Greek Islands: Kephalonia, the largest of the Ionian islands

As we indicated in previous articles, among the attractions of Kefalonia, one of the most beautiful of the Greek islands, there are crowded beach towns, the Mount Ainos National Park (around the highest peak of the island) and the blue waters of the cave-lake of Melissani.

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Melissani Cave, one of the great attractions of Kefalonia

On the east coast, Sami has ferry services to the Peloponnese and Ithaca. Nearby, there are two caves: Drogkarati, 3.5 km away to the southwest, and Melissani cave-lake, 2km to the north. This underground cave-lake was once a Miscanic sanctuary of the god Pan. Part of its limestone roof collapsed, creating a fascinating place of deep blue waters.

A channel leads to the closed section, where according to legend the nymph was drowned (in Greek mythology, a nymph is a minor female deity typically associated with a specific natural place, such as a spring, a stream, a mountain, a sea ​or a grove) Melisani when she was rejected by Pan.

Exploring Kefalonia

Likewise, Kefalonia has its whitewashed town of Kastro, the capital of Kefalonia until 1757. It continues to grow with its extra walls of the Byzantine fortress of Agio Georgios, which was reformed by the Venetians in 1504, suffered the earthquakes of 1636 and 1637 and fell demolished by the earthquake of 1953. The vast interior, overgrown with weeds, is populated by swallowtail butterflies.

In 1264, there was a convent where today Moni Agiou Andrea stands. The original church was damaged in 1953, but it has been restored and turned into a museum to house the icons and frescoes that the earthquake left homeless. The new church houses the most precious relic of the monastery: the supposed foot of the apostle Andrew.

In the past, there was a sanctuary dedicated to Zeus at the top of Mount Ainos (1,630 m). Wild horses live in the national park of the same name, and the slopes of the mountain are covered by a native fir (a genus of trees in the pineapple family, within the conifers), the Abies cephalonica. Towards the top, a road rises that becomes an impassable road.