A Week of Relaxation, Exploration, and Really Good Food
Because women deserve it.
This is the second in a series of posts to share information about the retreat to Zakynthos, Greece, September 7 - 13, 2025. Each subsequent post will enhance your understanding of the island and the retreat's general structure and mission.
I go into so much detail so that those who are aligned will join us next year.
If you missed my first post, you can catch up here.
Today's post discusses the itinerary from the retreat held this past June 2024. The theme was "Ever Ancient Ever New," focusing on women entering their third chapter of life and the renewal we can cultivate by our connection to ourselves and other women.
We stayed at the Artemis Villas in the town of Katastari on the island of Zakynthos. Click here to see the villas. The two villas are next door to each other with two separate infinity pools. The villa’s location is high up on a mountain. It is NOT on the beach, but you can “see” the “sea” from the villas. The twisty, windy, narrow road up the mountain ends at the villas. The location is not amenable to hiking or wandering. It’s more suitable for goats or dogs like our stray resident, Athena.
Our Time Together
We practiced gentle yoga in the morning and evening, but these were optional activities. If you felt like sleeping in, you were encouraged to do that.
The morning yoga was gentle stretching that anyone could do. We did short meditations and some breathing exercises.
Most mornings, our practice coincided with the sunrise.
I didn't teach any advanced poses. Everyone was around the same age, with the same bodily aches and pains characteristic of older adults. That meant many had osteoporosis or its precursor osteopenia, arthritis, artificial joints, old injuries, etc.
Afterward, we ate a DELICIOUS breakfast prepared by Chef Lioumis and his assistant Katarina.
Then, we did our scheduled activities (see the itinerary below).
In the evening, we met in our women's circle. We talked, danced, and explored our creativity by making a simple travel journal to commemorate our trip. We challenged the resistance some of us felt to embracing our creativity.
Yoga Nidra enhanced everyone's sleep at night. In this practice, I guided participants through a body scan and meditation. There is no physical effort involved. A person lays on a yoga mat and listens to me speak. The practice is to give up all effort.
In between, we did a lot of this:
and this:
Here is our June 2024 schedule:
Sunday: Arrive at villas after 3 p.m. No program. Everyone is on their own for meals.
Monday: Yoga at 7 a.m. followed by breakfast cooked by our private chefs.
The first day was a laid back. The vans took us to Alykes for lunch and shopping. In the afternoon, we swam at the beach at Makris Gialos. In the evening, we gathered for our first women's circle and ate an outstanding dinner by our chef.
Tuesday: We started yoga at 6:30 a.m., followed by breakfast prepared by our chefs. Then, we went on a day-long excursion, visiting different villages in Zakynthos. This was followed by our circle, dinner, and Yoga Nidra.
Wednesday: We started with yoga at 6:15 a.m., followed by breakfast prepared by our chef. We drove to the port and took a ferry to the island of Kefalonia. We ate dinner together at a great restaurant in Alykes. This was a long day that ended around 10 p.m., so we didn’t have our circle.
Thursday: There were no scheduled activities except 7 a.m. yoga, breakfast, circle, dinner, and Yoga Nidra.
Friday: We started with yoga at 7 a.m., followed by breakfast. Then, we enjoyed a two-hour boat ride around the north end of the island, which included visiting the coves and swimming. In the evening, we visited a scenic overview of Bohali, shopped, and ate dinner in Zante town.
Saturday: No yoga. Breakfast and goodbyes.
Additional Details
Everyone paid for their lunches when we were out on the tours. On the two days we were at the villas at lunchtime, we ate leftovers from the chef’s prior night’s appetizers, dinners, and desserts. There was more than enough.
Some of the ladies bought food during our shopping trip on Monday and ate that as well. There were also takeout menus to order food from the restaurant owned by the villas. Apollo Taverna delivers!
Breakfasts, dinners, tours, and boat rides were included in the price.
Speaking of price, how much will this retreat cost? I’m already getting that question. I'm behind in my accounting and working to finalize the numbers. I will give you the prices before summer’s end.
For the trip in September 2025, the itinerary will be similar but tweaked a bit.
I hope you gathered that we did almost everything together, so I called it a women’s circle. No spouses, sig o’s, or other non-retreat participants came to the villa or were included in our activities.
It’s not that kind of trip.
Our social time was spent with each other but there were ample opportunities to chill alone. A couple of ladies did meet up with their husbands to tour other islands before and after our retreat, which worked out great.
Once we have filled the retreat spots, we will hold periodic Zoom calls so that you can meet each other and plan excursions to see Athens before/after your trip to Zakynthos. These pre/post trips are not a part of this retreat.
More info is coming next week.
I’ll close with another testimonial:
The trip to Zakynthos was magical! Our setting set the stage for a delightful week together—comfortable, community-building, with enough breakaway spaces for resetting and quick naps or solo time. Ilona set forth a beautifully orchestrated flow of yoga, meals, activities, tours, and downtime (and did a great job of working through hiccups that showed themselves along the way!) We were blessed with great weather, great connections, great logistics, and so much more!
Patty C.
Questions? Please comment below, and I’ll post a reply so all can see the answer. You can also email me at info@travelingwomenscircle.com. You can also hit reply to this email, and I will receive your note.
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