levante (“The Flower of the East”), the island has suffered severe earthquakes in the past, particularly the devastating earthquake of 1953, which flattened many of its treasured 18th-century buildings of important architectural and historical value. Since then, efforts have been made to reinvigorate the island’s traditional architectural style with new structures while also preserving the few remaining buildings that reflect the island’s Venetian past.

Monument to the national poet Dionysius Solomos, born on Zakynthos April 8, 1798 – died February 9, 1857. Solomos wrote the Hymn to Liberty (Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν) on Zakynthos in 1823; its opening stanzas became the Greek national anthem. Iinspired by the Greek War of Independence then taking place across the water on the mainland, Solomos' poem eventually supplied the words for the Greek national anthem (and later that of Cyprus); Nikolaos Mantzaros subsequently set it to music.

Related:

The Blue Caves of Zakynthos

KTEL Bus Lines Zakynthos page

Related: Beaches of Greece

Related: Islands of Greece

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