Kicking around Kefalonia Thursday 12th October

 Until the Wednesday evening the plan was that we were all going on a boat trip to Zante with George and his friends Sandra and Kevin. Mary had left for home on Wednesday morning and since we received the news that the boat trip had been cancelled, we decided by way of compensation we would all go on another car safari. The reasons for the last minute cancellation of the boat trip were a little mysterious. High wind and choppy sea was the justification given,  but quite frankly the weather didn't seem any different from what it had been all week. As it transpired, we actually did two cruises on the day. 

But I am getting a little ahead of myself, remember we were by now,  card-carrying members of the Loggerhead turtle game warden's society, so we had to put our knowledge to good use. Neither Sandra nor Kev have seen the turtles so we couldn't pass over the opportunity to revisit them. The turtles did not let us down. 

A word about car parking in Kefalonia. Parking is very laissez-faire, although there is some private parking which is charged for, all public parking is free. Bearing in mind we were far from high season, Agostoli had more or less run out of places. Under these circumstances people resort to double parking and use of the hazard lights or there is a continuous trawl around the streets. Something will have to change. 

We had decided to explore a new part of the island so took our first cruise,  the car ferry across to Lixouri.

Each item was €3 per crossing, for example, a car €3 or a passenger €3, easy. Here is the ferry. 

 

This is the stern or in non-nautotechnicological terms, the back. Also see a little contrast below. The back of Cunard's cruise liner Queen Victoria, curiously named after a member of staff at our apartments. She (the ship) has about 2000 passengers and around 1000 crew. Agostoli hosts about one a day of these beasts. They must be both a curse and a blessing.  Me, I prefer a car full to a ship full. 

Meanwhile we'll take in the view and dream. 

Now you can meet us all sitting like Buddhas underneath the banyan tree. Left to right, Kevin, Sandra, George (with the ball), Helen and Nigel. This was taken after we had coffee in the main square in Lixouri. 

This is looking back west towards Lixouri from the mountains on the peninsula. The Gulf is visible centre left. 

We  are making for Petani beach which lies on the west coast of the Paliki peninsula. This beach is described as the finest one on the entire peninsula. Accessible by sea and a single road which is precipitous enough to discourage all but the foolhardy. The beach can be seen from the edge of the road, but please don't lean over too far to try and get a better view. 

This photo is a 360 degree one, which is why it may be confusing you. To the left is the Xouras restaurant of some renown owned by Dina a Greek-American lady. The main restaurant was closed for the season but the bar and snack kitchen remained open. 

A more conventional picture of the beach. Petani beach has crystal clear water as befits an EU 3 star (best) rated Blue flag beach. The floor consists of tiny pebbles ranging in size from around 2mm up to 5cm. They are quite hard to walk on and retain your balance, (ask George). A small modesty screen with a door is provided for those who want to change before they go swimming. The water is cuddly warm, though the beach shelves quite steeply and you are out of your depth within a few metres.  There's no reason to panic however as I found it very hard to get below the surface. 

After a very enjoyable afternoon on the beach when each of us could do our own thing (I'd swear Sandra did a little lotusie meditate) it was time to tackle the ascent and head back to Lixouri. 

This was a striking statue and it had the great benefit of stimulating some discussion. Situated on the harbour front, central to the main square, we spent some time discussing the figure and the ship's bow plinth where there were references to architecture, both ancient and modern, mathematical equations and geometrical diagrams. In addition portraits of people and Greek words. Maybe celebrating all things Greek. However with no stated title and my complete failure to find any textual references online, we are not really much further on. I would welcome any further information. 

Concentrating on the above resulted in me giving insufficient time to Lixouri's most famous statue. The statue of Andreas Laskaratos a satirical poet from the town. His statue was placed in the town with his back deliberately facing Agostoli, to take a stance against the long running feud between Agostoli and Lixouri. The feud dates back to 1757 when the capital was moved from Castro (St George's Castle) to Agostoli. This was not a popular decision with the good citizens of Lixouri and the grudge has been handed down through the generations.

 

Definitely time for our second cruise of the day and on home. We are heading east with the setting sun behind us. I bet that's a brilliant sight on Petani beach. 

Kicking around Kefalonia Tuesday 10th October

 In a nutshell, we plan to circumnavigate the island today, although rather than the nutshell we will be using the hired Nissan Micra. In addition we are planning a turtle hunt. When I say we, I mean the recently convened Dungeon Gang.  We have it on good authority that if we are in the right place at the right time then there is every chance we will encounter one or more of these endangered reptiles. 

The loggerhead turtle, named after its large brown head is about 90 cms long and is the world's biggest turtle. The head is big in order to accommodate its powerful crunching jaws with which it eats crabs, molluscs, clams and urchins. They can live 50 to 60 years in the wild.

The hunt was long and hard. We stalked along the edge of the harbour on the lagoon side of the Gulf of Agostoli. We encountered several shoals of interesting fish, but nothing to raise the blood pressure and excitement level in the way that even a brief encounter with one of those ocean going leviathans would do. On, past the back of the fish market building until Mary was sure she spotted a flipper, possibly waving at her. We were getting warm, well actually hot! After the fish market, the quayside veers left for 30 metres then again to the right. Parked along the quay wall were a number of fishing boats and no small gaggle of very excited people, soon to be joined by our gang. 

This is what we saw.

And even closer, 

So for the first time in your life you can shake hands (well flippers........or hand to flipper) if you see what I mean, with a loggerhead turtle. Just in case you are getting the wrong idea here, no we didn't touch them. Having filled our boots (well, flip flops) with photos and videos it was time to reward ourselves with coffee and cakes. An arduous hunt successfully concluded. 

Next we plan an assault on the wild west coast of the island, making eventually to Fiskardo which is a fishing community in the extreme north of the island. The area around Fiskardo escaped the worst effects of the 1953 earthquake, consequently it still has some good examples the Venetian architecture. There are some interesting small ports and resorts to see or visit on the way up. 

Remember driving anywhere on this island is no bowl of cherries. The topography is such that at any one time a road is either going up or down, left or right but very rarely straight on. This means overtaking other cars is almost impossible. Not, however for the locals who seem to have special powers or extreme faith. 

Looking down to Myrtos Beach you start to get an idea of the land that the roads have been built to serve. North of Myrtos is Assos, our next destination. The road down to Assos is somewhat precipitous which thankfully discourages quite a few people resulting in the village port remaining pleasantly quiet. The village actually lies on an isthmus connecting the island to another bit of land which looks very like an island. 

If you look across the water, you can see a castle and lengthy fortified wall. Originally built by the Venetians, this was a prison until 1953. We enjoyed a drink in the quayside bar before heading back to the car. The picture below shows just how quiet Assos is.

Lunch is calling so we must move north to Fiskardo, which lies in the extreme northern tip of the island. It has a small but diminishing fishing fleet and an increasing recreational one. Ferries sail to the close island of Ithaka and the nearby island of Lefkada. This part of Kefalonia largely missed the worst effects of the '53 earthquake, consequently much of the Venetian architecture remains. The lunch turned out to be a delightful experience with tasty food consumed in a most convivial setting. The candid conversation around the cuisine was blunt, bawdy, biological, blasphemous and bottom bleaching but above all unforgettable. Thank you, especially Mary. 

Fiskardo below.  

Time to continue on our way, first retracing our steps,  then branching south and west towards Sammi. Another port for Ithaka and beach resort. 

It was on the beach here that the filming of Louis de Bernier's novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin took place along with several other locations on the island in 2000. The book and particularly the film thrust Kefalonia onto the tourist map. Although hung on a peg of  a romance the story of the Italian Acqui Division and their relationship with and eventual massacre by former allies the Germans. I would like to supply you with more details of this horrific event courtesy of Wikipedia. 

 The Massacre of the Acqui Division, also known as the Cephalonia massacre, was a war crime by German soldiers against POWs of the Italian 33rd Infantry Division "Acqui" on the island of Cephalonia, Greece, in September 1943, following the Italian armistice during the Second World War.^[1][2][3] About 5,000 soldiers were executed, and around 3,000 more drowned.

Massacre of the Acqui Division
The island of Cephalonia
Location	Cephalonia, Ionian Islands, Kingdom of Greece
Coordinates	38.25°N

Following the decision of the Italian government to negotiate a surrender to the Allies in 1943, the German Army tried to disarm the Italians during Operation Achse. On 13 September the Italians of the Acqui resisted, and fought the Germans on the island of Cephalonia. By 22 September the last of the Italian resistance surrendered after running out of ammunition. A total of 1,315 Italians were killed in the battle, 5,155 were executed by 26 September, and 3,000 drowned when the German ships taking the survivors to concentration camps were sunk by the Allies. It was one of the largest prisoner of war massacres of the war, along with the Katyn massacre,^[4][5] and it was one of many atrocities committed by the 1st Mountain Division (German: 1. Gebirgs Division).

One of the more amazing facts of this  whole tragedy is given the choice to surrender or fight on against all the odds, the division 

voted, yes voted to fight on.

Leaving Sammi behind it was on to Poros for a last pit stop as the daylight was finally dipping below the mountain range to our 

west . We completed the circumnavigation in the dark. Thank you the Dungeon Gang for giving me one of the more memorable

 days in my life. 

Kicking around Kefalonia Monday 9th October

We are staying at Katelios which a small village on the most southern tip of the island. Hereabouts there is a small, but well stocked, "open all hours " shop, a bakery, a taverna/restaurant and several holiday accommodation buildings. Walk about 800 yards down the road and you arrive at the seashore. The village itself stretches for about 150 metres along a road/promenade. On the right are tavernas with holiday apartments above and to the left wooden gazebos where the customers are served next to the beach.

 The main attraction in our accommodation is undoubtedly the swimming pool and surroundings. The pool is 25ms oblong with a hexagonal extension on the deep end giving plentiful space for everyone. Not that there are many people here. The social area,  called the bar is pretty popular as well. 

What can we say? Quiet, verdant, atmospheric, with some spectacular Carboniferous limestone crags in the background. This is typical of the topography of this rugged and arid island. 

I must confess that our accommodation is a little more Spartan than we were expecting. But what better country to be Spartan in? The bed was flat, the fridge cold and the toilet worked so what more could we want?

We were located in one of four apartments round the back but whose balconies faced full sun nearly all day.  The next door to us was unoccupied most of the time. Next to that was Mary, from Carradale, a solo holidaymaker. On the end was the redoubtable George, also on his own and hailing from Frinton on Sea. As it transpired our fates were to coalesce as we moulded into the "Dungeon Gang".

The Dungeon Gang minus Nigel on the harbour front at Agostoli about to embark on a loggerhead turtle hunt. You can find out if they managed to locate any of these endangered animals by reading the next blog.

This is a view looking back at Katelios from the hills to the east when driving over to Skala, the next resort along the coast. You can see the breakwater and little fishing  harbour but the village itself is not visible in this light. The landmass visible in the background of this picture is the Greek mainland, the Peloponnese peninsula. 

Finally looking east on the same journey towards Skala you can get a good idea of the typical country. A sparse population living in an area not yet exploited by tourism. Look at those lovely long sandy beaches, without a soul on them. There is plenty to go round.