I visited Greece for the first time in August this year. In particular the Kefalonia island. And what can I say? It was amazing. I haven’t seen this clear water in ages. Most of Kefalonia beaches are pebbled and because I hate sand, I was in heaven.
We lived in an airbnb house next to Sami. You can find there the most picturesque port and the best restaurants we’ve tried on this island. If you have a chance definitely try feta cheese dipped in honey and sesame seeds. The best thing I’ve ever eaten.
And you can also watch the most beautiful sunsets from the restaurants aswell.
We visited many places, every day something new. Antisamos Beach was our first stop. Some call it the most amazing beach on the whole island. And I cannot argue. White pebbles, crystal clear water. There is a lot of people I shall say, but even if you come after noon you should be able to find some unoccupied sunbeds.
Ammes Beach was on our list aswell. And eventhough it was one of the few sandy beaches in here, it had one huge highlight. The beach is located right next to the runways of Kefalonia Airport. Which means airplanes fly right over your head. And for me, as a lover of flying, that was a lifetime experience.
The biggest gem of Kefalonia in my opinion is the Melissani Cave. I don’t think I’ve seen such a beautiful place on Earth yet. It’s basically a cave with crystal clear water in it. To get in there you have to purchase a ticket for a 20 minute boat ride. And it’s awesome. The sailors were very friendly and even sang to us some of their native songs so you can really just enjoy the atmosphere. But you need to get there on the opening time otherwise you’ll get stuck in a huge queue.
The Drogaratti Cave is only a few minute drive from the Melissani Cave so you’ll be able to take both in shot. Here you don’t really have to worry about any queues. And it’s the best place you can visit on a hot day.
Myrtos Beach is also very well known. Probably way more than Ammes. And it’s gorgeous let me say that. But it has one downside. And that is it’s huge (!) waves. If you want to actually get into the water you have to wait on the shore for a few minutes to find a little gap in between the waves and then run into the sea and just pray. But what is worse than getting into the water? Getting out of it! Basically if you hesitate for only a few seconds, you can be under the water pressed against the ground in no time. Trust me. It happened.
We also wanted to visit Xi Beach which is also a very popular one. Because it has (kinda) red sand and clay you can put onto your body and then rub it off in the water. BUT.. There is sooo many people and the sunbeds are so close to each other. You can forget about privacy. And as it is a sandy calm beach there is a lot of children. So we left and chose to drive to Petani Beach instead. And it was the perfect decision. It is very similar to Myrtos because it’s on the same side of the island. But the waves are a bit smaller. We’ve had no problems in finding empty sunbeds around the noon time but what you have to keep in mind are the parking place. There is not much of it. And because, like most of the beaches on this island, it is surrounded by hills, you cannot really leave your car above the beach, not only there is no space, but you wouldn’t want to be walking up and down it either.
We aswell decided to take a boat trip to Ithaca island that is not far from Kefalonia. And I loved it. The boat was very modern looking and comfortable. We stopped for a swim on our way to and from the island and then had two stops in two different towns. One to visit some café and the second one to have lunch.
On the last full day we were there, I booked a horse trailride in the mountains. I’d like to say one thing though. I’d never get on a horse that is not well taken care of, so you’d never see me riding those poor horses tied up on the beaches just waiting for a person that had never ridden before to kick them in their stomach just to move. But I found a German lady that has a herd of mostly Haflingers and it’s more like a family farm. The horses are well taken care of and they take them on trails with tourists. The horses are paired up with the riders by their abilities. I rode a gelding called Phillo and went on a trail in the old olive trees in the mountains. The views were unbelievable. Throughout the trail I got to know a lot of history of this island and we got into places normal tourist wouldn’t really go.
All I can say after this trip is that I fell in love with Greece and I definitely want to visit some more islands in the future.
