On the 15th July we motored out of Argostoli, Kefalonia to head for Sami on the east coast of Kefalonia.

 

Its a beautiful coastline passing Skala on the south east tip. We began motoring north in calm conditions, the wind freshening until after a couple of hours we had 30 knots apparent on the nose. We had an uncomfortable time as we made our way north entering the straits between Kefalonia and Ithaka. The large bay of Sami was unprotected but the harbour has a good sea wall. The forecast was for calm weather followed by 2 days of strong winds. We tucked safely into Sami at 17-00 hrs. The forecast was correct and the winds whistled through and then died as quickly as they came.

 

Sami harbour is surrounded by huge mountains covered in cypress trees, pines and olive tree’s. The town is relatively young following the devastating earthquake of 1953 which local people told us shook the buildings here for 6 minutes leaving little to be salvaged. Old photographs of the pre-earthquake waterfront show grand venetian merchant buildings.

 

We hired a scooter to explore the island. Our first holiday to Kefalonia was in July 2001 by plane – we loved it. Last year we came with Tioram (see May 2011)

 

Kefalonia is a deceptively large island with grand mountains ranges and stunning valleys. The terrain makes it difficult to thread roads around the hill sides and so you can travel large distances to get from place to place. We scootered across one of our favourite roads from Sami, east across to Trapezaki on the west coast. This route goes over the mountain range down to a flat plain and over a second range and down to the sea on the other coast. By scooter it is a treat. The warm air is filled with the scent of toasted herbs and pine. I wish I could send it through the internet for you all to enjoy.

 

The tall cypress tress line the gorges and valleys standing like soldiers to attention. The range of greens would test the artists mixing skills. blues greens, lime greens, olive greens and so on. The mountains majestically fall down to the central plain of Ay Gerasimus which is covered in vine yards. Surprisingly Kefalonia has its own winery also tucked into the valley.

The road continues over the second mountain range past the occassional sight of the ruins of venetian building fractured like eggs from the quake of 1953. The slopes then glide down to the sea on the west coast visually lovely, Hot air on our faces like from a hairdryer with toasted scents.

 

We also visited Myrtos beach again on the west coast. This famous beach which is in all the holiday photographs for Kefalonia. The high winds of the previous few days had churned up the sea, pebbles and coastline causing a milky / chalk to mix into the sea creating dynamic colours in the currents around the coast (see Photos)

 

After our journey from Spain to Greece it has been nice to explore by land for a while before we head off to the adjacent islands.

 

Photos

 

Sami

Mountains

Vineyard

Myrtos beach

Scooter

 

love to all

 

Tina and Tony x x x