Summer 2021 - Kefalonia and Ithaca - a late summer Greek Odyssey

Our September 2021 trip to Greece was booked in the depth of winter when we needed something to look forward to after missing out on our Winter skiing. We opted for a Package Tour as it would be easier to cancel, or move, than our normal DIY trips.

In July we added a second week to get better value from the expensive testing regime. It was good decision as we doubled the fun. The first week was to be in Kefalonia and the second week in Ithaka

Fiskardo

Kephalonia

The Kalokeri Apartments, on the edge of town, was our Camp for the first week. Our Studio was on the top floor and had a stunning view from the balcony. We could see the boat people coming and going on their flotilla yachts and the sun rising from behind Ithaka. Wakey-wakey! 

This was our first visit to Greece for 40 years. The Greeks were still using Drachma in those days but, conveniently for us, it seems to be a one to one exchange rate. What once cost a Drachma now costs a Euro! 

Good Morning Fiskardo

After an EasyJet from Gatwick and a bus transfer to the the North of Kefalonia we were ready for our first meal in Fiskardo. Elli's Restaurant was the venue, quite a smart place set on the harbour front. Our choice from the menu was Red Snapper. In Greece, the fish live in an icy aquarium. Choose fresh fish and you get the chance to look inside. It's a bit like a lucky dip, the waiter dives in with his hands and hopefully comes up with a chilly snapper. We wondered if they ever pull out a rigid goldfish or guppy just for a joke? So our first night was spent sitting out on a balmy evening eating Snapper by the seaside, not bad at all. Overnight it rained, a lot! I wandered down to the local Rotsis Family Bakery in the morning in my wet weather gear. I commented on the weather to the baking girls. Is it always like this? No, they replied, it hasn't rained for 6 months. I walked back in the rain.

Taking the water

We were due to pick up a hire car that morning. The first of 3 days on our package. I was in no hurry as I imagined that, after the drought, the roads would be pretty greasy. Anyway, the car was in the car park so I thought might as well check it out. Unfortunately the drivers window had been left fully open so the appropriately named foot well was full of water and the seats were oozing. I contacted the hire company - 'no problem it will soon dry out'. The thought of driving around the island in a moving steam room did not appeal and they agreed to a change of vehicle. 

Alaties Beach

Anyway, we had a call from our guides and mentors and we were on our way to lunch, thankfully in their car. We were off to a beachside taverna at Alaties Beach. The rain had stopped and it was starting to warm up and we had a very pleasant lunch with good company. The food was excellent, I ate Octopussy and TW demolished a pasta dish. Our waitress was so laid back she was almost falling over but she was nice and we were certainly in no in a hurry. Had my first Kefalonia beer here. There is a micro-brewery on the island that makes a good lager and a dark beer. Had my second Kefalonia beer here🍺. By the way, the restaurants in the area often give a bonus item at the end of the meal. This one handed out choc ice lollies which really made TW's day. Other freebies on the trip included a glass of something that tasted like Port, fresh melon, apple slices with cinnamon, filo pastry crisps with honey and Goatie Creme Caramel to name just a few.

Alaties Beach

After lunch we marched off for a clamber on the rocks. There are various pools in the rocks  that were once used to collect mineral salts. Apparently soaking in them today is very beneficial. Being risk averse, TW put just one foot in. I put both feet in. The health benefits were not obvious but my feet did change colour. Oh, and if they are still collecting salt, we apologise for any contamination caused by 'putting our foot in it' The following morning our 3 dipped feet were dancing. The beach is small but perfectly formed and quite lovely.

Bit of an earthquake here

Alaties Beach was the first of several highly enjoyable outings where we benefitted  from G and S's expert knowledge of Kefalonia that has been gained after years of great self-sacrifice and diligent research.

Lunching at Elli's

There are some interesting walks from Fiskardo and after a visit to the bakery girls and a good breakfast of porridge with honey, eggs and croissant we headed down to the local Emplisi beach which is probably the best in the Area. It certainly seemed popular. We did not stop but carried on through woodland to Kimilia Beach, another nice bay. The water was super clear but not quite as warm as expected. Happily it was very refreshing after our wooded wander.

The Sundowners

The sun setting on the Ionian Sea

What's on the menu

That evening was my chance to drive off into the sunset. We were off to Veggra in Vasilkades and we decided to give our hire car a run out. We picked the Islanders up from their very posh villa up the road, it was a bit like Southfork to us. Surprisingly we found it quite easily. Apparently our car had a manual gear box but I found it quite flexible and speedy in First gear, if not a little noisy. We reached the Restaurant without incident. We had a table on the verandah outside and watched the sun go down and ate very well. We had lamb stew with lemon which was tasty but tricky to eat. The selection of starters was good. I particularly like Dolmades so I was happy. As you might expect the return journey was in darkness and bizarrely the windscreen steamed up on the outside and the inside. Cousin S informed us that this was the first time she had been in the back seat for many years. We did not delve any deeper. After a coffee at Southfork we headed to our quarters in Fiskardo. A very nice evening.

Aghia Ephemia

Cousins - Pretty in Pink

Tourists in Aghia Ephemia

The next day we had a big adventure in store. We drove, or rather G drove, first to Aghia Ephemia where we stopped for coffee at Carena Bar. This is a pleasant town with a small harbour and looked pretty unspoiled. 40 years ago the choice of coffee was either a Nescafe or a tiny Greek coffee that was fiercely strong and included a spoonful of sand. Now, happily, the full range of international options are available. I enjoyed my Americano. 

S had a bit of difficulty determining the gender of the loos. The signs on the doors were a bit obscure, a delicate squiggle or an I. We think she went for the squiggle. I asked the waitress - the girl's is pink, the boy's is blue she replied. 

The crew go boating

Light from above

The Boat Race

If the bats don't get you the eels will!

Next stop an underground cave fed by a spring from the other side of the island. At Mellisani Lake we headed down a tunnel to some rowing boats where we clambered aboard and headed across the underground lake. We shared the vessel with some Greek folks. It was very well organised and we felt very secure despite the presence of bats in the adjoining cave and some giant eels lurking below. Our only cause for concern was for the modesty of one of the Greek Instagram Selfie girls. We were worried that she would lose control of her barely concealed top half.

Our boatman claimed to have jumped in from the open top of the cave when he was younger. Hopefully his judgement has improved with age as our lives were in his hands. Bright light from the open top of the cave gave us a vision of incredibly blue water and it was a pretty impressive natural attraction. There were no queues on this September Tuesday but it must be justifiably popular in high season. 

The weather now was perfect, clear blue skies and hot. The rain of the first day forgotten. What's not to like. Lets have lunch....

I liked Lunch. It was taken in Alexandros Taverna in Divatara, again good food and service and nice shade before we headed to Assos to the North along the coast.

Assos

Assos - it's a long way down

Assos is quite charming, apart from the hill. We saw a cyclist part way up as we descended. On our way up about 2 hours later he still had not reached the coast road. We had a wander around Assos and took a dip from the beach in town. Very refreshing. It's dominated by a Venetian Castle that you can walk to. We stayed on the beach and admired it from afar. Am sure Assos is a nice place to stay but not sure about that road if I had my bike with me. All in all, a great day out.

TW hits the beach

Fiskardo - walking to the beach

Panoramos in Fiskardo for a dust buster

We had seen some pretty amazing Trip advisor reviews for Tselenti Bakery in Fiskardo and we just happened to walk past. Apparently it has rude staff? Surely not! We could not resist going in to buy a cake. We put our masks on. All went well until we were paying and she asked how many people lived in our village? Oh, about 100,000 I said and how many in your  village? 20 she said. She then said That's very dangerous, terrible and went and hid behind the bread rolls.

We came away with our baklava which was nicely boxed up and bagged. It was supposed to be a dessert for our evening meal but we decided it was cursed and couldn't pluck up the courage to eat it. What a contrast to all the other people we met and my morning bakery staff at Rotsis Family Bakery who were just so lovely, definitely 5 Star.

On the trail of the Goats

Meeting the locals on our drive over the middle

The pace of life is pretty slow up here

We did not see any people on our mountain route, just goats. High on the hill is a lonely goat herd? Not here but I suppose they must need milking to make the lovely Feta Cheese for our Greek salads.

Once we had survived goat alley we stopped at a rustic taverna for quite a strange coffee. It was billed as Nescafe? Quite a friendly and interesting little place. G told us that bandit country was just up the road, we tried to make ourselves small.

The Castle of St. George

The Airport in Kefalonia is towards the South of the Island. Our rep on the Coach Transfer to Fiskardo pointed out some of the points of interest. One of them was the Castle of St. George. It looked pretty high in the sky and when G suggested a visit we were a bit worried about the walk up. Anyway we were up for it but fortunately found that any attackers today can approach on a Tarmac road. The views from up there are pretty stunning. The castle isn't in great condition but must have been an impressive fortress in its pomp. Funny old lot the Venetians, their own City was built at sea level and below but everywhere they went they sat themselves in a Castle on a Hill? 

No double glazing

Great views

Instagram Cousins

High on a Hill - St Georges with Argostoli in the distance

Our Islander guides

We had lunch at  Kastro Cafe pretty much next to the Castle. It's rated Number one in Kefalonia on Trip Advisor. It's a great location but not sure I would rate it as highly as Trip Advisors reviewers as we had some lovely meals elsewhere. It was mainly memorable for its miserable waiter, we decided he was the brother of the lady in the Tselenti Bakery. They are the only two miseries we encountered in Kefalonia, hopefully it is a very small family.

Our route took us back through Davatara and we stopped to buy honey and mountain tea at another very lovely place Cafe Mirtylo. Had to have a coffee, it would be rude not to.

Jerusalem Beach on the West side was very nice for a dip at the end of the day. A Hurricane last year in Kefalonia damaged a lot of the coastal infrastructure and wrecked Jerusalem Beach. It has been been restored and it is a very pretty place again.

Jerusalem Beach

Fishing from Jerusalem

The last supper

Our favourite Restaurant in Fiskardo was Elli's and we went back for a last night meal. No boats to spoil the view here. At most other Tavernas, yachts tie up 'stern first' right at the harbour edge. They like to join up side by side as close as possible to the dining tables to watch us all eat and drink. Bit like a caravan site but with no gaps between the pitches. 

Nicolas Taverna and Lagoudera were also good. Nicolas sits above the town at the end of the Harbour with great views. Lagoudera is right in the thick of things. We particularly enjoyed the out of town meals, To Pertino near Southfork and our sunset meal. Oh, and just down the road from our digs we had a nice lunch at Mirrella's  Restaurant and took in the lovely view.

Fiskardo is a great place and has a buzz about it in the evening. During the day it can get a bit tripperish with all the tour boats coming and going. With great weather and fewer people we reckon September was the perfect time for us to visit. We were sorry to be leaving and to be saying goodbye to the Islanders that had been so kind in showing us the ropes and making our holiday extra special.

Odysseus getting ready

Ithaka

The second week of our Greek idyll took us to Ithaka. Or rather a Taxi and a boat carried us there. Our taxi arrived at Fiskardo in good time. The driver insisted I sit in the front, apparently we were in Greece and they do that sort of thing? He was actually quite a careful driver and spoke good English. We were in his Uncle's manual gearbox car as his automatic was off the road. Not literally we hope as an off-road experience on the Island road is literally 'a drop in the ocean'. The traffic was light but we did get stuck behind a couple of tankers. Our driver was excited to see them and exclaimed 'what a tanker' each time. Again, must be a Greek thing? TW reckons he was saying water tanker.

The Taxi took us back to Aghia Ephimia where we set sail immediately on the good ship Christina 3. It was a private charter and we were the only passengers on the vessel for the 45 min passage to Ithaka across the stunning blue waters. Once at  Pisaipos Port we adopted Charlie, a little Citreon C1. It was at  least 20km to Kioni, and with no other available means of travel we had to drive it. We wound our way on the coast road to Stavros and the Ithaka Restaurant from our recommended list. It had stunning views from the Terrace. TW had the Sea Bream which she enjoyed. I had Whitebait which was plentiful but became very salty. Our freebie here was creme caramel made with goat's milk. TW enjoys her desserts and lapped it up. 

Lunching in Stavros with Polis Bay in the background

With TW fed and watered we headed on via Frikes to Kioni and our studio at Apartment Likoudis. We soon realised we did not know which apartment was ours, more than one had a key in the door. We had to phone Alexia. It's written on the envelope I gave you! Doh, another senior moment. Our Studio was fine with great views over Kioni.  TW took exception to a mural by the bed with Odysseus standing on a cliff top. Oh no, not another bloomin edge, we'll have to cover it up!

An edgy mural at our Studio

The view from our cave, set in the hillside above Kioni, was very impressive but we were soon down to town to restock our essential supply of porridge and some bottled water. The tap water has a sort of brown tinge so is not great for drinking. 

Harbour view from our place in the sun

Our verandah

Time for a dip?

We ate on our verandah that night and watched the moon rise and the distant twinkle of lights from the Harbour. We were pestered by a couple of cats, our neighbours had admitted to feeding them on tuna all week. These cats thought we would be their new suppliers but were soon disappointed. Fortunately they transferred their affections to No.6

Cemetery Beach

Our Sunday drive was to the aptly named Cemetery Beach just South of the village. I have no idea why we drove there, it's quite a pleasant and easy walk. I imagine the Cemetery is there to house all the poor folks who have toppled off the road. To reach this place of rest we had to drive into town and follow a narrow path around the coast. One false move and Charlies wheels would be over the edge. We chickened out of the final slope, parked by a pretty white painted chapel and walked the final steps to a very pleasant beach with a Cantina. We had a paddle in the crystal clear waters and looked forward to the return journey.

The wee chapel above the Cemetary

Afales Bay was our target for Monday. On our first attempt we drove via Stavros on a narrow road and ended up back in Frikes having taken a wrong turn. Our next attempt took us too far West and we ended up at the Kalamos Spring. At least that meant we were able to get directions from someone filling up industrial sized water bottles. With his help and Google Maps we found the right turning and we arrived before the wind started. On that part of the island it gets very windy after lunch so we were advised to only go in the morning.

The fountain of Kalamos

Filling Station

The only monument in memory of a lunatic? Lost in Ithaka!

Afales Bay

Afales bay

 Afales was a great place for stone hunting. 

Stone the rocks

Lunching at Rementzo in Frikes

Meatballs at Rementzo

Rementzo on the Harbour at Frikes became a favourite. TW had a great steak on one of our visits there.

Vathi

Tuesday's target was Vathi  and then Sarakiniko Beach. Vathi is picturesque and interesting place to wander around. We were told it has a population of over 3000 and it certainly seemed quite substantial. Lots of little shops. The boatie flotillas were certainly in evidence. Well worth a visit and the drive.

Over-ordered in Vathi

Extra bread for the fish?

Vathi - our view to the Harbour

We had lunch at one of the seafront restaurants, Taverna Kanpouni. They gave me a mega portion of fried Calamari that I tried to eat along with a Greek Salad and Garlic Bread. No room for Dinner that evening! The garlic bread fed the fishes. 

Kanpouni for lunch

The coast road is a bit edgy and TW did not enjoy sitting on the outside on some of the narrow sections. However, we knew that before we came and some of the views were spectacular. Sarakiniko Beach about 4km from Vathi was very good, lovely in the water. 

The beaches on Ithaka are stony but exceedingly pleasant places to relax and spend some time.

Sarakiniko Beach

Testing Times

Its wonderful to get away during the Covid era but a downside is the testing regime. We needed to do a lateral flow test in the 3 days before our return home to prove we were negative. We had booked our tests in England and carried the kits with us. We had time slots where we needed to receive video calls but the Internet at our digs was hopeless and our mobile data did not work either. We decided to go to the village and find a Cafe with good internet and a kind owner who would not mind us sticking swabs up our noses in their premises. We had found the ideal place, the En Plo Roof Bar and that became our regular watering hole for the next few days. Nose swabbing with a Metaxa chaser!

Testing Station in Kioni

We tested negative and headed for the beach at Polis Bay. The umbrella guy was born in Australia and was very chatty. Seven Euros for a couple of sunbeds, an umbrella and his life story.

Rising Damp at Pulis Bay

Mills was our recommended Restaurant and we ate there three times. We liked the food and the service. There was a seating area by the Harbour and a terraced Garden area on the hillside with trees and cactii - Mills on the Hill.

TW at Mills on the Hill

Our waitress had to carry the food up a huge number of steps to deliver our fish and Greek Salad. She didn't seem to mind though. It was her last night and she was heading back to Patras where she was a post grad student in linguistics. Our freebie was the sweetest water melon ever!

Walking into town with Likoudis behind.

We rather liked the walk into town past the houses built on the hillside. It took about 20 minutes. We could also take Charlie down to the Car Park and have a 5 minute walk.

Mills by the Sea - the spoons are just table decoration

Nice and quiet in September at the Harbour

Aspros Gialos Beach at Ag. Ioanis

Our favourite beach was another S & G tip. Some of the regulars in the Apartments didn't know about it although it must get busy in season. We had it to ourselves all morning. The umbrella man turned up at around lunchtime for his 10 Euros. To reach the beach we dived down from the coastal road on a switchback. TW was gripping the seat but enjoyed the beach.

TW hits the water

Aspros Gialos Beach at Ag. Ioanis - A beach to ourselves

Taking steps back to the car

Aghios Nikalaos

There is a very unspoiled area of Kioni just over the hill. We walked down past the rustic Taverna at the top of the hill to Aghios Nikalaos where there is a small quiet Harbour area. We spoke to a guy returning from a fishing expedition. He was a University Professor in Classics  who now works from home. Home was a blue and white house with a sea view, not a bad lifestyle. A short walk from there took us to a quiet beach where we sat under the shade of a large olive tree until it was time for a walk into town and lunch at the testing station. We needed to complete our dreaded Passenger Locator Forms ready for tomorrow. On our route back to town we passed a very unwelcoming hound. Luckily he was chained up but TW was off up the hill like a rocket. 

Aghios Nikalaos

Kioni from our testing station En Plo

The Mills

The walk to Cemetery Beach continues out to the mouth of the Harbour. Three windmills shorn of their sails sit on the cliff-top. It is a pleasant walk from town in the evening sunshine. The Mills were used until the First World War for grinding grain. We saw a number of these towers dotted around the island,

The Mills of Kioni

 

The inside story

Heading Home

Our flight back was from Kephalonia. This time we had to share Christina with about 30 others. A bit rough on the crossing but we made it safely back to Aghia Ephemia and our coach to the airport. All our tests and paperwork was deemed to be in order, so we were allowed on the Easy bird to Gatwick.  

Looking Back - Ithaka and our coastal road from the boat to Aghia Ephemia

At least there was Arco

A view from the bus - amazing blue water

We had a great 2 weeks. It was lovely to meet up with Islanders. Obviously Greece has changed quite a bit but the people are basically the same. We were glad we went to the North of Kephalonia, it seemed much greener and more unspoiled than the South and it was great to see Ithaka.

Both islands have lots of charm.

The food is better than we remembered and we were never disappointed.

The coffee is very much better.

The loos have improved markedly.

The people were nice and very welcoming.

We missed the Greek music but hey, that's a Covid thing

We had a fun time and hopefully we'll be back!