You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience Chiuri’s vision for accessories in the collection draws inspiration from the iconic Marlene Dietrich, a famed client of Christian Dior. Pieces are adorned with a bespoke print showcasing landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty – symbols of the Maison’s deep connection to both Paris and New York and the iconic Dior Newsprint Saddle Bag – originally from Galliano's 2000 collection – makes a triumphant return Each piece in the collection is a testament to Chiuri’s commitment to honouring Dior’s storied past while crafting a future that is both bold and beautiful And for the pages of our May 'Ideas' issue model Sophia Gerakas dons the season's accessories in a demonstration of the collection's timeless allure Enter your details below to receive 30% off Amber Sceats jewellery Besides celebrities sneaking away to take selfies what actually goes on inside the notoriously exclusive event +61 2 9293 0999 RUSSH.com is published by RUSSH Media Pty Ltd Hawaii Catholic Herald 06/04/2015 by whose devotion to daily Eucharist compelled him to leave the Greek Orthodox Church to become a Roman Catholic and then one of Hawaii’s first permanent deacons He was 87 and a deacon at Star of the Sea Parish in Waialae-Kahala for 34 years Gerakas served as an active deacon until the day of his death “He gave his all for the church,” said his daughter Deacon Gerakas’ funeral services are on June 19 at Star of the Sea Church starting with visitation at 9 a.m He will be buried at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe Wellein said her father’s typical day would begin with 6 a.m He would return home for lunch and to work on sermons or other writing projects “He carried the names and requests of people he was praying for in his shirt pocket,” Wellein said ‘Let’s pray a Hail Mary for them right now,’” she said receiving of the most precious Body and Blood in Holy Eucharist buoyed him through his day,” his daughter said in New York City to immigrant Greek parents He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in the upper Bronx and attended Greek school in downtown Manhattan in addition to public school He later said his childhood experiences greatly influenced his vocation as a Catholic deacon He came to Hawaii in the military in 1948 and attended the University of Hawaii in Manoa where he met his future wife Juanita Kalahauoli Stephen They married and moved to New York where he completed his master’s of business in economics at Columbia University Gerakas worked for the Honolulu Iron Works and subsequently became the economic development division head for the State of Hawaii Department of Planning and Economic Development There he organized the Pacific Island Tourism Development Council and the Pacific Tuna Development Foundation and other cooperative Pacific island organizations He also created the Made in Hawaii Association a group of local manufacturers marketing their Hawaii-made products Gerakas was active in the Knights of Columbus the Basic Christian Community and other Catholic organizations He was one of eight members of the Diocese of Honolulu’s first permanent deacon class he devoted himself fully to the diaconal ministry He also received a doctorate of ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary bulletin editor and music coordinator at Star of the Sea Parish Gerakas was instrumental in bringing the Chinese Carmelite monastery community to Hawaii in 1973 and continued to visit them monthly He was also master of novices for the Third Order of Mary “He was our hospital minister,” Mattos said “When he heard someone was sick and hospitalized he would be the first one to go and see them.” Active in the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary Deacon Gerakas led the 20 decades of the rosary before the Blessed Sacrament on the first Sunday of the month On Sunday mornings he also led a prayer service at Kahala Nui the retirement community adjacent to his parish “He could preach about almost anything,” Mattos said Gerakas wrote two books, “The Rosary and Devotion to Mary,” published by St. Paul’s Books and Media in 1988, and the 130-page “The Origin and Development of the Holy Eucharist, East and West,” published by St One reviewer called the latter book “a fine introduction for general readers who want to learn more about the Eucharist and some of the issues involved in the reconciliation of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.” Deacon Gerakas explained why he became a Catholic: “The longing to receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist on a daily basis was the primary reason for my becoming a Roman Catholic although I have never felt that I have left the Orthodox Church During the early days of my residency in Honolulu He is survived by sons Michael Peter and John Joseph daughter Mary Wellein and four grandchildren Filed Under: Local News, Obituary Tagged With: , Copyright © 2025 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in Above: Yannis Vardakastanis talks to CofC students about the negative impact of mass tourism on his small island home of Zakynthos There might not seem to be much of a connection between two places half-way around the world from each other Both are popular tourist destinations with beaches that serve as nesting areas for loggerhead sea turtles And both have College of Charleston students doing great things Since 2010, more than 65 CofC students, some of them Bonner Leaders, have visited Zakynthos on Alternative Break to volunteer at the Mediterranean Marine Life Center a heavy tourist destination that is also a nesting beach for loggerheads The idea for the trans-Atlantic alliance began when Stephanie Visser the director of the Center for Civic Engagement was volunteering with a local loggerhead program in 2008 and one of her AB students showed her MMLC’s website Including the most recent cohort of 12 students who visited for two weeks in May 2023 the students have completed more than 7,750 service hours to help the director The small island is the main nesting area for loggerhead sea turtles in the entire Mediterranean but increased tourism – 2 million visitors in 2022 – threatens their habitats and Zakynthos as a whole “When you listen to Yannis speak about everything the island has lost you can’t help but feel the same passion he does to preserve what’s left,” says Eliza Dinh ’23 a site leader who just completed a monthlong stint at the center (she also spent two weeks there last May) “But it’s not just about the loggerhead sea turtles The issues are entangled in failing systems and policies the declining economy and human selfishness The only hope is found within us and the younger generation – what can we do and our responsibility is to protect these places.” The primary role of the student volunteers is to engage with the thousands of tourists who visit the center educating them about conservation and responsible tourism practices such as to stay on the rocky area of the beach shake off all sand before they leave and stay clear of turtles and their nests As part of their volunteer efforts at MMLC Liv Lott and Lexi Lombardi created signage to help educate visitors about sea turtle species first became involved with the center through her work with the CCE during her time at the College “Having the students there is amazing because it brings the energy up and inspires not just tourists but staff who are fighting for conservation every day in a very different system without much community buy-in,” says Langston who also helps manage the center’s donation outreach and education materials One of those students to go on the AB trip in May was Liv Lott, a rising junior majoring in communication She also participated in last year’s trip and returned this year as a site leader “Zakynthos is a special place with a palpable natural beauty that commands you to recenter yourself in the natural world,” she says adding that one of the highlights was helping Vardakastanis release adult Greek tortoises But the turtles aren’t the only ones benefiting from the work. The volunteer experience fits perfectly with the Center for Civic Engagement’s Alternative Break program which provides CofC students with avenues of self-discovery and social awareness and responsibility through education “This global partnership gives our students the chance to move beyond theoretical classroom concepts to hands-on skill development that’s shaped by their volunteer efforts at the center,” Visser says they’re challenged to step out of their comfort zone as they see Coupled with education and reflection on the issues they soon begin to see a way that they can make meaningful change.” Vardakastanis spent a week at the College in March 2023 learning from and networking with marine biology faculty and students biologists from the South Carolina Aquarium’s sea turtle hospital the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and SCORE (SC Oyster Recycling Enhancement) program “It’s been an amazing privilege to work with the CCE and CofC students over the years,” he says “It’s a brilliant partnership that has generated so much good It connects social responsibility with education and service Students see the impact of working together to do the right thing whether they’re serving in the Charleston community or immersed in a sea turtle conservation effort half a world away I’m very grateful to Stephanie and the students for helping me preserve my home.” Visser and her staff prepare the students to do the volunteer work by giving them a well-rounded perspective – educating them not only on conservation issues and sea turtle nesting habits but also on cultural differences the Greek financial crisis and other issues “Quality of service is arguably the most important part of the Alternative Break program so it was really important to us that this trip was more than just an international service trip to go and try to ‘fix’ a different community’s problems in two weeks,” Langston says “The students are very beneficial to the center it’s been the only constant for the center and for Yannis Being around people who actually care is a radical change of pace for Yannis and helps him to stay inspired throughout the season.” the loggerheads are doing better; there are now 32 local volunteers at the center – up from two from last season; and the center recently released its 128th Greek tortoise “Sometimes change can feel impossible – small actions can feel pointless or insignificant,” says Dinh, who completed her bachelor’s degree in middle grades education this spring if Yannis and the center has taught me anything it’s that one person or action can still make something good The people I’ve met and the lessons I’ve learned have changed the way I think and interact with the world for the better If Yannis would’ve given up when the island started developing or if the CCE decided Alternative Break wasn’t possible after COVID I am beyond grateful for the awareness and memories I’ve gained from this partnership.” Zakynthos has also been a victim of non-sustainable tourism “These commonalities have created a strong bond between the Center for Civic Engagement and Yannis’ conservation work,” Lott says it may be too late for Zakynthos but there is still time to change in Charleston.” Athens, Greece, Feb. 25, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Albert Valiakhmetov, founder of FlyX Marketing spearheaded a corporate social responsibility initiative at Stray Gerakas (straygerakas.gr) a shelter dedicated to rescuing and caring for stray animals This event underscores FlyX Marketing’s commitment to community engagement and animal welfare reinforcing its mission to give back to society Albert Valiakhmetov and FlyX Marketing Lead Charitable Initiative to Support Stray Animals The event represented a carefully planned initiative that went beyond traditional corporate giving. Under Albert Valiakhmetov's guidance, FlyX Marketing delivered a structured support package that included: - Supplying nutritious food for all shelter residents - Delivering essential medicines for sick and injured animals - Supporting shelter staff in daily operations - Promoting pet adoption and responsible animal care Albert Valiakhmetov's Vision for Sustainable Community Support Albert Valiakhmetov emphasized the significance of corporate social responsibility “Companies have the power to create meaningful change in society we believe that giving back is not just an option—it is our duty.” He further highlighted that businesses can inspire others to support charitable causes creating a ripple effect of generosity and compassion "We're establishing a framework that other businesses can follow demonstrating how corporate success and community support can work hand in hand." Encouraging Broader Participation in Animal Welfare FlyX Marketing encourages other businesses and individuals to contribute to animal welfare efforts - Donate Food & Supplies – Visit Stray Gerakas at straygerakas.gr or any local or larger volunteer organization Don’t Shop – Consider giving a loving home to a rescued animal instead of buying pets - Volunteer Your Time – Shelters always need extra hands The Future of Corporate Giving: Albert Valiakhmetov’s Reflections This initiative is part of FlyX Marketing’s broader commitment to integrating social responsibility into its corporate culture Albert Valiakhmetov has expressed his dedication to continuing charitable projects that make a meaningful impact “We want to set an example of how businesses can lead by action inspiring both individuals and organizations to take part in making the world a kinder place,” he stated FlyX Marketing stands as a leading digital marketing agency in Athens known for combining innovative marketing solutions with strong community involvement the company continues to set industry standards for both technical excellence and social responsibility Stray Gerakas (straygerakas.gr) operates as a premier animal welfare organization in Greece dedicated to providing comprehensive care and finding permanent homes for stray animals The shelter has successfully rehabilitated and placed dozens of animals since its establishment FlyX Marketing’s Ongoing Commitment to Social Responsibility Remember, animals don’t have a voice, but we do. As the FlyX Marketing team demonstrated sometimes the best business decision is simply choosing to make the world a better place Albert Valiakhmetov encourages everyone to find ways to contribute Looking Forward: The Impact of Corporate Responsibility The initiative's success demonstrates the potential for corporate entities to create meaningful change in their communities Albert Valiakhmetov's strategic approach to corporate giving is expected to influence industry standards and inspire similar programs across the region As a company dedicated to corporate social responsibility FlyX Marketing plans to sustain its involvement in charitable activities Albert Valiakhmetov affirms that “our role extends beyond marketing; it’s about using our resources to foster positive change.” The company remains committed to supporting initiatives that improve lives and communities More information about services, consultations, and insights can be found on the FlyX Marketing website or by contacting business@flyxmarketing.com Email: nickagam@flyxmarketing.com Website URL: https://flyxmarketing.com/ crystal-clear waters surrounding mainland Greece and its many islands are home to a menagerie of marine life including seals This — plus the chance to swim among the ruins of cities that have spent thousands of years underwater along with numerous ancient shipwrecks — is why Greece should be high on any keen diver’s bucket list New legislation passed in 2020 has also opened up more of the country’s coastline for recreational diving making it easier to tour the many submerged archaeological sites with the help of certified local diving clubs we pick out five destinations guaranteed to please both novices and experienced divers it’s still possible to go snorkelling and view fascinating underwater sights and marine life in Greece’s azure seas A superb example is the remains of the 5,000-year-old sunken city of Pavlopetri which lie in the shallow waters of Vatika Bay best accessed from the beaches of Pounta in the southern Peloponnese The closest main city to the site is Neapoli but a blissful base for exploring this region is the island of Elafonisos which offers spectacular white sand beaches and the chance to spot loggerhead turtles Recreational diving is banned at Pavlopetri so the only way to see the UNESCO-protected site is by snorkelling Although you’ll have to use your imagination to work out the city’s layout from the underwater remnants which thrived for around 2,000 years before it was claimed by the sea represents one of Europe’s first ‘planned’ cities with distinct residential and commercial neighbourhoods The crystal-clear waters of Greece and its surrounding islands make for fantastic underwater exploration.Photograph by Alamy2 Ionian IslandsDiscover a world of marine life The turquoise waters around crab claw-shaped Zakynthos make it the go-to diving destination of the Ionian Islands which has a showstopper of a waterfront and is overlooked by the remains of a Venetian fortress is where endangered loggerhead turtles (also known as caretta caretta) come to lay their eggs during the breeding season (May to October) and is part of a National Marine Park covering the Bay of Laganas and stretching out to the Strofades two small islands 50 nautical miles southern of Zakynthos visitors also have the chance to spot rare Mediterranean monk seals here The coast surrounding the quiet village of Keri is home to at least a dozen dive sites ranging from vertiginous wall dives plastered in marine life to deep caves where giant shrimps octopus and slipper lobsters lurk in dark crevices an islet just off the southern coast of Zakynthos offers crystal-clear waters that make it another great spot for both diving and snorkelling nicknamed the Emerald Isle thanks to how green it is has opportunities for both novices and experienced divers.Photograph by Getty Images3 Northern Aegean IslandsExplore a 2,500-year-old quarry Located just six miles off the Macedonian mainland town of Kavala Thasos’s nickname is the Emerald Isle because it’s so green this Northern Aegean island prospered thanks to a natural abundance of white marble and gold; there’s a beach about four miles south of the capital Thasos (also called Limenas) where the sand is made up of innumerable tiny brilliant white crumbs of marble Further around the southeast coast is the archaeological site of Aliki where marble was quarried for centuries Part of this 2,500-year-old quarry is submerged under the sea making for a unique dive site close to the resort of Potos on the island’s southwest coast tuna and groupers darting amid the orange coral and sponges More experienced divers will relish the deep-water challenge of the Giola Archangelos wall where submarines hid during the Second World War The beautiful island of Amorgos in the Cyclades is the place to experience the thrill of free-diving.Photograph by Getty Images4 Cyclades IslandsAdmire sea life and soft coral Featured in Luc Bresson’s cult 1988 film The Big Blue the beautiful island of Amorgos in the Cyclades is the place to experience the thrill of free-diving There are dive operations in both of the island’s ports — Katapola and Aegiali — to assist you in exploring these reef and shipwrecked-filled seas blessed with incredible water visibility and sea life including barracuda One of the best dive sites can be accessed off Agios Pavlos Beach the Nikouria’s Cavern is decorated with sponges and soft coral in all the shades of the paint box and provides a habitat for spiral worms and other fascinating micro marine life It’s an hour’s boat ride from Amorgos to the island of Kinaros to dive the wreck of the cargo ship Manina 3 the ship’s top deck is at a maximum depth of 50ft and the wreck has become an artificial reef If you hold an advanced open water diving certification be sure to book one of the limited slots to explore the fifth-century BC wreck off the islet of Peristera.Photograph by Vasilis Mentogiannis5 Aegean IslandsSwim around a fifth-century shipwreck Europe’s largest marine park covers some 870sq miles around the northern Sporades island of Alonnisos and its neighbouring 29 islands and islets it's home to a colony of around 60 endangered Mediterranean monk seals and three species of dolphin Of the 400-500 Mediterranean monk seals that remain approximately two thirds of them inhabit Greek waters Cuvier’s beaked whales and sperm whales have also been sighted here is located near the island’s southern tip and is the place for organised diving trips be sure to book one of the limited slots to explore the fifth-century BC wreck off the islet of Peristera this underwater museum has labelled finds and features a mound of 4,000 mostly intact amphorae Other popular dive sites include the Blue Cave For more information, head to visitgreece.gr Find National Geographic Traveller (UK) on social media The residents of three more settlements on Mount Penteli, north of Athens, were told to evacuate as a large wildfire that broke out in the semi-mountainous area on Tuesday afternoon approached houses. The emergency 112 alert was issued to the residents of Anthousa, advising them to move towards Gerakas, and Dioni and Dasamari, who were told to choose Pallini. Earlier, a similar alert was sent to the residents of Daou Penteli, while people in Penteli, Nea Penteli, Drafi, Dioni and Kallitechnioupoli received a text alert by the emergency number 112, warning them to be on standby for any further instructions by the civil protection and the fire brigade. The blaze, burning through low vegetation, quickly split in two fronts, one moving towards the mountain and a second heading towards the settlements of Drafi and Nea Penteli.  Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights, opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox. LATIKA: "I'm speechless. I'm just waiting for my baby to come. Just want him to come out". DANIEL: It's been a long trip from their home in the UK to this unconventional delivery room. This is India and they've paid the equivalent of thirty thousand Australian dollars for a surrogate to carry and bear them a child. Their newborn son is delivered to them, minutes after a caesarean birth in a surgery down the hall. He'll be weighed, buttoned up snuggly, spend a few minutes in the arms of his new mother... LATIKA: "Oh he's so gorgeous!!!" DANIEL: ... and undergo assessment and monitoring in a neo natal cot for maybe an hour or so. Then it's into the baby capsule, and as the proud parents make their way out of the hospital, their surrogate remains in a recovery ward, surrounded by her family. She's just earned an otherwise unimaginable sum - seven thousand dollars. SURROGATE'S MOTHER-IN-LAW: "My daughter-in-law has had a boy. These are tears of happiness". DANIEL: "So she'll go home without the child. How do you feel?" SURROGATES MOTHER-IN-LAW: "Sad of course". DANIEL: Very soon, Latika, Gaurav and their little son will be winging their way back to the United Kingdom - one transaction in India's booming surrogacy business. But as the baby making industry has taken off, regulation, safety and transparency has left behind in a cloud of dust. KISHWAR DESAI: "And people are forgetting that there are human beings involved, there are emotions involved". DANIEL: And for hundreds of Australian families looking to Indian surrogacy to start or grow their own family, there are perils and pitfalls.... DARREN PINKS: "Cause all they seem to care about is making money". KALI GERAKAS: "The happiest I've ever been in my life". Tonight, a very personal journey as two couples take their hopes and dreams to India. [OPENING TITLES]In no time at all, it's become a lucrative industry in many parts of India - from here in provincial Anand in North-Western India to Mumbai and the capital, Delhi. India has seized on what's called assisted reproductive technology and opened the door for customers worldwide. Of two thousand babies born for foreign customers, hundreds will be for Australian clients. KALI GERAKAS: "There is so much bureaucracy in Australia surrounding this issue. Yes it is a state by state thing as well. In some states it's legal, in some states it's illegal - so you can't commission surrogacy. We're privileged here in Victoria that we are able to do so". DANIEL: Melbourne couple Kali and Bill Gerakas have tried just about everything to start a family, but in six years all they have to show for their efforts, is heartache. BILL GERAKAS: "We are just average Australians out there you know struggling, working and you know we want to come home and you know come to our family". KALI GERAKAS: "If it's something you really want you will find a way to do it". DANIEL: They'd already spent $100,000 on failed IVF in Australia, but the Gerakas' were prepared to make sacrifices and dig deeper in the quest for a family. They took their savings and their dreams to India where they found multinational surrogacy entrepreneur, Mariam Kukunashvili. MARIAM KUKUNASHVILI: "We started in India three years ago. We had only agency, a small office, two employees and doing IVF cases with another clinic. Then later on, last year, we opened our own IVF clinic". DANIEL: Her India operation is showing all the signs of the success of her surrogacy centres in her native Georgia and another in Thailand. MARIAM KUKUNASHVILI: [New Life Global Network] "There are a lot of controversies in society about reproductive issues but I think when a couple are childless... so we cannot call this is a baby making process. We are helping them to have families, to complete their families and have children". DANIEL: Tasmanians Kate and Paul Torney have come to New Delhi in the hope of expanding their family, a sister or a brother for four and a half year old son, Ptolemy. KATE TORNEY: "Family is everything to me. I love Ptolemy almost without measure. You know, I love him so much and we..... we've got more love to give. We're not complete. We just don't feel that this is it". DANIEL: Conventional conception or even IVF isn't an option. The birth of Ptolemy brought a medical emergency and an end to Kate's ability to conceive. PAUL TORNEY: "She came to me one night when we were in bed and just said that you know, how do you feel about trying surrogacy... to having another child? And I pretty much discounted it straight away. We had a good chat about it and well, she swayed me". KISHWAR DESAI: "It's an unregulated industry, it's a mysterious industry. We do not know what is going on. It is a bazaar. Those are the things that we need to worry about". DANIEL: Author and surrogacy critic, Kishwar Desai, investigated the Indian industry in her book "Origins of Love". KISHWAR DESAI: "I do see surrogacy as an attack on women in many ways because it is being propagated in the absence of law so we do not even know whether the surrogates are being given the proper care and treatment that they deserve or who are the parents who are coming in for the surrogacy? There is no kind of a legal framework within which is it happening". DANIEL: Kate and Paul have decided against a surrogacy clinic. They've hired a local lawyer and directly engaged a surrogate. Her name is Nasni, a New Delhi local in her early 20's, married with two children of her own. KATE TORNEY: "What she was doing is a huge thing. We didn't want her to feel that we're exploiting her in any way. I just feel that this way we are reducing the degree of exploitation as much as we can". DANIEL: Nasni will get more money than many clinic surrogates and during pregnancy will be able to stay at home with her children. Clinic surrogates are routinely placed in group houses until they're ready to deliver. PAUL TORNEY: "To me it sounded a little bit like a puppy farm and that will probably annoy a lot of people to say that cause a lot of people have had great success from these places, but to me that's just how it felt and how it sounded". DR BANNERGEE: So the injections are going to start from today. I think Paul can be of help to give you the injections. Overall we get a pregnancy rate of about 70% to 80% in three tries. [LOOKING AT ULTRASOUND]On the left I can see at least 7 or 8. DANIEL: Kate has retained the ability to generate eggs but she'll undergo 12 days of injections to stimulate production. DR BANNERGEE: On the right side I can see about 4 to 5. DANIEL: There'll be plenty of scans and blood tests before her eggs are removed, fertilised with Paul's sperm and implanted in Nasni's womb.The Torneys will return to Launceston and cross their fingers for good news. DR BANNERGEE: And we are quite excited with how things are progressing as of today. Kali Gerakas already has her good news. She's arrived in New Delhi to meet with clinic boss Mariam Kukunashvili and to meet her surrogate Soma for the first time.Soma's pregnancy is the result of eggs from an Eastern European donor and Kali's husband, Bill's sperm. Soma is well into her third trimester and she's carrying twins. KALI GERAKAS: [hand on Soma's pregnant belly] "If they can hear me, and I'm sure they can, I just wanted to let them know that their father and I love them so much.... [crying] and it's the most amazing thing". "I cannot describe how I feel about somebody who I've never met in my life" [carrying her family]. [with surrogate mother] "Little ones be safe!" [crying] "If she was to knock on my door and ask for the world, I would move heaven and earth to give it to her. There isn't enough words to convey how I feel or how Bill feels". BILL GERAKAS: "Love to be a father". DANIEL: Until recently Soma's been living at home with her husband and two boys of her own. Now she's moved into the clinic's surrogacy house under medical supervision. She'll earn around $7,000 for carrying the twins". MARIAM KUKUNASVILI: "We make sure surrogate mothers are near delivery hospital from 7 months because sometimes delivery occurs earlier from 7th or 8th month so it's better, especially if baby delivers premature we need very good hospital with the proper equipment. This cannot be organised in villages". KISHWAR DESAI: "But they have been brainwashed and because they are so poor. This is the kind of money they will never see in their entire lives. You know, they earn as little as a 1000 rupees a day, 2000 rupees a day. How can they ever hope to say no when something like this comes up and when their husbands are the first ones to say please go out there and have this child because it will make a huge difference to our family. How can she say no?" DR NAYANA PATEL: "This is definitely an opportunity. A poor lady who has a dream of living in a house of her own or educating her children and she cannot do anything else. She cannot earn this kind of money and if she gets this opportunity to help some other female and bring a beautiful baby in this earth, for them this is a wonderful arrangement". DANIEL: India's surrogacy agency took off from an unlikely setting, a small rural town called Anand about 500 kilometres north of Mumbai. DR NAYANA PATEL: "I'm happy that I'm in a smaller town where I can devote more time for my practice and my surrogates". DANIEL: Local doctor Nayana Patel helped a British couple have twins. The unorthodox procedure drew international attention.She's now India's best known baby maker, overseeing about 700 surrogate births. DR NAYANA PATEL: "If you are just a critic, who feels that a childless should live a life of misery and stay childless throughout their life or the poor is meant to be remain poor all throughout and should remain poor throughout their life, then you will consider this as something wrong, as something immoral, a farm, a baby making factory". DANIEL: Nayana Patel's surrogacy house is home to about seventy women, some carrying babies for local clients - others for international clients. During their stay, the women become close and as each one's due date arrives, celebrate a traditional baby shower praying for all to go well. Most of these women are uneducated, many from simple rural villages and few, if any, could be described as financially savvy. DR NAYANA PATEL: "They do not know what a bank is, how to deposit money, what is the importance of cheque book. Here they get an exposure to the outside world. They gain confidence when they come over here". AMIT KARKHANIS: "Yes the prime motive is money but what's wrong in helping them? We look at it from the point of view that yes there is someone who needs help, and there is someone who's willing to offer help. What other options these women would have had?" DANIEL: Mumbai surrogacy lawyer Amit Karkhanis estimates India's baby-making business has passed the billion dollar mark, with each year better than the last in terms of profits and babies born. The only real restriction came last year when the government imposed new visa regulations on foreigners. Now surrogacy is restricted to couples who've been married for at least two years. They have to use a registered assisted reproductive technology clinic and provide proof a child born through surrogacy will be accepted by their home country. He still insists it's a win for India's medical sector and for surrogates searching for a path out of abject poverty. AMIT KARKHANIS: "So there is a synergy here and I don't see any reason why that synergy should be you know, looked upon with the prism of ethics and morality. You know there are a lot of other things that we do which are unethical and immoral but why only surrogacy is looked upon from that prism - that's something that is a mystery to me". KATE TORNEY: "It's quite stressful to sit there waiting, waiting - too scared to pick up the phone because you didn't know what the answer would be and it was going to be all or nothing". DANIEL: In Tasmania the Torneys have just received word their surrogate's pregnancy has failed. DANIEL: The Torneys had steered clear of India's surrogacy clinics in pursuit of what they considered to be a more ethical arrangement - a direct caring relationship with the woman who would carry their child. PAUL TORNEY: "I guess selfishly at the end of the process what we want to get is a child at the end. It's all very well to want to go into the process as ethically as possible but you know we had to bend a little bit I'm afraid. Is that a bad thing to say?" KATE TORNEY: [to her son] "We're going to think really hard and see if there's another way we can try and do this. Okay we'll think really hard but we just have to get over this one first, don't we?" PAUL TORNEY: "Again Kate has gone back to the computer and done stacks more research and she's come across another clinic which is in Mumbai this time". KATE TORNEY: "There are people who might think that we're crazy to try again because of the emotional stress that we would be putting our family under again, but that's a side of me that really wants the end result to happen and knows how positive and how perfect it could be - keeps talking to me". DARREN PINKS: "We'd never considered the fact that we would be exploited. We'd heard and read and were very concerned about surrogates being exploited but it never crossed our mind that we would also be exploited". DANIEL: With hopes and emotions high, large sums of money in play and little or no transparency it shouldn't surprise that some customers are being stung by predatory practices. DARREN PINKS: "The strange thing is that everybody's got the same stories. Nobody had told us before we went into it and it doesn't look like anybody's telling anybody else as they go into it either". DANIEL: Darren Pinks and his wife have a beautiful, healthy baby daughter now but a $30,000 surrogacy agreement soon became $50,000 as charges rolled in that just didn't add up. DARREN PINKS: "So despite being very lucky in having our daughter born, there were some things that just weren't right, things that the clinic did that we've since found out that not only have upset us, but actually have made us worry that they're doing it to other intended parents". DANIEL: The Pinks believe their clinic systemically overcharged them and ordered unnecessary procedures to inflate the bill. They commenced legal action but withdrew when it became too expensive and too difficult. DARREN PINKS: "There's a certain point where people don't want you to say anything. They don't want you to rock the boat because the fear is if you say something and then there's legislation that prevents other people from actually going through surrogacy, they'd much rather go through a bad experience than no experience at all". DANIEL: Bill and Kali Gerakas are getting to know Costa and Christina Gerakas. BILL GERAKAS: [to baby] "Hello. Daddy loves you". KALI GERAKAS: [changing nappy] Every time I do this he pees himself. Every time I do this he pees Mama. "I thought I would cry but I was just so happy I had no tears. All I wanted to do was hold them and kiss them". DANIEL: The twins arrive six weeks early. The Gerakases raced to New Delhi to collect their newborns. Their crash course in parenting is underway in this Delhi hotel. BILL GERAKAS: "Getting to see them for the first time we were just.... brought tears to your eyes really. And just holding them there.... just amazing the way that they respond to you. You know, to your touch and all.... and it's just amazing. Two perfect babies". DANIEL: For this couple India's commercial surrogacy has been a resounding success. For Kate and Paul Torney, it continued to fail. KATE TORNEY: "For the last year Paul and I have been... we've put ourselves through a lot. We've experienced a lot of stress, a lot of emotional ups and downs". DANIEL: In the months beyond their first unsuccessful pregnancy, the Torneys engaged a surrogacy clinic in Mumbai but separate attempts with two more surrogates, didn't result in pregnancy either. It's been costly and distressing. KATE TORNEY: "And I'm just so glad that we did try because I feel that even though we haven't had the result that we wanted, we've tried. We've done everything we can possibly do to get that elusive end result and yeah I've got no regrets about that". In Launceston, Tasmania, Kate and Paul Torney yearn for another child. The arrival for their son Ptolemy was a dramatic and damaging event that almost killed Kate and certainly ended her natural capacity to bear another child. In suburban Melbourne, Victoria, Kali and Bill Gerakas have endured a devastating procession of failed pregnancies and miscarriages. "We tried IVF for four and a half years - we did something close to 24 cycles. We fell pregnant four times ourselves and lost all four babies. It was the most devastating time in our lives." KALI GERAKAS Both couples - like hundreds of other Australians - have decided to start or extend their families using a commercial surrogate and for that India has become a hot global destination. There are now an estimated 1500 surrogacy centres across the country. In the space of a decade or so the surrogacy industry has grown to what one industry observer has estimated to be a billion dollar industry. But it's exploded in a place where regulation has been lagging well behind the boom. So there are pitfalls for aspiring parents and perils for surrogates as well. Many surrogates are from very poor backgrounds, have little or no education and certainly limited or non-existent financial literacy. There are concerns that some are pressed into the industry by their husbands and families as a quick way to make an otherwise unimaginable $7000AU per birth. Supporters of the industry say the money is vaulting them out of poverty and into their own homes, an education and the prospect of a much brighter future. "If you are just a critic who feels a childless person should live a life of misery and stay childless throughout their life, or a poor person is meant to remain poor all throughout their life then you'll consider this as something wrong, as something immoral. A farm. A baby-making factory.." - Dr NANYA PATEL One of the pioneers of the commercial surrogacy business, Dr Nanya Patel grants access to her bustling enterprise in Anand, Gujarat where 100 surrogate mothers live in a house for the term of their pregnancy. They lie in single bunks, hoping for a successful birth, a happy client and a relatively huge amount of money. Elsewhere care and concern for surrogates is not so assured. In this deeply moving Foreign Correspondent we go inside the industry to see just what confronts surrogates and their clients and we'll go there through the experiences of Australian couples trying to chart the most ethical and sensitive course they can in pursuit of a little life to call their own. CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) What’s hot and what’s not in back-to-school fashion at Amesbury High School this fall is your personality,” AHS senior Harriet Gerakas said “To represent your personality with your clothes,” added Cecilly Deorocki who will be a senior at Pentucket High School this fall Gerakas has been attending Amesbury public schools since second grade and plans to go to college for fashion merchandizing who has attended Amesbury public schools since kindergarten is switching to Pentucket for her senior year and after graduation hopes to attend Parsons School of Design in New York City or the London College of Fashion in England “but I wasn’t getting what I needed from the AHS art department One can be in style without spending a lot on clothes You can still own a cute and fashionable wardrobe if you bargain shop at stores like H&M or Old Navy “Yesterday I went to Marshall’s and got this dress for $20,” Deorocki said Even though Deorocki and Gerakas both like to wear dresses jeans still are the school uniform of choice “It’s a lot of ripped jeans,” Gerakas said The trouble with fashion is that you need the perfect body to wear outfits.” Gerakas and Deorocki shared their disdain for people who all shop at the same stores and wear the same clothes which is very similar to Abercrombie & Fitch but cheaper “It’s a lot of pastel tank tops and spaghetti straps You’ll walk into school and there will be five girls all wearing the same shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch in different colors I don’t like having what everyone else has.” this fall the “in” colors are blues and greens – navy blue and royal blue and a green that is a mix between forest green and emerald Gerakas and Deorocki want to see the end of the Birkenstock clogs and Uggs craze “Hopefully the clogs and Uggs that you saw everywhere last year are out,” Gerakas said most girls don’t like to wear sporty sneakers “Pumas are comfortable and stylish,” Gerakas said They match their sneakers with their shirts like it’s their job.” Deorocki suggested leather calf length boots in black or brown hues instead of Uggs but they have so many stores that have knock-offs and they’re so much cheaper,” Gerakas said There’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars on shoes I got Steve Madden shoes for $29.99 at TJ Maxx Target has tons of shoes and they are adorable.” “Jewelry is gold and black – a gold necklace with black beads a gold bracelet with a black leather strap The only exceptions would be highlights or lowlights which are streaks slightly darker than the natural hair color People with long hair wear it in a ponytail to the side and side bangs are totally in.” but a little bit is pulled up at the top to make a pouf replaced by totes for carrying larger school items “but I’ve been seeing more and more people carrying big purses.” The natural look is in for makeup with a little black or brown eyeliner on the lower inside lid and natural colors on the top lid “but you can do a smoky eye with brown or gray shadow “I stopped wearing colors in middle school,” Gerakas said I cut eyeliner out of my life a long time ago the girls wear neutral colors or clear gloss “Burt’s Bees chap stick also is a hit,” Gerakas said “A lot of girls will wear a lot of foundation in dark colors and blush and they look like clowns Makeup needs to be natural to match your skin tone and very light.” She’s the daughter of famous and awarded actor Telly Savalas and Julie Savalas Her father’s origins are from Gerakas of Lakonia Ariana was baptized Christian Orthodox at the St but my mother learned fluent Greek thanks to her love for him” while studying for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London she started starring in television series and feature films She has appeared in the popular series Criminal Minds “The current situation in Greece makes me sad I feel like a friend or relative is suffering Ariana Savalas appeared in the Greek television show X Factor but to get familiar with the members of the judging committee she was already recording for her first album in the United States at that time Ariana’s Perfect Man was released and was a huge success Grey’s Anatomy’s Eric Dane starred in the Perfect Man’s official video Ariana Savalas has performed at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato in Beverly Hills the Metropolitan Room and Waldorf Astoria in New York and at the Frank Sinatra Celebrity International in Palm Springs You can read below the Ariana’s interview at ellines.com team -26/12/2016 10:12 pm prepei na imaste yperifanoi gia autous tous simantikous ellines .timoun ton ellinismo se oli tin ifilio Reply Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" © 2025 ellines.com © 2025 ellines.com, all rights reserved. There are thousands of assisted reproduction clinics in India Link copiedShareShare articleAs more than 800 million Indians go to the polls this month the main political party candidates are being urged to finally push through legislation to regulate the country's booming commercial surrogacy industry The calls come as increasing numbers of foreigners pay thousands of dollars to Indian surrogacy centres to fulfil their need to have children The industry has been criticised for operating in a regulatory vacuum and while there are some rules for people who take the journey to India it is still a minefield for many unsuspecting parents Author and critic Kishwar Desai has strong reservations about the lack of legal oversight and what it means for the women who rent out their wombs "We're treating these women like animals so I think that is something we need to be very careful about," she said We're treating these women like animals so I think that is something we need to be very careful about "It's not the numbers of the women who die - and indeed we may not even know about them because a lot of the clinics are operating without any regulation without any scrutinies - we may not even hear about them The women may be allowed to just go home and die there." There are now thousands of clinics offering varieties of assisted reproduction techniques to infertile couples While many register and operate under the banner of the Indian Council of Medical Research many more are completely unmonitored and unsupervised ABC's Foreign Correspondent program visited India to investigate the trade across the country Surrogacy is now a big business in India - fuelled by tax breaks for medical tourism Kate and Paul Torney turned to surrogacy after the complications during the birth of their son Ptolemy (pictured) For Launceston-based couple Kate and Paul Torney a traumatic experience during the birth of their first child Ptolemy meant that they would no longer be able to fall pregnant naturally if they wanted any more children They decided that surrogacy might be the answer but one thing was at the core of their decision - the needs of the surrogate had to be taken care of "[The surrogate] is the centre of everything - she's the one who is helping you make your dreams come true and she's the one who is carrying your baby," said Ms Torney "Very often the intended parents don't get to see who she is or find out anything about her and equally she doesn't know anything about the people she's having the baby for." Kali and Bill Gerakas from Victoria have spent years trying to have a baby After spending $100,000 on IVF and going through six years of heartache India is offering them an answer to their dreams Kali Gerakas says she feels a great connection with her surrogate "If she was to knock on my door and ask for the world I would move heaven and earth to give it to her - not only to her India is offering Kali and Bill Gerakas the chance to have a child "She's got two young children herself she's got two little boys from what I understand "There isn't anything that I wouldn't do for those children if she asked me to She's helping me have what she's already got so there isn't enough words to convey how I feel or how Bill feels." Yet there are real concerns in India that the rights and needs of the women who act as surrogates for domestic and international clients are often completely neglected Advocates are urging the authorities to put in place proper laws to give clarity and transparency to all the people involved - surrogates it's a win-win situation - one that gives an infertile couple a much longed-for baby and a poor woman and her family an opportunity to escape grinding poverty Dr Nayana Patel is one of India's most famous "baby makers" "You are a needy couple who is desperately wanting a child and to reproduce and to have a child of your own is a basic instinct However hard they try they cannot suppress it," she said "Then for them this is definitely an opportunity A poor lady who has a dream of living in a house of her own or educating her children she cannot earn this kind of money and if she gets this opportunity to help some other female and bring a beautiful baby in this earth for them this is a wonderful arrangement." The laws should be there in such a way that it balances wellbeing of the baby and the couple and the clinic Dr Patel's clinic in Anand was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show after she helped a young infertile British couple to have a baby the mother carried her daughter's child Dr Patel recognises that there should be proper legislation "There should be a record of all this all the clinics should be doing it ethically and correctly," she said But Dr Patel says regulation should not interfere with the mechanics of the industry as it now operates "The laws should be there in such a way that it balances The original Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill was drafted in 2008 and was aimed at regulating surrogacy in India It was subsequently revised in 2010 but still needs further approval before it can be passed by the Indian parliament Many are furious that the bill remains in limbo and the industry remains unregulated "The Assisted Reproductive Technology Act which has been in the making for a very long time has not even been presented in parliament as yet," Ms Desai said The child is totally protected in every way but I think the surrogates do suffer and in many cases .. because the money is far too important for them "So we do not even know whether the surrogates are being given the proper care and treatment that they deserve or who are the parents who are coming in for this surrogacy - there is no kind of a legal framework within which it is happening." Ms Desai says surrogates have little power or control over their situation "The human rights of the surrogates are not being protected What is being protected are the rights of the commissioning parents "That child is totally protected in every way and in many cases as you have found yourself because the money is far too important for them." For Mumbai-based surrogacy lawyer Amit Karkhanis the delay of the current draft bill is frustrating "Our parliament is convened but then it doesn't function because we have so many other issues including corruption a lot of other issues which are taking up the government's time and unfortunately surrogacy is medical," he said "This is not something which is of national interest or a priority of the government so hence there is no initiative from the government." He is very much in favour of surrogacy and sees it as a major growth area for India but he is not at all convinced that the current system of self-regulation works nor you can arrest or put them behind the bars for committing any wrong," he said "So that's why I feel those guidelines should be converted into the law and the law should be made enforceable." Ms Desai says there needs to be global regulation of the industry "We probably need to set up an international global fertility body which actually monitors all of this and looks at what each country is doing and where are the connections because this is now too big for us to stop in India," she said India is just one country trying to capture this growing surrogacy market Watch The Baby Makers on the Foreign Correspondent website. Topic:Food and Beverage Processing Industry COWAN: Imagine wanting desperately to have a child, trying everything you could to have one and failing at every turn. KATE TORNEY: "That was the end of my family dream. It was devastating, absolutely devastating". COWAN: For many prospective parents, the only alternative is surrogacy and that can mean travelling overseas into unknown territory. KALI GERAKAS: [hands on surrogate's pregnant belly] "I just wanted to let them know that their father and I love them so much". COWAN: Earlier this year Foreign Correspondent followed two couples to India where international surrogacy is a booming industry. For one couple, twins. BILL GERAKAS: "Two perfect babies". COWAN: For the other, despite repeated attempts, nothing but heartbreak. KATE TORNEY: "We've done everything we can possibly do. I've got no, no regrets". COWAN: It's risky, complicated, expensive and under-regulated. But it's nothing compared to the pitfalls out on the new frontiers of commercial surrogacy - places like Mexico - where would-be parents with money and surrogates with absolutely nothing, are ripe for exploitation. CATHERINE MOSCARELLO: "Surrogacy's not a game. It's not a gimmick. We're creating a family here. It's really important. We're creating little people". COWAN: All it takes is an unscrupulous operator and the awful picture is complete. "How ethical is it for instance for you to target battered women, fleeing abusive relationships?" RUDY RUPAK: "In Mexico there is no services available for battered women. The churches reject them. I felt that I was making a difference in their lives". COWAN: Cancun on Mexico's Gulf coast is a globally renowned tourist town. You come here for the sun, the beaches, the resorts and the bars. Somewhere between 3 and 4 million head here every year, swamping the half million or so residents. Most everyone comes to party, and it's hard not to have fun - even if you're here for your part in the very serious business of surrogacy. Among the tourists on this sight-seeing cruise are women from poorer parts of Mexico and Central and South America, glimpsing a high life they may have never known. MARISOL MORALES: "Some of them have never been out of their home towns, some of them have never been out of the village ever. So it's an exciting experience for them and they love it and they know that there's more out there than they ever imagined". COWAN: If all goes well over the months ahead, they'll not only have their sun-kissed memories of a resort city and the day trips to Cancun's less spoiled corners, they'll also have a pay cheque they could never have imagined at home - more than $10,000 for delivering a child to couples from America, Europe - even Australia. MARISOL MORALES: "I have some girls that want to do this because they want to put up a little store in their village. I have another girl who wants to learn how to cut hair 'cause she wants to put a little beauty salon in her village. I have a girl who wishes to go to university". ADRIANA RINCON: "All my life, since I was a little girl, I liked to help people. Also I'm fascinated by children, they enchant me, I love them. If there's a couple or a family that can give a good home to a baby and who can make that baby happy, economically, emotionally, in all aspects, it's very interesting to be part of this new experience". COWAN: Adriana Rincon is 32, a single mother from Colombia who's hoping her pregnancy will transform her life. ADRIANA RINCON: "My idea is to establish a business - something small, something that could grow. A business where my mum can feel stable and supported, and she can look after our home and my sisters". COWAN: Adriana's contracted to a US based baby broker called Planet Hospital that's set up shop in Cancun and that manages this share house for its surrogates. COWAN: Adriana's been matched to an Argentinean client. She'll be inseminated with donor sperm and when she delivers, she's told she'll be paid thirteen and a half thousand dollars. ADRIANA RINCON: "Basically this is why I'm doing it - to be able to help them directly. Everything I'm doing right now is for my family, it's for them". COWAN: Planet Hospital pitches itself in the massive neighbouring market of the United States as an affordable alternative to local surrogacy. It also targets prospective parents, particularly gay couples and singles who are prohibited from participating in commercial surrogacy programs offered by countries like India. In San Francisco, Massimo de Lucia is about to sign up. MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "I'm gay so I'm not going to be able to have a baby in the natural way and I wanted to have it with my partner and wanted to, you know, have the baby and you know, do it together and the only way to do it is through surrogacy". COWAN: The couple have done their research. Mexico fits Massimo's partner's heritage and the cost of surrogacy south of the border suits as well. MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "It's cheaper than the US. It's probably half the price that you would pay in the US so that's definitely an incentive. My dad passed away two years ago and he left me actually some money. For me it was just the best way to use that money, to have a kid. I'm sure he would be very happy with that". COWAN: Massimo's flown down to Cancun to give the place a final once over before he commits.Surrogacy house manager, Marisol Morales, has assembled Adriana and some of the other surrogates to field Massimo's concerns. MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "This is my most important question. If you know you are doing it for a gay couple, does that disturb you? SURROGATE #1: "It is irrelevant". SURROGATE #2: "I'm sure the baby will have a good home, and be happy". MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "My biggest concern was being scammed. Now it's making sure that Planet Hospital knows what to do here in Mexico. I know that they've done it in other parts of the world but they've never done it here so that's the bit that concerns me most. But she sounded trustworthy. It makes me feel better". RUDY RUPAK: "Well for me Planet Hospital's a bit of a love story". COWAN: Surrogacy entrepreneur Rudy Rupak is the brains behind Planet Hospital. RUDY RUPAK: "Ah yes I've got to say I'm the uncle to about 750 kids around the globe and it's a great feeling. To grow a company that brings joy to people's lives, is almost as close to being Walt Disney I'll ever get". COWAN: Rudy Rupak's background is in software development, but from a base in North America, he's set up an enterprise that matches childless couples with egg donors and surrogates. And the way he tells it, it's state of the art, reliable, and going gang busters. RUDY RUPAK: [Founder & CEO of Planet Hospital] "A majority of our clients do come from the US and Canada. A growing number of clients are coming from Australia and New Zealand. We're seeing a lot of European countries also looking for surrogacy. Anywhere there is infertility, anywhere there is empowered gay people, these are the people that are contacting us and saying, help us". COWAN: The IVF, conception and implantation process takes place in a fertility clinic in Cancun but local laws prohibiting surrogate birth mean when the women are due to deliver, they're sent two states away to Tabasco, the only place in Mexico where loop holes in the law mean surrogacy for profit is effectively legal. RUDY RUPAK: "The parents will come to Tabasco to pick up their babies - or baby - and at that point there is a US embassy there or an Australian embassy in Mexico City which is an hour and a half flight away and within two or three weeks they're able to have the baby and go home". COWAN: So far Massimo de Lucia has paid two thousand dollars to make a sperm deposit. MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "I was thinking that my dream may come true - anytime soon". COWAN: Despite some earlier nerves, Adriana Rincon is feeling pretty positive about her pregnancy. ADRIANA RINCON: "I said to myself this will be very difficult, because of so many hormones - but in reality, it wasn't as bad as I imagined". COWAN: Being away from home, her own family and her daughter is an emotional wrench. Having a child only to surrender it at birth is also a dramatic experience. Adriana's hoping it'll be worth it. CATHERINE MOSCARELLO: "Planet Hospital itself seemed to be a very well-known established organisation, but I can't tell you one area of that business that was consistently run above board - not one". COWAN: Catherine Moscarello lives in Chicago. By now she should be raising the child she'd hoped to have via surrogacy. Catherine engaged Planet Hospital and very soon was matched with an apparently healthy surrogate who'd already had a son. COWAN: What makes Catherine Moscarello's discoveries so explosive is that she's not simply an aggrieved client of Planet Hospital, she's a former employee. Both Catherine and her lawyer husband worked for Planet Hospital in part payment for their surrogacy deal. It wouldn't be long before she discovered there was a pattern of deception. Intending parents - or IP's - were being duped left, right and centre. CATHERINE MOSCARELLO: Planet Hospital was run like a Ponzi scheme. They priced the services based on how desperate they can figure the IP is. Get the stage one fees in their hands..... the stage one fees are basically... should be used for the semen sample, for the egg retrieval - for the egg donor, egg retrieval, IVF, embryo transfer, beginning surrogate. Stage 2 fees start at the heartbeat. Well none of that ever gets done. So if they're lucky they leave their semen sample. I've got, I'm sitting with the three petition creditors for instance, $37,000 was paid, he never even left a semen sample and the money's gone. And Rupak it's stall.... stall, stall, stall. It's not to Rupak's benefit to take.... to get to stage two or stage three. He just puts you off and puts you off and puts you off". COWAN: Foreign Correspondent has obtained evidence that Planet Hospital had form, going all the way back to its original operation in India - shut down when it was besieged by angry clients and associated clinics that had been dudded. CATHERINE MOSCARELLO: "In India you need an exit visa and you don't get the exit visa until your clinic signs off that your debts are paid. I can't tell you the number of IPs I've just recently met that.... had to come out of their own pocket, had to hire their own attorneys, because Rupak just left them there - just left them there". COWAN: It wouldn't take long for the same result in Cancun. [standing outside the surrogate house] So we've come back to the house where the surrogate women were living. It's all locked up. The neighbours are saying they noticed strange goings on here, lots of women coming and going, but they were too concerned about their own safety to get involved.So where had everyone gone? What had happened to the pregnancies under way when we left? The surrogates, the clients and the money? And where were the operators of Planet Hospital? We soon learn that Marisol Morales, the manager of the surrogacy house, is living nearby. When we find her, she declares herself a victim as well. MARISOL MORALES: "I tried to email him. I tried to contact him and tell him.... and demand that he is honest and comes forward and returns that money. And all he does is ignore my calls". COWAN: She claims Planet Hospital's Rudy Rupak owes her $18,000 and that she's doing her best to care for some of the surrogates he's abandoned. MARISOL MORALES: "I want him to be punished because this is not the first time he's done something like this - come into a foreign country, leaving pregnant women and unpaid bills. This is the third time. He's done it in India and there's lawsuits against him - he's done it in Panama. Now he's done it in Mexico. I think he's just a cheater. He is a con-artist. He is very loveable and sweet and pretends to be human. He's not, he's evil". COWAN: It takes us a little longer to track down surrogate Adriana Rincon. ADRIANA RINCON: "Being a surrogate mother doesn't transform us into a receptacle, like a microwave oven, as though we are just a carrier. We also have feelings". COWAN: Adriana had hoped to transform her life with the money she'd earn from delivering a baby, but now she's living in a cramped single room in Mexico City, dealing with the miscarriage at four months - of twins. ADRIANA RINCON: "It was hard... because I practically gave birth, with the medications they gave me to expel them. It was very long. I had contractions, I was in a lot of pain, all alone... in the middle of the night surrounded by many people, but alone in a bathroom in the house. Just waiting for them to come out. It's very sad. You start loving them because they are inside you. It's hard". COWAN: In her native Colombia, Adriana had a career as a social worker but as an illegal immigrant in Mexico finding any kind of work is almost impossible. Of the thirteen and a half thousand dollars she was expecting, she's received just eight hundred. She doesn't know where her next meal is coming from. ADRIANA RINCON: "They don't say it to your face - but they make you feel like you're no longer any use to them... so go". MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "Well it turned out to be a nightmare, truly". ROWAN: Back in San Francisco, Massimo de Lucia has lost twenty two and a half thousand dollars. Three embryos were produced, but they're locked away in a Cancun clinic - the clinic refusing to release them unless Massimo pays another five thousand dollars to cover some of Planet Hospital's unpaid bills. MASSIMO DE LUCIA: "He cheated too many people. You know one thing is being cheated when you're doing a business transaction but a very different thing is when you, you know, you're playing with people's feelings and dreams and you know it's really hard for a gay couple to have a kid, and going through the surrogacy is a mess - and you're playing with that". COWAN: Rudy Rupak lives among celebrities and the well-to-do, in a gated community outside Los Angeles. This office is where he cooks up his schemes. RUDY RUPAK: [at a meeting] "There is a hospital in Medellin, Colombia. Daryl witnessed it. You walk in with Parkinson's, like with the shakes - you walk out without Parkinson's. Like, without the shakes". MAN AT MEETING: "That could be huge. You could get a huge inflow of clients from that". RUDY RUPAK: "It's not allowed in the States". [to COWAN] "I'm not a thief, I'm not a con-artist. I made a very bad mistake. I made some bad judgement calls, yes". COWAN: When we finally sit down with Rudy Rupak to discuss the catalogue of complaints and accusations against him, we get plenty of mea culpa but very few straight answers. RUDY RUPAK: "It was basically one disaster after another and I take 100% blame for what happened. We were faced with very, you know, major problems one after the other, both internally and abroad". COWAN: "Before you even came to Mexico though, all of these things had happened in a similar way in India". COWAN: "You're the common element here". RUDY RUPAK: "I... yes, yes I agree. I should have learned from what I did in India and try to prevent that from happening in Mexico. I didn't. I got too ambitious about Mexico. I really wanted to work. I didn't... I guess I just didn't do my diligence as well as I should have and I failed in that regard". COWAN: When it comes to the question of money, Rupak appears to conjure a scapegoat out of thin air - a crooked Chief Financial Officer. "People paid you fees - where's the money gone?" RUDY RUPAK: "Well ah... one of the biggest challenges we had is that we had a rather unethical CFO who is currently incarcerated and ah....". COWAN: We couldn't find any evidence the CFO ever existed.Planet Hospital duped and fleeced clients, conscripted inappropriate surrogates who couldn't carry children, abandoned surrogates and even tried to sell one client's eggs to another. Foreign Correspondent has evidence that Planet Hospital tried to cover that up and when we confront Rudy Rupak with that evidence, at first he denies it ever happened. RUDY RUPAK: "Falsifying egg reports? Absolutely not, absolutely not. Okay, I mean...". COWAN: "It's there in black and white". RUDY RUPAK: "It's falsified in black and white. It's falsified in black and white". COWAN: He then concedes the evidence is authentic. RUDY RUPAK: "I... yep I'm sorry I misspoke to you earlier about this. It was not my recollection as to how it went, really". COWAN: "This cannot be the first time you've realised what went on there. You knew what happened at the time". RUDY RUPAK: "This is probably the first time we did this egg splitting idea. It's absolutely the first time we did that and that was the only time we did that at this... ever in the history of our company. You know it was ah.... I mean, I thought it was a win-win for both parties". COWAN: "When clients talk about negative experiences they've had with Planet Hospital, you threaten them with legal action, you launch smear campaigns, you shame them, you publish their confidential information on line". RUDY RUPAK: "Yes, absolutely. If they're attacking me, I will attack back". COWAN: Disgruntled clients, led by former employee Catherine Moscarello, are now forcing Rudy Rupak into bankruptcy and have effectively stopped him from trading. The FBI has launched a criminal investigation. What's clear is while one culprit's been exposed, there will always be another rogue operator, new sets of parents desperate to have children, and a willing supply of surrogates trying to better their own lives. And when this pattern plays out around the world in developing countries with next to no regulation, there are very few winners. Adriana Rincon is still trapped in Mexico, away from her daughter and facing an uncertain future. But she's determined to overcome her ordeal. ADRIANA RINCON: "I'm going to keep fighting. I need to be positive - because otherwise I'll sink into myself. And that'll be the end. I'll be nothing. And I don't want that". Surrogacy entrepreneur Rudy Rupak considers himself something of a Hollywood style dream-maker in the commercial baby-making business. "I've got to say I'm the uncle to about seven hundred and fifty kids round the globe and it's a great feeling. To grow a company that brings joy to people's lives is almost as close to being Walt Disney as I'll ever get". RUDY RUPAK, Planet Hospital But according to those stung by his unscrupulous surrogacy operation Planet Hospital - operating in Cancun, Mexico, Rupak's more in the mould of Bernie Madoff. "Planet hospital was run like a ponzi scheme. (With) Rupak it's stall, it's stall, stall, stall. He just puts you off and puts you off and puts you off." CATHERINE MOSCARELLO, Former employee & client, Planet Hospital. For many couples, surrogacy is their last chance at parenthood. Some have been through the emotional wringer that begins with a discovery conventional conception and an orthodox pregnancy isn't possible. Some may toil through round after round of IVF, failing time after time before finally settling on what for them becomes a last resort. Flying to a foreign country, engaging a surrogacy service, sometimes paying tens of thousands of dollars and hoping a surrogate will carry to term and they'll be presented with a healthy, bouncing baby. San Francisco based Massimo De Lucia and his partner cautiously approached Planet Hospital when they were weighing up their surrogacy options. Gay couples are now denied access to other surrogacy centres like India and options in the US were too expensive.Massimo asked all the right questions, inspected the Cancun facilities, met with surrogates and became convinced Planet Hospital would deliver. Surrogate Adriana Rincon left her family and son behind in Colombia to join Planet hospital as a surrogate. When she was paired with an Argentinean client she was happy she could help and thrilled by the prospect of a $13,000+ pay day. Months later, Adriana was destitute, looking for work in Mexico City after miscarrying twins. Massimo had burned thousands and his remaining embryos were locked in Cancun freezer as the IVF clinic chased Planet Hospital for unpaid bills. International commercial surrogacy is booming in places where regulatory frameworks are rickety and consumer protections are next to non-existent. The perfect places for predatory operators. Earlier this year Foreign Correspondent explored the perils and pitfalls of India's booming commercial surrogacy industry through the eyes of Australian couples desperate to start or grow their families. In this next chapter of our investigation, North America correspondent Jane Cowan exposes the shoddy, devastating practices of an unscrupulous operation and tracks Planet Hospital's top honcho Rudy Rupak all the way to his upmarket Los Angeles home to put hard questions demanding answers. Reporter: Jane Cowan Producers: Bronwen Reed, Dee Porter, Mavourneen Dineen Camera: Robert Hill ACS Editor: Nicholas Brenner Research: Victor Flores Garcia Zakynthos may be forever associated with the famous Navagio, however it also offers other thrilling experiences A large, lovely Ionian Sea island, covered in the cool lush vegetation that’s typical of the Ionian islands, it’s also one of the most easily accessible island destinations in Greece. The biggest media outlets around the world have sung the praises of the dreamy beaches of Zakynthos with the deep, turquoise waters that contrast with the endless green of the land. A swim in the famous Navagio (shipwreck), the island’s trademark beach that is only accessible by boat from Agios Nikolaos, is a burning desire for all lovers of seclusion, though with the passage of time, this place with the otherworldly beauty has become one of the most photographed spots of the Greek islands. On the other hand, Zakynthos has countless other beaches that are easily accessible even form Hora. The quiet and gorgeous Tsilivi is an ideal destination for families with small children, since it has everything: rooms to let, restaurants serving great food, cafés, umbrellas and other activities. Further to the south, the beaches Banana, Vasilikos and Keri are among the most popular beaches both with the locals and the visitors. At the south part of the island, there are two dreamy beaches: Gerakas and Marathonisi and they are ideal if you want to swim in cool, turquoise waters next to caretta-caretta turtles. They are perfect for spending a few hours of quiet and relaxation, since it is advised to be as quiet as possible when you’re there, and to abstain from playing rackets or other beach sports. At the west part of the island, on the gorgeous Limnionas beach, you can enjoy an unforgettable swim in a bay with crystal waters and white and grey rocks. Find a sunbed on the natural pier over the water and enjoy the true meaning of holidays like nowhere else in the world. Make sure you go inside, to admire its lovely, elaborately carved, wooden iconostasis, the marble columns, the shiny chandeliers, as well as its unique collection of beautiful works of art, paintings and its lovely stained-glass windows. The gold-platted altar with the silver carved larnax holding Agios Dionisios’ relic is also held inside the church. Right above Zakynthos’ Hora, following the road that leads to Bohali, you’ll come across a cobbled alley on your right, and a sign saying “Strani Hill”. From this amazing spot, among tall pines and olive trees, you’ll see a stunning, unforgettable view. Located between Laganas and Keri, there is a small island linked to the mainland through a small wooden bridge. The island of Agios Sostis used to be attached to the mainland, but in 1663 a strong earthquake separated it. It’s impossible to travel to Zakynthos and not spend at least one day here. Despite being a truly lilliputian island, its extreme natural beauty make it one of the most popular sights of this stunning place. It has lush vegetation, the waters are unreal, and its caves are so stunning you won’t be able to stop taking pictures. serves delicious appetizers made with care and of course the traditional rooster in red wine sauce a dish the locals are particularly proud of The atmosphere is very pleasant with Zakynthiot serenades playing in a romantic garden Lesante Blu hotel’s modern restaurant who creates dishes that combine the past and the present mixing well known Ionian recipes with the freshness of contemporary gastronomy Try their version of Athenian salad in a taco with apple and blue crab or the onion pie with the local prentza cheese the décor minimal and food is served on a wooden deck overlooking the horizon The restaurant of luxury hotel Porto Zante in Tragaki is focused on Asian tradition exotic environment with the Ionian sea in the background where special attention is placed on the details the fine ingredients and the exquisite presentation A verdant garden in the heart of Zakynthos has been turned into a lovely modern restaurant with the care of chef Kristy Karageorgou & co-owner and sommelier Yiorgos Kampitsis who introduced a new gastronomical experience to the island Based on unexpected ingredients and original combinations the dishes you’ll try at this fine restaurant will stay with you forever: Greek salad with melon lahanodolmades (Greek cabbage rolls) sushi A Mediterranean oasis garden on the island Creative dishes made with excellent ingredients cheerful environment try the goat cheese and grilled pepper tart the gnocchi with tomato and gorgonzola cheese a veranda covered with reeds and an elevated platform in the sea Their menu includes sophisticated appetizers like the fried “pastelates” sardines and the grilled baby calamary with sauteed arugula and bay scented olive oil the most noble and elegant part of the island there is an impressive restaurant where the crème de la crème of the travellers coming to the Ionian islands gather It has an amazing veranda and lovely furniture while the pork dish with the same name as the restaurant is exquisite It’s considered one of the best restaurants in Zakynthos a place of unique elegance and beauty that seems to hang over the green-blue waters of the Ionian Sea You’ll enjoy the great menu prepared by world-renowned chef Jean Charles Metaver that combines Mediterranean cuisine with contemporary international gastronomy 7 rivers in Greece for reinvigorating swims Kamaria: The least known lake of central Greece 7 wonderful island villages in Greece This village reminds of a Greek island before the tourism boom Situated below the Parnonas mountain range this village reminds of a Greek island before the tourism boom The Lakonia area in the southeast Peloponnese is not lacking in beautiful seaside locations Mani is renowned for its breathtaking coastline scenery Beaches such as Alypa have attracted international media attention The Monemvasia rock is as renowned as the Rock of Gibraltar The Gythio harbour is one of Greece’s most picturesque Kyparissi is situated beyond the region’s well-known stone villages and beaches at a secluded – even for Lakonia standards – corner of the Peloponnese’s east coast This village seems like it is on the edge of the world The last part of the road includes a challenging section with bends and narrow stretches while heading down the slopes of the Parnonas mountain range offers instant gratification as soon as Kyparissi’s whitewashed two-storey houses and the Myrtoan Sea’s shoreline come into view with a total population of approximately 400 and the first of the three settlements to be encountered The other two more recent sections are coastal spots Paralia attracts the greatest number of visitors This settlement hosts most of the area’s cafes and tavernas It also features traditional whitewashed houses right up against the sea Photos of this setting have been widely published Kyparissi has gone under this name for approximately 1,000 years Kyparissi had no road connection to the rest of the Lakonia region Kyparissi was chosen as the set for filming an adaptation of a short story by esteemed 19th century Greek writer Alexandros Papadiamantis Kyparissi was a superb choice for this period series Even during the 21st century of rapid tourism growth This is what a village at a popular island destination in the Cyclades or Sporades would have looked like in the 1970s prior to the country’s big tourism boom just wide enough for one car to get through we recommend that you do not use one whilst here It is worth parking your vehicle upon arrival and moving about on foot to enjoy the nature and also view well-kept house gardens with flowers Head up the trail that is close to Vrysi and see the ancient asclepeion of Kyfanta plus the rock-hewn troughs which were filled with thermal water from the mountain Walking to the Saint George chapel is a lovely seaside stroll Do not be surprised if you spot luxury yachts off Kyparissi or at the harbour The destination was visited by Lady Diana with Dodi Fayed in the summer of 1997 shortly before they both died in the Paris car crash Contrary to the meanings of their names in Greek – “small and big sand” respectively – the two beaches are pebbled Agia Kyriaki beach is endowed with a marvellous underwater world – it is worth having a diving mask – and blue waters of mild temperature renowned Fokianos bay is one of the finest beaches in the entire Peloponnese Many coves that may be reached by private boat grace the region’s coastline Coffee and drinks with fine sea views may be enjoyed at the Maritsela café (+30 2732055397) and Molos (+30 2732055250) Petrino Kamari serves coffee and drinks at a charming yard space Ploes (+30 2732055237) and Cavo Cortia (+30 2732300414) offer exceptional fish and seafood dishes Diners preferring meat dishes will find what they need at Kamares (+30 2732300400) and Takouras (+30 2732055217) Fancy-free Greek cuisine and pizza are served at Trocandero (+30 2732 055236) Many of the restaurants and tavernas in the area feature gogges Διαβάστε ακόμα: accompanied by their eldest daughter and a lawyer causing significant distress and leading to Polyzygopoulou’s fainting Polyzygopoulou claims that Lytras sent her a threatening message According to ELAS spokesperson Konstantina Demoglidu a case file for an immediate arrest has already been formed This development means that the criminal lawyer is being sought for arrest while his ex-wife is expected to be brought before the prosecutor After filing the lawsuit and forming the case file police searched for Apostolos Lytras at the location he declared (his ex-wife’s house) but did not find him he is expected to voluntarily appear at the Pallini Police Station The lawsuit also targets Lytras’s ex-wife and the lawyer who accompanied her with Lytras being accused as the instigator Polyzygopoulou Requests Lytras’s Detention of Lytras’s violation of the restraining order Sophos is expected to request the replacement of the restraining order with pretrial detention Incident Leading to Panic Button Activation causing a significant disturbance at her home in Gerakas The alarm was triggered at the Police control center shortly after 8 PM resulting in three police patrols and a house guard arriving at the scene along with their eldest daughter and a lawyer Polyzygopoulou’s father appeared on the balcony who reportedly fainted during the incident Police arrived shortly after and took everyone to the station Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr Written By: Dejan Greece This gem in the Ionian Sea is a must-visit destination; from the iconic Shipwreck Beach ideal for snorkeling and exploring marine life Zakynthos offers a lot of unforgettable experiences There are so many things to do on Zakynthos that you’ll want to spend at least three days enjoying the island’s attractions also widely known as Zante is located in the Ionian Islands in northwest of Greece This name duality stems from the island’s Venetian past where it was referred to as ‘Zante,’ a name that has persisted The beaches and natural beauty of this Ionian Island capture the imagination of travelers seeking a vacation to the Greek Islands Zakynthos is known for its nightlife in towns like Laganas but is also known for its traditional villages such as Alykes and Vasilikos Let’s not forget its crucial role in wildlife conservation being a sanctuary for the endangered Loggerhead turtles One of the best things to do in Zakynthos is to visit the Blue Caves These natural arches have been carved out by erosion and are famous for the vivid color of blue water in its deepest hollows We recommend getting out early in the morning for the best light and to avoid the crowds Going snorkeling at the Blue Caves is one thing you do not want to miss You will see what we mean once you dip your face in the deep blue azure water and see what is below You can hire a small private boat or take a tour of the many famous sites along the coast where you can go swimming and snorkeling The fact that the Blue Caves are only accessible by boat should be reason enough to add it to your itinerary *Note: – cruises around the island last around 9-10 hours, so you be prepared for a long and beautiful day* Book your tour here. Most boat tours leave from Agios Nikolaos Harbor Navagio Beach is a cove surrounded by white sea cliffs that are 900 feet tall The famous Navagio Beach (Which means shipwreck in Greek) has become the symbol of the island and is one of the top things to do in Zakynthos and you cannot go on the sandy beach itself Who wants to stand on a small beach with a bunch of people getting in your way You can book a boat tour to see Navagio Shipwreck Beach here The closure was due to rockfall from several small earthquakes and was put in as a safety measure I also think it is an environmental issue as well Shipwreck Beach is still a stop on almost all boat tours and is often combined with the Blue Cave. We recommend booking a boat tour that visits in the early morning or later in the afternoon so you are not crammed in there with a bunch of other boats Most tour boats leave from Agios Nikolaos harbor The best photo opportunity of Navagio Beach is from the lookout from the top of the cliffs This is the classic view that has been used to market Zakynthos Island and one you have probably seen on Instagram you can imagine the number of people who want to see it from this angle you will be standing in line with a bunch of other people just to get to the platform for the view this place is a wonder of nature that gives chills to the bone Snorkeling is one of the most popular activities on the island of Zakynthos (football is also popular with a professional football club) and it is one of the most exciting and adventurous things a visitor can do in Zante From absolute beginner to experienced divers you can set out on an adventure to explore the depths of the Ionian Sea in the Zakynthos Marine Park The crystal clear waters of the gulf that surrounds the main island of Zakynthos are pristine There are many sea caves that lure you inside for some of the most unique snorkeling experiences you’ll ever have If you aren’t up for snorkeling, you can also book a glass-bottom boat tour that will allow you to take in the beauty of the turquoise waters and what lies below The island of Zante is one of the best places in the world to find the famous Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta-Carreta Turtle) The loggerhead sea turtle is endangered and they lay their eggs on many of its beaches Note: Tourists are prohibited from visiting places where turtles lay eggs as Zante authorities protect them (Kalamaki Beach is one of the beaches where the turtles lay their eggs The region between Laganas and Kalamaki Beach also has some restrictions do your research and ensure you go with a company that practices safe snorkeling with wildlife If you see a ton of boats pulling up alongside a turtle and everyone jumping in at once just tell your boat captain that you don’t agree with this and to move on The last thing we should do is cause unnecessary stress to any animal you will be glad you added this island to your trip Just outside of Zakynthos Town are the Keri Caves The Keri Caves are a series of sea caves located along the island’s southwestern coast Their extraordinary beauty and crystal-clear waters make them a popular spot for tourists and many visitors explore them via tour boat that include opportunities for swimming and snorkeling Combine the beauty of the underwater world with white sea cliffs reaching up from the clear azure waters Like most popular snorkeling spots in Zakynthos, you can also go via a glass-bottom boat The waters are so clear; these are very popular on the island A Keri Caves tour stops at Turtle Island to spot sea turtles as well You can even rent a boat if you feel comfortable to explore around the island at your own pace Keri Beach is another popular beach that is located in the village of Keri this picturesque beach is known for its crystal-clear waters and pebble-lined shores making it a paradise for swimmers and snorkelers The charm of Keri Beach lies in its peaceful setting where visitors can unwind and soak in the Mediterranean sun The beachfront is dotted with traditional tavernas where you can savor authentic Greek dishes while enjoying views of the Ionian Sea This is the jumping off point to the nearby Keri Caves and Marathonisi Island which are accessible by boat tours For those interested in a more leisurely experience renting a sunbed and simply relaxing by the azure waters is a delightful option Keri Lighthouse is a remarkable landmark located in the picturesque village of Keri This historic lighthouse stands as a beacon offering some of the best views of the Ionian Sea and the surrounding limestone cliffs you can enjoy some delicious Greek cuisine at the Keri Lighthouse Restaurant This popular eatery is renowned for its strategic location at one of the island’s most scenic vantage points offering panoramic views of the Ionian Sea and the surrounding landscapes The Keri Lighthouse Restaurant terrace is a perfect spot for a meal or a drink especially during sunset when the sky and sea are painted in vibrant hues Gerakas Beach is located on the southern tip of the Vasilikos peninsula in the National Marine Park The beach’s proximity to Vasilikos makes it one of the most popular beaches to visit and it has easy access to a variety of tavernas and cafes Zakynthos Island is an exceptional destination for scuba divers boasting a variety of dive sites that cater to all levels of experience The island’s underwater world is rich in marine life and geological features Avid scuba divers will love diving through one of the 400 caves around Zakynthos island Among the top dive sites is the enchanting Keri Caves The caves are popular for their excellent visibility to explore its underwater formations and nooks and crannies of the caves Divers can also encounter a variety of marine life the calm waters and range of depths make the Keri Caves suitable for both beginner and experienced divers a Russian cargo ship that sank off the coast of Zakynthos in 2008 provides an intriguing exploration opportunity to see its haul with approximate costs ranging from €60 to €100 for a single dive depending on the dive center and the complexity of the dive Many operators offer PADI certification courses and guided dives ensuring safety and an enriching underwater experience Divers in Zakynthos can expect to encounter vibrant coral formations and the allure of the Mediterranean marine life makes Zakynthos a top destination for scuba diving enthusiasts looking to explore the depths of the Ionian Sea The golden sandy beach of Banana Beach is the longest beach in Zakynthos Banana Beach is easily accessible to make a day out at the beach Its sheer size ensures there’s always a spot on the soft There are activities and water sports like jet skiing and parasailing as well as more relaxed options such as sunbed rentals and paddleboarding The beach area is dotted with a variety of restaurants and beach bars making it the perfect place to spend the day inviting waters of the Ionian Sea make it a great spot for swimming and snorkeling There’s no shortage of scenes of white limestone cliffs plunging into crystal clear waters along the coast of Zakynthos Porto Limniona is considered the best swimming spot in Zakynthos This secluded cove on the west coast is yet another place with calm azure waters Impressive rock formations and steep cliffs surround this popular snorkeling and swimming area And there are chairs with beach umbrellas to rent visitors can enjoy local Greek cuisine while soaking in the tranquil views over Porto Limnonas More people are starting to learn about Porto Limnionas beach but that doesn’t detract from its beauty Porto Limnionas Beach is not large with only a small beach area There are plenty of outdoor activities on Zante, including horse riding on the beach (highly recommended!) The Laganas horseriding center offers rides through sand dunes with an unforgettable experience swimming with horses in the Ionian Sea The Laganas Horseriding Center is family-run by the Tsourakis family They are ranked as one of the top 10 best riding centers in Greece We mentioned that Zakynthos is known for its nightlife The island of Zante is not called “The Party Island” for a  reason The central part that gets this attribute is a resort area called Laganas and restaurants are placed here for a reason The area attracts a hip and youthful crowd with its mix of international DJs The crowds rush to hit the strip every night from 10 p.m The vibe and energy pulse in every direction and it is easy to go barhopping all night long The beachfront is lined with venues offering a variety of music and themes ensuring there’s something for every taste where guests can enjoy cocktails and snacks under the stars The themed parties can get pretty wild where they pour neon colors on people and the clubs put on special fireworks displays almost three times a week So you get the idea of the atmosphere and vibe you can experience on Zante here Located about 30km west of Zakynthos Town in the scenic village of Volimes this beach offers a tranquil escape during the day with its clear Agios Nikolaos provides excellent facilities and a variety of beachfront tavernas serving delicious Greek cuisine The beach is also a hub for water sports enthusiasts offering activities such as snorkeling and diving with dive centers available for equipment rental and lessons The nearby port offers boat trips to the famous Shipwreck Cove and Blue Caves making Agios Nikolaos a convenient starting point for exploring Zakynthos’ natural wonders It is not a surprise that Zakynthos is one of the best islands in Greece for a party and at night St Nicolas Beach is another party beach on Zakynthos Korakonisi Ridge is an off-the-beaten-path marvel in Zakynthos this striking rock formation is a unique geological landscape Photographers and hikers are drawn to its rugged beauty which provides a panoramic view of the Ionian Sea The area around Korakonisi is ideal for those who enjoy exploring natural landmarks and engaging in outdoor activities like rock climbing and trekking The clear waters surrounding the ridge are also perfect for snorkeling allowing visitors to discover the vibrant marine life its untouched and serene environment makes it a worthwhile destination for those looking to experience Zakynthos beyond the typical tourist spots The island of Zakynthos also has many historical attractions The rich history of Zakynthos dates from 1600 One of the most famous people who lived in Zakynthos was Dionysios Solomos He was a native of Zakynthos and Greece’s national poet The Town of Zante (Zakynthos Town) contains two of them One of them is the remains of the Venetian Castle you’ll discover the Venetian Fort that dates back to the 15th century Other Museums and historical places on Zante are: much of Zakynthos Town was destroyed in the 1953 earthquake Things to see in Zante Town are Agios Dionysios The Venetian Castle above the city that offers beautiful views from the village of Bohali which houses a replica of the town before the earthquake ceramic statues of Greek historian symbols The best thing about the holidays in Zante is that chances are you will meet somebody new and interesting and experience some great things and Greek food is one of the most delicious foods you will ever taste in your life there is a beautiful smell of delicious food and olive oil (one of the most produced products in Zante) as well as a great atmosphere in restaurants where you can experience fire dancing and plate smashing With the recent expansion of tourism on the island the gourmet side of it is blooming almost everywhere The best part of this is that the food is affordable in Zakynthos and Greeks take their hospitality and level of service to another level just to show how they value your visit and choice to eat at their tavernas & restaurants Some of the best places to eat on Zakynthos are: The best way to get to Zante Island is by flying into Zakynthos International Airport The Zakynthos Airport welcomes flights from major European cities For those traveling from within Greece or neighboring countries Ferries to Zakynthos depart from mainland Greece port of Kyllini offering a scenic voyage across the Ionian Sea and are well-connected to the Greek road network making them accessible for those on a road trip is to drive to a nearby port and take a car ferry combining the flexibility of a road trip with the experience of sea travel Whether you’re looking for speed and convenience via air travel reaching Zakynthos is an integral part of the adventure setting the stage for an unforgettable Greek island experience or take a small train to explore the resorts on the island The most flexible and convenient way to explore the island is by rental car. You can compare prices here. This option allows visitors to travel at their own pace and enjoy the scenic drives Zakynthos is famous for especially near tourist areas and the airport You can also rent a boat or book a boat trip to many of the nearby islands and tourist destinations the local bus service offers an affordable and reliable alternative connecting the main town to popular beaches and resorts Taxis are also widely available and can be a good choice for shorter trips or when traveling in a group Organized tours and boat trips are also a good option as they provide transportation and guided exploration of the island’s key attractions Many of the resorts are scattered on the quiet parts of the island you can go from one end to the other in a few hours of driving Many places offer a peaceful environment with olive trees and a private pool where you can chill out and shake your stress away just by listening to the sea Laganas: Ideal for those seeking lively nightlife Laganas is renowned for its vibrant bars and clubs Hotels like the Mediterranean Beach Resort offer luxury accommodations right on the beachfront Tsilivi boasts a beautiful beach and a range of activities The Contessina Hotel is a popular choice here offering a blend of comfort and convenience with easy access to local attractions Argassi: For travelers looking for a balance between tranquility and accessibility The Diana Palace Hotel provides a peaceful yet convenient base with excellent facilities and proximity to Zakynthos Town Vasilikos: Nature lovers should head to Vasilikos which is known for its natural beauty and serene beaches The Vasilikos Beach Hotel is a great option offering a quiet environment and stunning sea views Zakynthos Town: For a more cultural experience Hotels like the Phoenix Hotel offer easy access to historical sites ideal for those looking to unwind in a more laid-back setting The best times to visit Zakynthos depend largely on your preferences for weather the most ideal times are during the late spring Late Spring (May to Early June): This period offers pleasant weather with temperatures ranging from 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F) making it perfect for exploring the natural beauty and attractions in relative tranquility which is suitable for swimming and water activities Early Summer (Late June to Early July): Early summer is ideal for those wanting to enjoy the warm weather without the peak season crowds The temperatures range from 25°C to 30°C (77°F to 86°F) and exploring the island’s outdoor attractions Early Autumn (September to October): The weather remains warm (around 20°C to 25°C or 68°F to 77°F) but with fewer tourists and the reduced crowds provide a more relaxed atmosphere This period is also excellent for outdoor activities like hiking and sightseeing It’s worth noting that the peak tourist season in Zakynthos is during July and August While this time offers the hottest weather and a vibrant atmosphere it also brings larger crowds and higher prices For those interested in observing the Loggerhead sea turtles late spring and early summer are the best times as this coincides with the nesting season on the island’s beaches the best time to visit Zakynthos hinges on your personal preferences for weather Zakynthos Island is a beautiful island that is part of the Ionian island chain which is fast becoming a great alternative to the Greek Islands of Santorini or Crete. So This group of islands is located in the Ionian Sea The islands have a strong Venetian Influence but also influences from the British and French And these are the best things to do in Zakynthos When looking for the best things to do in Zakynthos include at least some of the cultural and conservation activities and go beyond checking out the famous Shipwreck Beach or spending time in the clubs you will fall in love with this Greek Island Why not use these resources that are tried and tested by yours truly Book Your Flights: Start planning your trip by finding the best flight deals on Skyscanner. We have used them for years and have found that they have the best flight deals Book your Hotel: Find the best prices on hotels with these two providers. If you are located in Europe use Booking.com and if you are anywhere else use TripAdvisor. Find Apartment Rentals: You will find the cheapest prices on apartment rentals with VRBO Learn a Language: We recommend and love both Rosetta Stone and Babbel Travel Insurance: Don't leave home without it Book Your Activities: Looking for walking tours, skip-the-line tickets, private guides, and more? Then we recommend Get Your Guide. Need more help planning your trip? Make sure to check out our Resources Page where we highlight all the great companies that we trust when we are traveling 28 Amazing Things to Do In Greece 24 Best Things to Do in Corfu Town, Greece In 2024 The Perfect One Day in Athens Itinerary – Your Guide to The City "Dejan travelers have the best holiday on the island. He writes a blog about the Greek island Zakynthos at Zakynthos Insider – Zante where you will find great inside info about Zante, deals, travel advice and knowledge, and great help exploring Zante. See more Zakynthos travel at ZanteHolidayInsider / Facebook / Twitter Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "ace3eec517da9320dd7b5cc2fd4451f1" );document.getElementById("bb6e812255").setAttribute( "id" and website in this browser for the next time I comment These places in Greece are truly incredible The place has one more beautiful landscapes than the other It is one of the places I dream of still traveling around the world I love doing horseback riding … this is one of my favorite hobbies to do in free time And I loved these pictures in the beach and landscape article 🙂 I’ve been travelling a lot lately because I no longer worry about jet lag Wonderful pictures you have inserted on this post I loved those pictures very much and the places also 🙂 One of the important reasons of visiting the island is “Kareta Kareta” big turtles which you can see in their natural environment in Zakhintos I saw them in Lagana ,it was really spectacular view.Other reasons is that the island is chreep and very beautiful Glad to bring Zante bit closer to you guys I’ll be here someday with my friends Wow! Zante looks so amazing! I wish to visit this place in May this year. I’ve been travelling a lot lately because I no longer worry about jet lag. I found the solution in JetLagFX (http://www.jetlagfx.com/) it reduces the mental and physical stress of long journeys About Dave and Deb Contact Us Privacy Policy Work With Us Press and Media Best Travel Tips How to Save Money for Travel The Ultimate Travel Packing List Travel Safety Tips How to Travel on a Budget