Zakynthos Town (Chora)

Zakynthos Town, known in Greek as Chora, serves as the island's administrative capital and main port on the east coast of Zakynthos in the Ionian Islands of Greece. The town visitors see today was almost entirely rebuilt following the devastating earthquake of August 12, 1953, which destroyed the original Venetian-era settlement. Rather than modernizing, the rebuilding effort preserved the established grid of wide boulevards, neoclassical facades, and arcaded ground floors in a manner that evokes the pre-earthquake town while using reinforced construction methods.

The central axis of Zakynthos Town is the handsome harbor promenade, lined with café tables, fishing boats, and the neoclassical Church of Agios Dionysios, patron saint of the island, whose bell tower is one of the most recognizable silhouettes on the Ionian Sea. Solomos Square — named for the poet Dionysios Solomos, author of the Greek national anthem, who was born on Zakynthos — anchors the northern end of the promenade and is flanked by elegant two-story buildings housing the Byzantine Museum and the Solomos Museum.

From Solomos Square, a road winds uphill to the Venetian Castle of Bochali, which sits on a wooded hill overlooking the town and provides expansive panoramic views over the harbor, the Ionian Sea, and the Peloponnese coastline on clear days. The castle interior is open to visitors and contains the ruins of various structures; entry is free. The pine-shaded park surrounding the castle is popular with locals in the evening.

The Saturday morning market in the streets behind the main promenade is worth visiting for local produce including olive oil, honey, and mandolato (Zakynthos nougat). Evenings in Zakynthos Town are animated, with the waterfront filling from around 8 PM onward.