Kefalonia
is the largest of the Ionian islands and lies to the west of mainland Greece,
between Zante (Zakynthos) and Lefkas. It is accessible by air direct from Gatwick,
by domestic flight from Athens, or by car ferry from Patra or Kilini. The principal
town, Argostoli, is a well provisioned shopping centre, and there are two other
sizeable towns and many small ports and villages.
The
island offers spectacular scenery, fine beaches, many unusual natural features,
and much that is of cultural and historic interest: enormous caverns, stalactites
and stalagmites, the ruins of Venetian forts (with some cannons still in place)
atop hills or peninsulas commanding views of a magnificence such as to feature
in national tourism posters, a museum of local history, several monasteries
including that of the patron saint, Paleolithic remains and medieval relics,
and an ideal combination of disco-type night life (for those who like that sort
of thing) and the ability to get right away from it (for those who don't) to
the real, rural island Greece where the silence is punctuated only by the sound
of goat-bells.
Mesovounia
Assos
Fiskardo
Myrtos
Makris
Gialos