Apologies for being a little quiet the past week, but I’ve been relaxing on the island of Kefalonia, in Greece. Kefalonia (or Cephalonia, which is the anglicised spelling) is one of the biggest of the Ionian Islands, so we had a week full of getting out and visiting places as well as relaxing in the sun, and it really opened my eyes to the beauty of the Greek Islands. I just want to go and explore them all now!
So, are you ready to find out the best things to do in a week in Kefalonia?
Over the next week I’ll be posting about my favourite places we went to on this beautiful island, and then the blog will be back to normal; beauty reviews, restaurant reviews, parties and events, until the end of August when I’m off to
Denmark and
Sweden so you’ll get some more travel posts then. I hope you enjoy the posts and find some of the things we discovered about Kefalonia interesting, it really is a beautiful island with so much history and culture.
St George’s Castle
We were very lucky and rented a stunning villa set in the mountains overlooking St George’s Castle, so on our first day we headed up there to see the ancient Byzantine and
Venetian ruins. Agios Georgios used to be the capital of Kefalonia, until
Argostoli became capital in 1757 due to the Castle (Kastro) being too far from the ports.
Aren’t the views just breathtaking?!
Chuch of St Theodori
After visiting the castle we went down the road to the church of St Theodori that was destroyed in the 1953 earthquake that devastated the island. I’d heard about the Earthquake before, but seeing the damage everywhere we went was just shocking, everywhere you go on Kefalonia are crumbled buildings, empty shells with the sun shining onto the old stone floors and weeds and plants towering over the walls.
Lunch at Kastro Cafe
After the castle and church we headed back to the pool to cool off and gorge ourselves on watermelon, after a mahoosive lunch at To Kastro Cafe (The Castle Cafe) – a separate blog post will be published on this beauty.
Rent a Villa
I definitely recommend renting a villa – it was absolutely perfect and had a huge pool overlooking the countryside, and it was easy to drive everywhere and get around.
Isn’t this just the most perfect view to swim in front of?
What really struck me about Kefalonia was just the beauty of everything, it is so unspoilt, and you don’t get too many tourists there. It’s mainly the British, Italians and Greeks from the mainland that visit the island. The only real tourist resort there is Lassi, but it’s not that touristy and although we only drove through it, the beach there looked beautiful and they had a lot of watersports going on there.
The only bad thing about Kefalonia was the wasps. They are everywhere. You can’t eat or have a drink outside without them swarming around you, and I’m ashamed to say that it got so bad we actually had beach bats at the dinner table at our villa one evening, swatting them every time they came near us. Thankfully none of us got stung, but do be careful and be warned that you will come across them when on the island.
Avithos Beach
Our favourite beach was Avithos Beach, it was sandy and had beautiful clear waters, and is one of the safest to swim at. It also has two cafes with free wi-fi. Many of the beaches on Kefalonia are pebbly beaches, so I took Jelly Shoes with me (
90s throwback or what!) for this reason, they came in really handy for walking over the stones to get to the water, plus you can easily swim in them.
When on the sandy beaches be careful because endangered Loggerhead Sea
Turtles nest on them. The Kefalonians take conservation very seriously and will put up signs where there are nests, but just be careful anyway just in case there are nests that aren’t known about.
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Silver glitter Jelly Shoes were just £9.99 from Asos/New Look. You can buy them here. |
I had the most amazing Calamari at Avithos Beach Cafe (the cafe above the one in the car park).
Keep an eye out over the next few days for more in-depth and photo heavy posts on my favourite places to visit in Kefalonia, including
visiting Melissani Caves, and seeing their famous Loggerhead Sea Turtles!
Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of Content Marketing at Amazon by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.
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Thanks for the great post and pictures. Glad you had such a great time in Kefalonia.
what an amazing place looks like you've had an amazing time! xx
Alice Barton ♥ TheMowWay
Just beautiful. I love the Greek islands so much.
I hope you had a lovely time.
Cx
Cocktails and Caroline
Wow, what a beautiful view!
Becky
xx