In ancient times, the island of Cephalonia formed part of the kingdom of Odysseus. Archaeologists have been able to find some evidence of the ancient sites that Homer refers to, but the palace of Odysseus still eludes them. This area, however, sells lots of Homer and Odysseus memorabilia to the tourist searching from Odysseus.

In the 1990’s, Louis de Bernieres novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, gave the island some high profile Hollywood exposure. Bernieres, a former soldier, was on a packaged tour to Keffalonia when he received his inspiration for the novel. Instead of chilling out on the beach, he researched the history of the island. To quote Ron Heikell, the author of the Greek Waters Pilot:

“Like many of the Ionian Islands, Cephalonia has close links with Italy, and a wartime story is often told which illustrates just how strong this association can be. The Italians invaded the islands in the early days of the Second World War but failed to gain real control. In 1943 the Germans landed in Cephalonia, but the occupying Italian force, some 9,000 troops of the Alpine Division, not only refused to cooperate but actually fought against them for seven days. Of the Italian force only 3,000 survived, and these were brutally lined and shot, it is said on Hitler’s personal orders. Only 34 survived and, so the story goes, one of the survivors swam to Ithaca where he was sheltered by the local Greeks until he escaped. Until recently he was captain of one of the Patras-Brindisi ferries and every time he passed Ithaca gave a long toot on the ship’s horn to salute his Greek friends.”

Nicholas Cage stared in the film which was shot in Sami and features 100's of local Kefallonian extras, but apparently the film ran into censorship problems and the book is much better than the final cut of the movie.

Kefallonia has always played second fiddle to Corfu for attracting the hordes of tourists. As we spent time discovering the island, we were amazed at the lack of people and cars. The tavernas (restaurant bars along the waterfront) were half full at best. When we rented a motor scooter to tour the island, for most of the time, we did not see or pass other cars as we motored along miles and miles of beachfront.

The first major town from our homeport of Sami is Ay. Eufimia, a very picturesque town across the bay. We had thought of moving the boat there, but enjoyed the town during our visit by motorbike and decided to stay in our less “picture perfect” town of Sami that was not on the tour bus route. Almost the entire island was destroyed in 1954 by an earthquake and some of the towns used more money and insight in their reconstruction.

The only town on Cephalonia that wasn’t destroyed in 1954 was Fiskardo. We took the motorbike there for lunch. It is a major stop for all the tourist ferries and buses and all the sailboat charter companies also use that town as an overnight stop. We arrived just in time to see one charter flotilla arrive. Even thought this is the major tourist town of the island, it is still a very low key operation. This island is in the very early stages of becoming a “destination.”

The charter fleets have one lead boat that has lots of flags on it so it’s easily identifiable from the water. It goes into the harbor first and docks. Then, one by one, the boats in the fleet come in and the lead boat’s staff tell them via radio where to dock and even signals when to let down their anchor and start backing into the slip. When they get close to shore, the lead boat’s staff are there to catch their lines and secure them. If they have problems, which many do, the lead boat guys jump in their dingy and go out to that boat, climb aboard and talk them through the process, or do it for them if they so desire. It’s a rather civilized way of sailing. Sort of like “sailing with training wheels.” The charter companies arrange 5 different nights on 5 of the most picturesque Greek Islands with the guide boat’s assistance, then give them one night where they can go anywhere they want without the guide boat’s assistance. If they want, however, they can also just stay in that last port for an “extra day” so they really don’t have to worry too much about not having a high level of nautical experience. The group is really big on sharing beers and having parties so it’s a very enjoyable way to experience the Greek Islands. Many boats on that free night never put up their sails but just motor to another port.

There is also a group of “regular cruisers” who frequent towns like Fiskardo. Obviously, this group doesn’t much like to be next to the fleets of charter boats. These boats will either moor in more secluded parts of town or med moor against the rocks of the shore. We studied their techniques a bit as we identified more with them than the flotilla folks. Many of them bring extra chains to loop around a favorite rock, then tie their lines on to the chains. This cuts down on the wear of the lines against the rocks. One of the boats also had their lines threaded through big coke bottles – apparently an “anti-varmint” type of system. Guess that’s something else to worry about. Hasn’t been a problem yet.

One thing that Fiskardo has that no other town has is the world’s best looking money card machine. Check out today’s photo section. Obviously, this tourist town wants to make withdrawing money a beautiful experience. We also found some beautiful hollyhocks along the way and were amazed at the height that geraniums achieve. They almost become bushes or small trees.

Because this area is so underdeveloped, there is obviously no Home Depot here. We took a movie of a truck loaded with outdoor furniture. He was driving through the towns with his loudspeaker on, probably telling people to come out quickly and buy those deck chairs and table. It’s another version of the “ice cream truck.”  We saw that again with the fish man and also the vegetable man. The truck is loaded with melons and tomatoes and has a scale on the back. If you show an interest, he stops and “the market is open!”

After leaving Fiskardo, we headed towards Assos; a town that the Lonely Planet Guidebook says received money from Paris to rebuild after the earthquake. That was enough to get our interest. We were again amazed at the empty mountain roads. We traveled along the top, overlooking the beaches below. To get to Assos, we had to snake our way down the many hairpin turns down the mountain. The town looks fabulous from the main road above, but as you get closer, it seems to sparkle. When we finally got all the way down to the town, it’s gem quality was totally evident. There were just a few condo developments, with one having “only 2 apartments left” for sale. As we sat in a taverna having a coke and gazed out at the sea, we felt that this town could be a great place to spend 8 months at while writing the great American novel. It has a small grocery, a few tarvenas and not much else except the beautiful view of the sea and the picturesque town. We’re not sure which part is attributable to the French, but it works. As Greece is known for, Assos had picture perfect colored houses: pinks, oranges, blues. Our favorite was a light pink with strong blue windows and doors. It even had a hand painted blue ornate doorhandle and ceramic pots. That became Jan’s painting of the day.

I’m not sure we’ve mentioned this before, but now Jan is trying to sketch and paint one picture a day of the local scenes. We’re moving too fast to allow enough time to get these finished, but we hope to slow down soon so she can catch up. We are talking of spending some time on Hydras – an island 2.5 hrs south of Athens that doesn’t have any motor vehicles on it – only donkeys. Jan and Bob, our friends from Seattle, are there thru the 17^th so we may head that direction. We also meet up with Stephanie on the 14^th so that would be a good place for her to catch up with us.

After climbing back up to the top of the mountain to again continue on our journey back to the boat at Sami, we passed a turnoff for an incredible white sandy beach between tall limestone cliffs. Again, the Lonely Planet Guidebook said you would have to bring your own umbrella as it has not been developed for the tourist world. This visit to Assos and the surrounding area was so refreshing. We just hope all the future Greek Islands are the same way.

Back in Sami, things were in a frenzy: tonight was the big football game between Germany and Italy. Again, the Greeks are definitely in the Italian side of the game. The tavernas were wheeling out their big TVs and moving potted trees so everyone would have an unobstructed view of the Big Game. We spent the early part of the evening with many of the local kids in the town’s new internet place. Four to five kids would huddle around each computer while one played the game. It was a wild internet place.