Useful Information
Electric Current
The standard in Greece is 220V AC (50Hz). Appliances from Britian require an adaptor.
Time
Greek time is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
Cash Points
There are cash points in most resorts, in Tsilivi there are at least two along the main street.
Bus Timetable
Timetable for buses between Tsilivi and Zante Town (there are many other routes from Zante Town).
- From Zakynthos Town: 06.40, 07.00, 08.30, 09.45, 10.45, 11.45, 12.45, 14.00 15.30, 18.30 20.10
- From Tsilivi: 07.20, 09.00, 10.00, 11.00, 12.00, 13.00, 14.15, 15.50, 18.45, 20.30
- Ticket Price: 1,10 €
Making telephone calls
The OTE (Hellenic Telecommunications Organization) offices are the cheapest way to make local or international calls. To do so, just walk in and wait for a booth to be free. At the end of the call, the desk operator will present you with a bill. OTE offices are open from 08:00 to 14:00. (There is a large OTE office in Zante Town next to Solomon Square).
Local and international calls can also be made from public cardphone booths and kiosks (periptera) equipped with meters. Telecards can be purchased from kiosks and OTE offices.
Useful Telephone Numbers
- Greece Country code: 0030
- Zante Area Code: 26950
- Police: 22100
- Medical Assistance: 42514
- Hospital: 26950, 49111, 49112, 49113
- Airport: 28322
- Olympic Airways (Zakynthos): 28611
- Zakinthos Port Authority: 28177-8
- Bus Terminal (Zakynthos, urban transport KTEL): 22255
- Bus Terminal (Zakynthos, inter-island transport): 23776
- Radio Taxi Service: 26950, 48400
- Taxi Stands: 26950 22280, 28104, 23788, 28261
The Tourism Police is an integral part of the Hellenic Police (ELAS), consisting of men and women especially trained and competent to offer tourists information and help, whenever they have any problems. They are also competent to solve minor differences between tourists and entreprises. They all speak foreign languages. You can recognise them by the shoulder flash Tourism Police on their uniforms. Tourism Police operates an emergency telephone line on a 24 hour basis (just dial 171 any day, any time, from all over Greece).
Postal Service
Signs denoting post offices are usually bright yellow, as are post-boxes. If you need to send a letter there are stamp vending machines and post-boxes outside all central post offices. Parcels sent abroad must be inspected, so do not wrap and seal them beforehand. Brown paper, soft padded envelopes and cardboard boxes can be bought at the post offices themselves.
Greek Public Holidays
- New Year's Day: January 1st
- Epiphany: January 6th. The seas around Piraeus are blessed. A Cross is thrown into the sea and young men dive to retrieve it.
- Ash Monday: 41 days before Easter. Lent begins. On Ash Monday, Greeks fly kites, eat lenten food and celebrate the koulouma.
- Independence Day and the Feast of the Annunciation: March 25th , Military parade.
- Easter: Good Friday-Easter Monday. Vesper evening is on Good Friday and every church decorates an Epitaphios (bier). The Epitaphios processions, followed by people holding lit candles and chanting hymns, fill the streets of every city, town and village in the country.
- Anastasi (Resurrection): celebrated with fire-works and lit candles at midnight, on the eve of Easter Day. Pascha (Easter): on that Day Greeks traditionally eat lamb, spit-roasted on charcoal. The festivities include singing and dancing through the day.
- Labour Day: May 1st . Many Flower Festivals take place all over Greece.
- Whit Monday: 50 days after Easter.
- Dormition (Assumption) of The Virgin: August 15th .
- St.Dionysios Day (Zante) August 24th of every year, people come from all over Greece to see St.Dionysios's (the patron saint of the island) body paraded around the town and join in the festivities of this highly auspicious occasion.
- October 28th: rejection of the Italian ultimatum in 1940. Military parade.
- Christmas: December 25th -26th.
What to Wear
You are expected to dress in a respectable manner when visiting churches and monasteries: long trousers for men, sleeved dresses and no miniskirts for women.
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