Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

- From the bustling streets of Athens

and the historic port of Hydra,

to the beaches of Zakinthos and the villages of Kythira,

our journey over the coming weeks spans

many of the Ionian islands, some well-known,

others that few ever get to visit.

But before heading off, you probably wanna

know a little bit about me.

My story starts as boy growing up in the inner

suburbs of Sydney.

Like a lot of Greeks early last century,

my parents moved overseas to find a better life abroad.

They arrived with very little and worked extremely hard to

give my sisters and I a loving upbringing.

They also made me believe that if I too worked hard enough,

I could achieve anything.

54 years later, I've built a successful business.

And that has enabled me to do things I once only dreamed of.

One of those dreams was to step foot on all 227 inhabited

Greek Islands, and I'm going to take a big chunk out of that

in this first series.

From Athens, I've made my way through Hydra, Nafplio,

along the Peloponnese coast to Elafonisos,

and now I'm in Kythira.

This is the island of my heritage, so after a few weeks of

travelling it was time to slow down a little.

My plan for the coming days is to visit

some of my old haunts, to see how things have changed.

I'm also really looking forward to searching

for new places that have a connection with my past.

Compared to many of the Greek islands,

Kythira is by no means a famous holiday destination.

This means there's not nearly as much development

as you'd find in other places.

That's one of the charms of the island.

In this episode I'm going above and below the water,

as I continue to explore more of it,

before making our way further

through the Ionian to Zakynthos.

It's an island best known for a spectacular beach,

but as you'll soon discover, there's a whole lot more to it,

including great food, a rich history and fantastic people.

For now though, I've taken a short drive across Kythira,

to a special monastery that brings back

fond memories from my childhood.

It's also renowned for the miracles

that occur in and around the church.

You'll know what I mean when I drive off.

Below me is the monastery of Panagia Myrtidiotissa.

The Virgin Mary.

Probably the most significant monastery

on the whole island of Kythira.

The story goes that a shepherd

found the icon of Panagia Myrtidiotissa,

several centuries ago, in the myrtle bushes down below,

where the church is, or the monastery is built now.

And he brought it back to this location,

and the very next night he found it again

in the myrtle bushes.

This happened two or three times,

so they built the monastery down there.

Those strange ecclesiastical powers,

is why we say that it may have healed

many people that have come here.

I don't know, but I want to go down

and find out a bit more about it.

Like Ayia Moni in the southern part of the island,

this monastery is well known for pilgrims coming

from all parts of the world to stay for an evening or two.

I sometimes think that the resorts of the world

have borrowed their architecture from these monasteries,

because it's just a cool, peaceful place to stay.

This really is a beautiful monastery,

from every single perspective.

Externally, internally, and this court yard,

because I have special memories here,

from when I was 10 years old.

I had my first Greek coffee,

I was here with my sister and my mother,

and we spent a couple of nights just up there.

That's not why we're here,

let's go and have a look at something really special.

I've been looking forward to

once again walking into this church.

The last time I was here,

I remember being absolutely humbled by its grandeur.

(speaking foreign language)

As with many of the priests I've recently met,

Father Petros couldn't wait to tell me all about

the significance of his monastery,

in particular, this special icon.

He's an approachable, young, new world member of the clergy,

and a great example of how the church

is changing with the times.

Father Petros has just explained,

this wonderful icon of the Virgin Mary Myrtle

with the baby Jesus, and the history of it.

Now you can see the darkened faces,

and the reason you see the darkened faces is

because that is the actual original icon

that was found in the Myrtles, in the 13th Century.

They believe it came from Mount Athos in 800 AD.

Later on in 1837, they spent some money

and built this beautiful gold sheeting around it.

This is how you recognise, this specific icon.

Much like many other mothers in Kythira and across Greece,

and in fact around the world,

my mother carried with her a copy of the icon.

It's said to possess great healing powers, as is the church.

Such is the significance of this monastery,

my father placed a plaque on the front of our own home,

in recognition of it.

After Easter, the celebration of the Virgin Mary

on the 15th of August is probably the most

important day on the Greek Orthodox calendar.

In Kythira, they celebrate it here.

So if you happen to be in the region,

I suggest you come down to watch

and take part in the festivities.

Apart from visiting this elegant church

and taking in the architecture,

you can also enjoy some local food,

a few beverages and plenty of dancing.

Plus, if you have the time,

you should also have a look at the Catholic Church next door

and see the mammoth candles that were given

as a gift by a mother after a miracle was performed.

Just down the road is another place where miracles occur,

on a daily basis.

Now we've just left Myrtidiotissa,

and there's some special things about this area

I'm going to test out right now.

Heading down this hill, what I'm going to do is stop.

I'm going to stop, leave everything, and get out of the car.

Have a look at this!

How good is this!

(laughing)

We're going backwards!

Up the hill!

It's true.

I can't believe it, we're going backwards, up a hill.

Only 50 kilometres south of Kythira,

is the tiny island of Antikythera.

We were supposed to leave Avlemona to go there,

but the weather didn't allow us the opportunity.

It was quite a disappointment,

because the island is famous for an ancient shipwreck

that lead to the unearthing of the

oldest astronomical computer known to man.

It came to be known as The Antikythera Mechanism,

and today is on display at the

archaeological museum in Athens.

You know Professor, a space physicist

and a construction contractor walking in

to see the first computer

in the archaeological museum.

- Yes, it's a very, very important item.

- Yes.

Professor Moussas is one of the most

passionate scientists I've ever met.

I could listen to his softly spoken voice all day.

He has a poetic way with words

that makes it hard to believe he's a space physicist.

He explained the workings of this complicated instrument

in such a way that even an average person

like myself could understand.

- It is really, the grand, grandfather of all technology.

The bits and bytes of your computer, or of your telephone,

have their roots inside this mechanism.

In fact, the gears are the bytes,

and the teeth are the bits of this particular mechanism,

that has it all.

All the Greek history is in there.

All humanity's history is also here.

- [Peter] In this, one machine?

- In this machine.

You wonder why.

Even the philosophy, it is really the mentality

that the people that constructed this mechanism,

enable humans to develop present day civilization.

Even philosophy.

- [Peter] This bronze instrument,

that fits in the palm of your hands,

is believed to be the first analogue computer known to man.

It predicts astronomical positions, and eclipses,

and was used as a calendar.

It even tracked the four-year cycle

of the ancient Olympic Games.

- Here we have the sun, a little golden sphere,

that goes around in one year.

- [Peter] And these?

- And these are the planets.

- Fantastic.

Unbelievable.

I just can't get over this.

2,200 years old.

And we have all this, in one mechanism.

- Exactly, nobody can believe it.

- [Peter] Although the mechanism was

discovered over a hundred years ago,

archaeologists are still diving on the same wreck,

and unearthing new artefacts.

In a turn of luck, the senior archaeologist,

Theotokis Theodokou, was in Avlemona at the same time as me,

diving on another wreck in the area.

- [Theotokis] It's about 100 dives.

- [Peter] Wow.

So there's two acres and you only dived

on three square metres, 100 dives.

That's unbelievable.

- It's unbelievable, but keep in mind,

even if we could, we are not allowed

to excavate the whole area.

I talked to you about the symbolism of this certain site,

and the importance of this certain site.

For each era, and our era,

and the chain of knowledge throughout history.

So we cannot go there and excavate everything

because excavation, it's a destructive operation.

So we don't want to destruct everything.

We hope that next generations will be more wise,

and more equipped than us.

So they will be maybe able, at some point,

without destructing anything, to map and see everything.

Which is the ideal.

- Theotiokis, I'm impressed that you know so much,

that you've discovered so much by just mapping it,

and excavating only three square metres of a two acre site.

So you definitely have done your ethical obligation

and left for other generations,

just like the other five investigations before you.

- Exactly.

- [Peter] Just outside the mouth to the harbour of Avlemona,

is another important archaeological site,

the wreck of the Mentor.

It was one of the ships that transported

the Parthenon Marbles from Athens to London,

and sunk in 1802.

You can now see the marbles in the British Museum.

I was lucky enough to go one better,

and actually dive on the site.

So tell me, how deep is this wreck?

- It is 22 metres.

And that it was really, it sunk in not very deep water

so it was possible to salvage the ship

in the beginning of the 19th Century,

1802 when it sunk.

And so that was the reason that they managed

to salvage it and bring up all the boxes from the ship.

Otherwise if it was much deeper

it would not be easy for them, but in that case

I think that everything will be destroyed

by worms and--

- [Peter] Yes.

- And erosion.

- So, when we go out there,

and I'm looking forward to diving on the wreck,

I'm so excited.

What do we expect to see when we go down to 22 metres?

- Well what we are going to see is

we are going to see the frames of the ship,

we are going to see a part,

not all the hull that we have discovered,

'cos the hull is protected with a cloth,

with a special cloth, protect the destruction of the wood.

And also we are going to see the trench

that we have started a few days ago to excavate.

Now we are taking out all the sand,

we are trying to reach the level where

the object probably we are going to find.

And other objects.

- This is fantastic.

Dimitri I can't believe you get paid to do this stuff,

for an adventure, this is wonderful!

I really want to go!

Can we go?

- Yep.

- Let's go!

The marble friezes were raised

by free divers a year after the ship sunk.

The controversy behind the marbles being relocated

to the British Museum is a long story

that is still being debated today.

The compressor is for the hose,

so that as they are sucking stuff up,

the compressor is doing the work

and it goes through to that little basket over there.

Many people are lobbying heavily

for their repatriation to Athens.

Others believe that it is great

to spread this wonderful history around the world

for others to see.

I'm just happy that they exist for everyone to enjoy.

What's fantastic about the Mentor,

is that there's still more to find,

and I was hoping that, just maybe,

I might unearth something too!

And guess what?

After sifting about the sand for only 10 minutes,

I literally struck gold!

I found a chest draw and immediately

you could feel the excitement of the others underwater.

This was the first thing that had been

discovered in the previous ten dives.

What are the chances of that?

You might think that a chest draw is no big deal,

but to these archaeologists it's quite significant

and helps piece together the story

of the events of the period.

It took four divers two days to map,

photograph and slowly excavate this one piece.

All this hard work will lead to even more toil

back in the office, painstakingly researching this,

and the many other finds they uncover.

Oh candelabra!

- Yes, yes.

- Candelabra.

Very nice!

- This one is what we found.

- This is fantastic.

I found this!

I found this.

- And also, probably this one but they have to be cleaned.

They are coins.

- Oh yeah!

Wow!

- [Dimitris] You see, they are probably coins,

and it is concrete, and they have to be cleaned.

- I think they are probably, they're bronze,

they are not gold, they are too light.

- Yes they are covered with,

sometimes they are covered with silver.

Oh it's silver.

- Yeah, and that's why that concreted,

and they clean it up and the restoration.

- Hang on a second.

(laughing)

I was underwater for only 40 minutes,

but spent most of the day with the team.

They didn't stop working for the whole time I was there.

Their minds were totally focused on the job at hand.

It's a thankless task, but one that's incredibly important.

A lifetime of work may only add up to a handful of pieces,

however the objects they unearth can change history.

A rusty piece of metal might reveal a navigational tool.

Inside a clump of mud there could be a piece of jewellery.

You never know what you may find.

In another life, I could see myself being an archaeologist.

Diving on old cities and wrecks.

For now though, I'll just have to watch in awe.

From Avlemona, we headed to the beach side port of Kapsali.

It's probably one of the most picturesque locations

in this part of Greece, which is certainly saying something!

You'll have to come here and judge for yourself.

Up above Kapsali, perched on a mountaintop,

is the ancient capital of Chora,

and protecting it is a towering fort.

It's a dominant feature on the horizon

that commands attention and draws you up the mountain

to do some exploring.

But before heading there,

it's only natural to spend some time wandering

around the port area.

It's a modern settlement with all the trappings

you'd expect from a popular tourist spot.

There's loads of taverns and restaurants,

shops selling local produce and souvenirs,

and plenty of space on the beach.

It's not one of those major centres that get overly crowded

and leaves you struggling for a bit of peace.

Even in peak season you can find

a quiet spot to relax in the sun,

or sit in a café with a coffee

watching the passing scenery.

People watching seems to be one of

the most popular pass times for locals,

as well as regular visitors.

Or is it just a case of switching off for a while,

and simply sitting without a care in the world,

as daily routines just happen around you,

while you're completely oblivious to it all.

I'm not one to sit idle for too long.

I don't mind some time to recharge the batteries,

but once they're full, I'm off on another

mission of discovery, and that fortress was beckoning.

I've been to a lot of castles and fortresses on the island,

but nothing else has a road entry of this sort of width.

So it tells me it must have

been the main castle for Kythira.

Apart from the fact that the main town is right behind me.

Chora and this castle,

are the southernmost part of Kythira.

Between us and Africa, is Antikythera and Crete.

This stretch of water is the main trading route

between Asia Minor and Europe.

In antiquity, and in modern history, and today,

there are ships passing through here all the time.

And that's why this castle was so important.

This fortress has become a monument for the island.

It's a symbol of the past that

helps create Kythira's identity.

It was first built in the 13th century

during the period of Venetian rule,

and over the centuries that followed

the construction continued, with various alterations

and additions being done.

The location meant the occupants could see

across the surrounding area for vast distances.

It meant not only could they monitor passing trade,

but also potential invaders.

(speaking foreign language)

The current caretaker is Marieta.

Her passion and knowledge for the fort was clear

as she showed me through the small museum inside.

These stone friezes are family crests

that were displayed on the homes of prominent people.

Names like Casimatis, Veneris and Venier

are still around today.

Some originated in Venice, others from Crete.

Interestingly, many of my cousins go by these names.

I couldn't find my family name up there though

probably because we were farmers, and peasants and builders,

and not aristocrats.

In times of war and pirate attack,

the townsfolk of the capital would

seek sanctuary within the walls of the fort.

For many generations it provided protection for them.

We looked at the inscriptions on the cannons

and noticed that in many cases,

they were from different periods.

There were Venetian and even British ones,

so we're talking different empires spanning 400 years.

That's several generations of families

finding refuge behind these walls.

Amazing.

Barbarossa came to the island,

he sacked the whole line of Kythira, Poloichora was taken,

all the small forts were taken.

He came to this one, to this mega fortress

and he just couldn't take it down.

Kythira survives today as a result

of those few that lived in this fortress,

as a result of these walls.

And I'm looking at that view.

This is amazing.

The fort may have been battered by the centuries,

but one thing that has weathered the ravages of time,

is the view.

It's a stunning backdrop that has

been leaving people in awe throughout the ages.

It's hard to imagine the sleepy town of Kapsali

ever being a setting where conflict would have occurred.

But behind the now peaceful facade,

lies a history that no doubt,

is dotted with periods of turmoil.

Similar to how gazing up at

the fortress draws you into its walls,

looking out at the view of Kythira's western coastline,

inspired me to hop in the tender and explore more of it.

The distant shores are riddled

with hidden alcoves and beaches,

free from masses of people and ruggedly beautiful.

Unbelievable coast line.

This is the rough side, isn't it?

- Yeah, this is the very rough side.

- We're lucky that the weather's good.

You can see from the weathering of the escarpment

that it can get pretty rough along this side of the island.

The windward coast receives the worst

of the storms and ocean swells,

as a result you won't see much more

than a few goats here and there.

But, be patient and look hard enough

and you'll come across some hidden gems

that only the locals know about.

Beaches like Melithoni are quite remote

and unless you live here, you'd never know they existed.

It's in fact accessible by road.

The problem is, there are no signs pointing the way.

So you'll need to study a map of the island to find it.

I've never been to Melithoni Beach.

- [Captain] The weather usually is very good here.

- [Peter] Yeah?

It looks protected.

- [Captain] Very protected.

- [Peter] And is it sand or?

- [Captain] Yeah there's more sand.

- [Peter] More sand.

You know, Kythira is only 27 kilometres long,

and I've been here dozens of times.

It's a small island and you'd think

I would have seen it all.

But I still haven't uncovered everything it has to offer.

Each time I come here I find something new,

which is why I love the place.

It's always throwing up little surprises.

One time I might visit a different beach,

another it might be an amazing meal in a tavern

that's been there for generations,

but I never walked through these doors.

I'd like to think that in decades to come,

even after another dozen trips here,

that I'll still be discovering new gems.

The seafaring Venetians brought many things to the world,

a lot of which were good.

One of the unfortunate results of their travels

was the spread of disease.

The result of the outbreak of sickness

lead to them creating quarantine stations,

known as lazarettes.

In Greece, on most of the islands that had a lot of trade,

you'll find one.

Here in Kapsali, you have two bays.

The smaller of them is the home of the fishing boats,

and its most prominent building, is the old lazaretto.

Incidentally, this building was sold

by a friend of mine twenty years ago,

to an artist who is the great grandson

of the famous engineer, Gustav Eiffel.

No doubt the name sounds familiar,

he's the guy that built the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Being a builder myself,

I just had to meet Silvan Eiffel and his wife.

They've turned it into a home and refuge,

where they pursue their passions.

Sylvain, I look at your great, great grandfather

who was an engineer, and you're an artist,

and an artist is a visionary,

and an engineer is an analytical, articulated person.

You're a different person to him.

What happened with the genes?

Where did they go?

- My great, great grandfather Gustav was a big engineer,

a big inventor, I did not do

as much as my ancestor

but I like to do everything by my hand.

I can, in this house, I did everything by myself.

Without any help.

I spent 6,000 hours to work in this house.

I make, 160 tonnes of mud yellow--

- [Peter] Wow.

- Of stones, cement.

I did everything, the plumbing, the electricity,

all the walls inside, outside,

I did everything by myself.

So not as Gustav Eiffel who has many employees,

only myself.

- I think you must have done a better job than him then,

because he had a lot of help.

But I can see then that if you

did all this yourself, it's in the genes.

You are partly an engineer to be able to do this.

Fantastic.

Apart from taking over a decade

to restore this historic building,

Sylvain spends the Summer months here in Kythira,

creating artworks of the fortress.

It seems to be somewhat of an obsession.

Each of his pieces might be in different lighting

or perspective, but at the centre of the work

is the fortress.

Who can blame him?

When you've got such a beautiful scene

in front of your house, you'd have to be mad

to look anywhere else for inspiration

- I walk about--

Sylvain's wife is also an artist.

The sculptures throughout the house are all hers.

It seems like they're a match made in heaven.

Two artists, passionate about their work

and their island refuge.

No doubt they'll be spending many years to come,

both enjoying each other's company,

while relaxing in the warm, salty breeze of Kythira.

It's one of those places you visit,

and spend your days trying to work out

how you might be able to live here someday.

Well these two have taken that dream one step further,

and turned it into a delightful reality.

Two kilometres off the coast of Kapsali

is the islet known as Avgo, or Egg.

It's said to have been the birthplace of Aphrodite,

the goddess of desire and love.

The locals believe that it was here that in Greek mythology,

Cronus ambushed his father Uranus,

and cut off his genitals before casting them into the sea.

From the white foam Aphrodite was born.

It's a pretty dramatic story,

so naturally Rhette and I had to go out

and have a quick look before leaving Kythira.

Pretty cool!

- [Rhette] Yeah it's nice eh?

- Pretty cool.

So I'd come in around, and go in through the orange wall.

- [Rhette] Yeah I'll grab a rope and tie us up.

- [Peter] Done!

- [Rhette] Closer!

Three metres.

Okay!

A little bit more.

Alright.

- Wow!

I reckon that goes all the way in there, mate.

- [Rhette] Yeah, there's caves that run

all the way to the back.

- [Peter] I'm gonna jump in!

It's taken thousands of years of erosion

to create this incredible formation,

and today it continues to evolve.

Many of the small cracks will someday grow

to become caves in their own right.

Who knows, maybe in a millennium from now,

there will be a tunnel where you can swim

all the way through to the other side.

- The water right now must be freezing.

I've been here at midday, and the water's,

you know, still cold,

but right now, this morning I wouldn't.

Yeah, must be so cold in there.

- [Peter] When you're excited,

you don't really notice the cold.

But there's one thing I will never be able to ignore,

and that's the cold shoulder of my wife

if I keep her waiting too long.

We had a long way to go to get to Zakynthos,

so a quick swim and I was back to Mia Zoi.

My time in Kythira seemed like it flew by.

I'd seen so much in the last week

that some of it had become a blur.

It's always the way when I visit the island.

By the time I've caught up with old friends and relatives,

had a bit of relaxation, and done a little exploring,

it's once again time to pack the bags,

pull up the anchor, and make a move.

And just like all those previous holidays to Kythira,

I leave with a heavy heart.

Only on this occasion, there's a bit of excitement too.

Ahead were the Ionian Islands,

and plenty more fun was on the horizon.

The next port of call was Zakynthos.

Now, if you've ever looked at a brochure about Greece,

chances are you've seen a picture of this place.

More specifically, a spot called Navagio Beach,

also known as Shipwreck Cove.

It's said to be one of the most photographed places

in the country, and when you've seen it,

you'll understand why.

To tell you the truth, a photo hardly captures it's beauty.

When you're coming into Zakynthos,

most people think about the most

photographed beach in Greece.

Others think about the 50 odd

olive trees per person on this island.

I think about the nougat,

about my neighbour Jim who lives here,

and I also think about the name Dionysios,

because every second person here is called Dionysios,

after the patron saint.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a swim over here.

Captain Yianni and his team are amazing.

They can get Mia Zoi into almost any harbour, bay or beach.

I have to admit, I occasionally get nervous

when all the action is going on,

but they make it look so easy,

and there's never a mistake.

Mate, this is awesome.

This is so close!

My last captain tied us out about 100 metres,

my captain has got balls mate!

(laughing)

Oh man, it's unbelievable.

Thanks captain!

How blue is this water?

And how clean is this beach?

There's thousands of people coming here every day,

and yet it's still clean!

There's no rubbish strewn about the place,

however there's one glaring blemish,

and that's the shipwreck.

That said, it's become a landmark.

Most tourists leave their mark on it,

and being the hopeless romantic and sentimental bloke I am,

I felt compelled to leave a small reminder

for when I next return.

I'm here in Navagio, which is on

the North West side of Zakynthos.

Many people call it Shipwreck bay,

because of this ship wreck, the Panioti.

The Panioti in 1980 was smuggling tobacco along the coast,

from Turkey, all the way through here,

and the Navy were chasing them.

It sped through a storm, came across Navagio beach,

and was shipwrecked right here.

Apparently there was sailors scurrying all over the place,

trying to get out of here.

But now it's a beautiful beach,

and people visit it every single day of summer.

Look at it now, it's bare.

But in three hours time, it'll be packed!

Once the taxis and tour boats begin operating,

the masses start arriving.

They pile onto shore in their hundreds.

The boats are constantly coming and going, day in, day out.

When we arrived at seven AM the place was almost deserted.

Within a couple hours it was full

of camera-wielding tourists.

I can only imagine the chaos in the peak of summer!

I guess we're no different,

only our camera is a little bigger,

and we have the luxury of being able

to visit under our own steam.

From ground level the beach is pretty amazing,

but from a bird's eye view,

it takes on a whole new level of spectacular.

It also gives you an appreciation

for just how many people are here.

You can appreciate why.

It's a remarkable place, and even with the crowds,

it's well worth spending a few hours here.

The capital of Zakynthos caries the same name as the island,

but keep in mind Zakynthos is also called Zante.

To tell you the truth,

for outsiders Greece can be confusing in this way.

You'll also come across a lot of places called Chora,

which basically means, town.

Around 10,000 people live here,

making it the commercial and tourist centre of the island.

It's a charming place with an old-world feel,

combining architecture from various periods.

The dominant style is Venetian,

with numerous major buildings all around the port area

and throughout the town having features

typical of that time.

The thing is, a lot of it is new,

having been rebuilt after the 1953 earthquake.

To show me around I met with Nienke.

Yep, that's not a Greek name.

She actually comes from the Netherlands.

Like several people I've come across in my travels,

she came to Greece on holidays

and eight years later remains.

Nienke is now a tour guide and knows more about the place

than most long term locals probably do.

It's very green this island, isn't it?

- Yes, it's rainy.

- Yes.

- So, the rain starts in September, until May, June.

- And they had plenty of rain this year?

- Yes, yes.

And it's always green, it's always green.

Because the soil keeps the moist, keeps the rain,

and the trees always have water.

- Fantastic.

Our first stop is the castle of Zakynthos.

Yes, I know, another castle.

But each one has its own history, and besides,

you have to see the view from up here.

So Nienke, this is the second gate,

how many gates are there here?

- There are three gates.

So the first one that we just walked through, this one,

and the third one a little bit, uphill.

The castle needed three gates,

to protect the people who lived inside.

- [Peter] Wow, they must have been in major fear.

With three gates!

- [Nienke] And they spent a lot of money.

- [Peter] A lot of money, a lot of money.

- [Nienke] Yes.

- [Peter] I notice the third gate has the

famous lion with the wings,

the Venetian symbol.

- [Nienke] Yeah if you look closely, you see that

he has his paw on the book.

And that means,

that the Venetians conquered the island by negotiation.

So not by war.

If it would have been by war,

he had a sword in his hand.

- So Nienke that paw on that book,

means a hell of a lot, because this peace,

led to the education of these young boys from Zakynthos,

is that right?

- Yes, the rich families of the island

were able to send the young boys off to study in Italy.

Because the routes were open, because of this peace,

and the boys went to study in Italy,

and came back as famous Poets.

- Wow.

- Like Solomos, Kalvos.

- [Peter] The early poets and writers of Zakynthos

may well have learnt their craft in Italy,

but I like to also think that they drew inspiration

from the surrounds of their Greek home.

The most famous of the poets to

have come from here was Dionysios Solomos.

His work, Hymn to Liberty,

became the national anthem in 1865.

For this, he earned the title of Greece's national poet.

The amount of cannons I've seen in forts,

I reckon you could melt all of these cannons

and build a castle made of cannons--

- [Nienke] Yes, yes.

- [Peter] Of cast iron.

- [Nienke] They probably did as well.

- [Peter] So Nienke I can see mainland Greece,

just over there.

And this was, in the 14th century,

this was Ottoman, wasn't it?

- [Nienke] Yes exactly.

- [Peter] And this was Venetian?

- This was Venetian.

And Zakynthos, together with the other Ionian islands,

all belonged to the Venetian republic.

And this Venetian republic created a defence system,

against the Turks, against the Ottoman empire.

So it made a defence system from Kerkyra in the North,

until Kythira in the south, and also

it conquered several ports on Crete,

all the way up to Rhodes and Kos,

as an arc to defend their trade roots.

- [Peter] Right, so this big arc around Greece.

- Yes.

- Around the Ottomans, so they could keep trading.

Yes, exactly.

- Wow.

The influence of the past is most evident

in the forts and ruins you find

on the islands across Greece.

But what's far less obvious,

is how the various conflicts and foreign invaders

have impacted on the culture of the nation.

Apart from bringing with them different religions,

practises, foods and belief systems,

they also helped galvanise the people of Greece,

and instil a sense of unity.

Zakynthos is also famous for its olive trees.

They say there's 50 of them for

every person that lives here.

Dionisis, I know that this is a family business,

and its 150 years old, some of these trees

actually look 150 years old!

- [Dionisis] Actually they are more,

they are more than 500 years old.

- [Peter] More than 500 years old?

- More than 500 years old, yeah.

- Wow!

So how old can these trees live to?

- They can live, it's been estimated

they can live up to 5,000 years of age.

- And they are still fruiting?

- [Dionisis] They are still fruiting every year.

Actually how it goes is that one year

they produce a lot fruits, and the next year

they are resting.

They produce less, or nothing.

- You know Dionisis, I walk through these olive groves,

and this is when I feel, I feel the Greek in me, you know.

It's a wonderful thing.

But I've never actually picked an olive

and made olive oil.

What happens?

- What happens is each farmer has his own plastic nets,

so they are plastic nets under the trees,

they have enough to place under three

or five trees at a time.

They do cut some branches for two reasons,

they like to keep the trees as low as possible,

and secondly, new growth gives better quality of fruits.

A couple of years later, because the olive tree,

one year it produces a lot of fruits,

the next year is resting.

It produces less or nothing.

Then, we are beating them with wooden sticks,

in our days a small rotating machines,

to make our life a bit easier.

It is still a very physical job.

Just to give you an idea, a group of four people,

they can pick no more than 12 average sized trees per day.

- Wow!

- So it is a lot of job.

- A big job!

- Yeah.

Then, they are getting the olives from the nets,

and they are filling big sacks, about 50-60 kilogrammes

- Wow, I'm just looking at some of these olives now.

These are a couple months away

from being picked aren't they?

- Oh yes, yes.

Couple months away, yeah.

- So they're not that big?

- Not really, not really.

I mean, they do need some rain.

They will be, lets say twice the size of that.

- [Peter] Yeah, twice the size of that, right.

- Then, the beginning of October, November

they are green in colour, then they become,

as they ripe on top of the trees, they become purple.

Purple becomes brown, brown and finally black.

- Oh! So what you're saying to me is,

all olives start out green, and end up black!

- Exactly.

- So there's no black olives--

- No, no, no at the end of the season they are black.

- I didn't know that, wow.

It turns out that there was a lot

I didn't know about olive oil.

So, we made our way back to the factory,

where Dionisis could explain the whole process

in more detail.

This is where it all happens, is it?

- This is where it all happens, yeah.

What are these?

Those are big mixing containers,

when the olives become grounded, the pulp,

comes inside here.

So they get mixed, for about half an hour.

What happens when you mix the pulp,

the membrane of the cell, that holds the olive oil

becomes more soft, so when you try and extract from it,

it bursts more easily, the membrane of the cell,

so you get more olive oil out.

- [Peter] Wow.

- [Dionisis] And then from there, the olive pulp

passes through the centre of fusion separator,

and gets spun 3,000 times per minute.

And that separates olive oil from the waste,

which are the pip from the olives

and the small broken piece from the pips.

- [Peter] Right.

And then?

- [Dionisis] And then, olive oil comes to the next stage

where it is mixed with water.

The olives as we know are fruits,

so they have about 20% of moisture within.

There is another centre of fusion separator in the corner,

which spins vertically, olive oil is lighter,

it always comes up, and the water simply goes down.

- [Peter] And the water goes down.

And then you have the olive oil?

- [Dionisis] And then we have the olive oil.

- [Peter] And then I take that it goes into these big vats.

- [Dionisis] Exactly, yeah.

- [Peter] Wow.

So Dionisis we have gone through the process,

I need to taste the product.

- Of course, yes.

- I'm Greek, so I know my olive oil,

let's go and try it out.

- Let's go and try, please.

Look at that colour!

Green, good olive oil is Green!

- [Dionisis] Extra virgin olive oil.

- [Peter] Is green.

- [Dionisis] Yeah.

- [Peter] Oh, the aroma!

Oh man, that's fantastic.

That, you know, I've never drunk olive oil before,

but I could do this every morning.

- Of course you could, it's very good!

- That's magnificent.

Okay, I think I need to buy some!

- Okay!

- It's got my approval, it's fantastic!

Olive oil is synonymous with Greece,

so it's only fitting that if you ever come here,

you learn a little bit about it.

What the country is also known for, is the food,

and the typical Mediterranean way of life

that sees dinner being consumed late in the day.

These night time meals also have a way

of turning into parties, particularly in the summer months

when the island's alive with energy

and packed with tourists.

In busy towns like Zante,

the evenings are always a great time to take a walk

and enjoy the changing light.

In the next episode of My Greek Odyssey,

my exploration of Zakynthos continues.

First stop is to learn about the famed nougat of the island,

before getting to know more about another thing

it's known for, the poet Dionysios Solomos.

I also catch up with a good friend

and visit a self-sustainable farm in the island's

fertile heart.

From there, I head to the turtle sanctuary

to meet a few of the locals.

I also make my way to Pilos for a very special dive.

I cover a lot of ground in not much time,

so you won't want to miss a single second of it!

(upbeat music)