Areas of Kefalonia

Kefalonia, the largest island in the Ionian archipelago, is one of Mother Nature’s masterpieces. Paradisiacal sandy beaches, irresistible turquoise waters, towering pine-forested mountains and a host of picturesque villages and towns all contribute to Kefalonia’s status as a much-loved holiday destination.

Geographically, Kefalonia can roughly be divided into three parts: a large central section and two peninsular wings, one to the north, Erisos, and one to the west, Paliki. To the east, just 4km across the water is its neighbouring island, Ithaca, with which it shares much of its ancient and modern history, while to the north and south are Lefkada and Zakynthos respectively.

Erisos, the northern peninsular, is home to the small, charming seafront towns of Fiskardo, with its picturesque pastel-painted Venetian-style houses, and Assos, whose main attraction is its impressive late-16th century Venetian castle, perched in a panoramic position atop a forested promontory. Access to the castle is via quite a steep walking path, but the views from the top are well worth the effort. At the western base of Erisos is the famous and divinely beautiful sandy beach of Myrtos.

The Paliki peninsular is separated from the main section of the island by the Gulf of Argostoli, a lagoon-like, 2km-wide strip of sea. Its main town, looking across the water towards Argostoli, is the pleasant little port of Lixouri. The gentle hills of Paliki are popular amongst walkers, while its western shores offer spellbinding sunsets.

The main, central section of Kefalonia has a great deal to offer. To the west is Kefalonia’s largest town, Argostoli, while to the east is the port town of Sami. Argostoli, apart from being the political capital of the island, is also its cultural hub, featuring an excellent Archaeological Museum and a Museum of Folklore. Its daily street market on the seafront makes for a colourful, fun shopping experience. 

The south of Kefalonia is a hiker’s paradise, with pine tree-covered Mount Ainos, just over 1620m, at the centre. On its western flanks is the early 16th century Venetian Castle of St George, which offers great views of the south of the island and all the way to Zakynthos. Sami is Kefalonia’s busiest port with ferry connections to Patras, Italy, Ithaca and other nearby islands. 

Kefalonia’s popularity as a holiday destination owes much to the publication in 1994 of Louis de Bernières’s best-selling novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and to the subsequent release of a film based on the book in 2001. The novel’s central theme, a love story between a local girl and an Italian army officer stationed on the island, has as its backdrop the terrible, scarring events of the Second World War. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin has sold in its millions and brought a certain amount of fame and prosperity to the island, but many Kefalonians (and Greeks in general) view de Bernières’s description of the Greek resistance movement as a politically motivated, defamatory misrepresentation of their forebears, so many of whom, along with around 5,000 Italian soldiers of the Acqui Division, were brutally murdered on the island by the Nazis. So strong are these feelings that when the movie came to be made, permission to film on the island was only granted on condition that certain controversial elements of the book were excluded.

Kefalonia’s long, convoluted history goes back over three millennia and, like so much of Greece’s ancient past, is shrouded in myth and legend. The island’s name is thought to derive from the Greek hero, Cephalus, lover of Eos, the Goddess of Dawn, and husband of Procris. Cephalus is said to have fathered a dynasty whose descendants included Odysseus (of whom more later). Myths and legends aside, however, it is certain that the island was an important part of Mycenaean Greece between around 1500BCE and 1100BCE, and the small but fascinating Archaeological Museum in Argostoli boasts a renowned collection of artifacts from this era.