Greek islands always reward you with unexpected enchantment. I first went to Zakynthos on a cheap last-minute deal. After I'd booked, friends told me that the island was notorious for its all-night discos, but the rugged beauty of Zakynthos was not hard to find. It is around every corner, minutes from the tourist apartments and lodgings. Accept that the island's beaches and small seaside towns belong to the clubbers and walk just a kilometre along the coast or inland and you find lush green olive groves, mountain villages and wooded hillsides, isolated rocky shores and sparkling seascapes.
The second time I went to Zakynthos - for a rest and relaxation holiday at a private club - all these delights were there in abundance and not a hotel or disco in sight. The Peligoni Club nestles into a rocky hillside in the north-east of the island and is as far as you can get geographically and spiritually from the over-development of the south. The stone clubhouse and vine-shaded terraces barely impact on the natural uninhabited surroundings. There are a cluster of buildings and patios, a couple of diving platforms and a stepladder to take you straight from rocks to sea plus a concrete apron for windsurfers and sailors. Within a short drive, and similarly secluded and peaceful, are the apartments, villas and stone cottages where Peligoni guests sleep, have breakfast and can, if they feel particularly antisocial, laze about all day. Some of the villas have pools.
Vanessa and Johnny, who run the Peligoni Club, discovered the bay some 20 years ago. They liked it so much they bought a small house - and then another, and another. Friends came and sailed and painted and told more friends. Now they can accommodate 60 or more people and still maintain a personal welcome for each guest.
If you went and did nothing but eat wonderfully prepared fresh food, swim and drink the local wine, after a week you would probably come back fully restored from almost every modern anxiety. But for those who prefer to take their relaxation in more structured form, Peligoni has started offering 'restoration holidays', relieving you even of the worry of how to relax.
This year, they will be held in June and September, when the weather is at its most benign and the hillsides are carpeted with wild flowers. These are the island's natural relaxants but they will be supplemented with stress management, meditation and yoga. Optional extras include massage, lymph drainage and reflexology.
The days fell into an easy routine with the group (around a dozen) meeting for joint activities in the cooler mornings followed by a trip and lunch. One memorable lunch was taken at a taverna inland where owner Costas invited us after the meal into a tiny living room and sang a song of such haunting beauty that I would go back again just to hear him. Vanessa and Johnny are well known and loved around the island and their presence opens doors into worlds that most tourists never see. Afternoons were generally free for sailing or windsurfing (at no extra cost), dozing or reading followed by a rest and a shower and then a long dinner at the club. This was always outdoors, and could be peaceful or raucous depending on the mood of different groups and the amount of wine being drunk.
I was not too sure about some of the organised relaxation activities. What, I thought, was the point of closing my eyes and imagining a Disney landscape of mountains and waterfalls when my open eyes could engage with the most beautiful natural landscape in the Ionian Sea? None the less, being with the group was tremendous fun and our childish lack of reverence for some elements of the programme - some of us found pagan sun worship outside a Greek Orthodox monastery a little absurd - surely did us as much good as meditating. Laughter is very restorative.
Homer mentions Zakynthos, calling it the 'woody island' and notes in the Iliad that its men were among the crew of Odysseus's twelve crimson-prowed ships. The tourist board claims Homer also said that all who come to the island fall under its spell. The lack of building on the shore line in the north makes it easy to indulge in Odyssey fantasies if you take a boat or kayak out into the bay. Odysseus's tomb is said to be on neighbouring Cephalonia, of which we will soon be hearing much when Captain Corelli's Mandolin is released early next month.
Holidays offering, yoga, meditation and promising to change lives have become increasingly popular in recent years but they are a hit and miss affair depending on the set-up and the attitudes of your fellow-seekers after enlightenment. If you want an intensive yoga holiday or to entrust your psyche to a guru, then Peligoni is probably not for you.
But if you want an informal mix of swimming, good food, good company and a bit of meditating mixed with sailing, massage and the odd evening of raucous singing, it could be just the place to unwind. And whether or not Homer said it, the island will surely cast a spell over you.
Fact file
Dates: Peligoni holidays run from Thursday to Thursday. Restoration weeks begin 7 and 14 Jun, 13 and 20 Sept.
Painting holidays begin 10 and 17 May; 7 and 14 June; 6, 13, 20 and 27 Sept.
Price: £455 pp per week excluding flights and drinks but including all meals, guided day trip, transport on island including use of shared cars, single accommodation (£25 reduction for sharing) and use of all club facilities including sailing and windsurfing instruction.
Contact: Tarific Holidays, PO Box 88, Chichester, Sussex PO 20 7DP. Tel 01243 511499, fax 01243 513132
