Captain Corillei's island (Kefalonia)

Member Name: west_jenn

Product:	Kefalonia
Date:	04/10/03 (871 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: beautiful island, relaxing

Disadvantages: time goes too quickly

I've recently got back from an amazing week in Skala, Kefalonia. There isn't a section on here for Skala, so although I?ll be talking about Kefalonia I'll be concentrating on Skala.

We got a good last minute deal for a brilliant price, which is always nice! I've watched Captain Corilleus mandolin and read the book and Kefalonia is as beautiful as the book and film suggest. Kefalonia is one of the Ionian islands and is quite near to Italy. It's population is only 32,000.

We were a bit worried about what the weather would be like, with it being late September when went. But we got lucky with the weather it was glorious for 95% of the week with temperatures hovering around the mid to late 20s mark. We also got really lucky with our apartment which had a lovely sea view from the balcony. We did have a tremendous storm one evening though!

Skala is a laid back, picturesque resort in the south of the island. There are quite a few tourist apartments, but it retains character and charm. It really is a lovely place and we were bowled over by the beauty of it. At it's centre there is a small white church and a square with a fountain and swings. The church clock chimes for each hour passed, so you always know what the time is.

The houses are all small and pretty and the lanes windy and scenic. There is a main street which was a 5 minute walk from our apartment. This has plenty of tavernas and restaurants, so you're never be short of somewhere to eat. Also there are a number of supermarkets, gift shops and places where you can hire a car or book an excursion.

The beach isn't entirely sandy it's more a sand/shingle mixture. Although it's not the large stones you'd find on an English beach, more large sand grains. It really is a lovely beach. The sea is the clearest sea I've ever seen and we were amazed to be able to see small fishes swimming around under the water really close to the sho
reline, whilst out swimming.

A word of warning we went walking along the beach looking for a really sandy beach our tour rep had mentioned and found the nudist area. Nude bathing is illegal in Skala, but a blind eye is turned as it isn't in the main public area. The nude area starts after two huge rocks past where all the sun loungers end. We got a bit of a shock, in my opinion there are some things that shouldn't be exposed to the sun.

If you're feeling energetic you can walk up to Old Skala. This is where the village of Skala used to be before the earthquake of 1953, which destroyed the village and forced the village to relocated down from the hills to by the sea. The earthquake fo 1953 destroyed about 85% of the buildings on the island, because of some warning tremors before it happened people were persuaded to sleep outside and large scale loss of life was avoided.

Old Skala is about an hour and a half walk, all you do is follow the main high street upwards away from the sea and keep going up the path. The walk up is stunning, but a bit tiring. Once there you get a great view of the hills, Skala and the sea. The rubble of Old Skala hasn't been bulldozed and it's unsafe to build up there. It's eerie to look at the ruins of what was probably once quite a vibrant village and see half standing houses.
So what about the rest of the island? We didn't hire a car, because we wanted a relaxing holiday. It is easy to hire a car and if you stay in Skala and want to see a lot of the island it?s the only way to do it.

We went on an organised tour of the island. We went to Drogarati cave, Melissani cave, Myrtos bay and Fiskardo. Drogarti cave is an underground cave it supposed to be about 150 million years old. The 1953 earthquake widened the mouth to the earthquake making it possible to be a tourist attraction. It's full of stalactites and stalagmites which are rock like formations formed by millions
of years of dripping water. This has formed a range of bizarrely shaped stalagmites that hang in huge tear shaped from the ceiling. It's very interesting to see and costs 3 euros to get in.

Melissani cave is near to the Drogarati cave (they're both somewhere around Sami which is in the northwest of the island. Melissani is an underground lake in a cave, there is a hole in the roof of the cave caused by an earthquake. It?s a really gorgeous journey on a small boat rowed by a guide, it takes about ten minutes to be rowed round the lake. It costs 4.50 euros.

We only stopped at Myrtos bay for one of those photo opportunity five minute stops you sometimes get on coach trips. We only saw it from the cliff tops. It's an absolutely stunning beach, golden sand with turquoise waters surrounded by cliffs. It's not near any hotels and is only accessible by car.

Fiskardo is an extremely picturesque village on the north coast. It has a natural harbour, lots of boats moored, plenty of bayside eating places and beautifully colourful houses. It really is a beautiful place. It?s the only village in Kefalonia which was unscathed by the 1953 earthquake, so you can see some pre 1953 building there.

Price wise we found eating out to be reasonably priced and no more expensive then you?d pay in England. Although we did pay quite a lot for a drink in a beachside café, which is only to be expected. The only down point was that it went far too quickly and now I'm back and it feels as if autumn has truly started!

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