Exploring the coastline by boat

Day Three – Thursday, 13 July

Mirtos Bay, Kefalonia, where a scene from Captain Corelli's Mandolin was shot

Set off about 10:30 for a glorious day exploring the less populated and less touristy north of the island. We headed north via the capital Argostoli and toured an industrial estate before finding our road along the coast to Diverata where we turned left for Mirtos Bay (4*), where they filmed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – or at least the scene from the film that was on the beach.

What a spectacular place. Coaches can’t reach it because of the steepness of the road. It’s a steep shelving beach with pebbles. The water at the edge is crystal blue, but it soon goes dark and colder. It’s a safe beach if you are not silly, but there are strong under currents and you have to stay on the right side of the buoys.

We spent about half an hour in the water before having showers and Kefalonian pies (2*) – Tom had cheese and I had spinach.

Assos Harbour from the castle path

From there we continued north to the small village of Assos (4*) on a spit of land jutting out into the Ionian Sea. It’s another jewel. It is small, with one taverna on the front. We ventured up to the castle on a hair-pin road that needed the 4 wheel drive, but I turned back when it got a bit too scary.

The northern fishing port of Fiskardo

From Assos we continued north to Fiskardo (4*), a village that seems locked in a time warp, apart from the expensive yachts in the bay. We had a semi successful lunch at a taverna there called Café Tselenti (3*) the food was good, but they put onions in Tom’s carbonara so I had to ask them for a portion of squid and chips to be safe and sent the pasta back. They were great and so was my Mediterranean spaghetti.

A side alley is Fiskardo

As we entered the small fishing village we found a boat hire place, so we took a motorboat out for two and a half hours (5*). Tom took the wheel and steered us through the choppy Straights of Ithaka to the port of Stavros. The waves were fairly high, so we went slowly at first, but then Tom gained confidence and he started going full speed.

From Ithaka we crossed the Straights again heading for Cape Kendri and then followed the coast of Kefaloni north again stopping off at a couple of coves to anchor the boat and dive in the turquoise water. It was a wonderful afternoon; one of those to remember forever.

Got home about 20:00 for showers and then down to Lassi village by foot using the path that winds its way past the olive grove and past some small terraced fields with vegetables growing. We went shopping for footy shirts for Mike and found that the same ones we found for €40 in Argostoli were only €15 in Lassi, so we emailed Ellie and Mike to find out which one he wanted. We got the reply, “let Tom decide”, so we will probably take a day or two choosing.

We found a wonderful restaurant, the best yet. It’s the Phaedra (5*) on the main road in Lassi. They had a special on offer which was toasted (grilled) chicken with “small potatoes”, which were sort of boiled and then slightly roasted (or toasted) in olive oil and herbs. The grilled chicken was in a sauce of lemon, oregano and garlic, with some olive oil, I think. It was excellent.

Tom took to this place and ordered a Greek starter platter because he wanted to try Greek food. He doesn’t like stuffed vine leaves but loved the meatballs and the deep fried cheese, so, between us, we polished it off.

Before we wandered back to the apartment we found a phone and booked the sea kayaking trip for Saturday. We came back to the apartment about 22:30 and listened to one of the new Ricky Gervais podcasts that Tom had downloaded on his iPod – very funny.