Winery and boating to coves

Day Four – Friday, 14 July

We got up early today. I was showered and dressed by half eight and Tom soon after. The idea was to explore the south of the island, find a harbour with boats, hire one and explore the coast.

We soon realised that the south of the island is our least favourite bit (with a couple of exceptions). The part south of the airport is really cute, but south of Mousata as the road follows the coast south east, it is really disappointing. The villages are tatty and the road is busy.

Tom was great at navigating again and he took us off the main road and down to the Mataxa Winery (3*) where I sampled the whites and bought Ellie two bottles. That was the high spot of the morning. From then it went steadily downhill.

We were disappointed by the resorts of Skala and Poros, but others rave about them, so perhaps it is because we just drove through them rather than experiencing them. Ant and Linda had a lovely time here they told us.

Skala seemed to be a straight strip of sand with apartments and hotels. Judging by the number of people trudging through the heat to the beach, it seems as if it is a place with little to do other than hire a sun lounger and umbrella and camp out for the day. The guy hiring the boats wanted €95for two hours. The previous day it had been €25 for three hours.

We moved on from Skala (1*) to Poros. The coastline improved during that part of the drive and was quite pretty and Poros itself is a fairly okay port, but there were no boats to hire.

Tom then decided we should head north through the mountains to Sami (2*) on the east coast. We had been to Sami before and liked the beaches around it, although we had not really explored it. The journey was spectacular.

The road takes you up over the mountain range and through some wonderful wide valleys with cypress trees and blossom everywhere. That journey took 45 minutes and we were driving Tom suggested we continue to the far north of the island and the port of Fiskardo (4*) where we were the day before.

As we climbed out of Sami the countryside became spectacular again with sea vistas out to Ithaki. After about ten minutes we spotted some small motor boats and decided that we would investigate the next port, Agia Efimia (3*) where we found the Broadway Harbour Boat Company (4*) who hired us a great little boat for the afternoon for €40.

The guy suggested we pack a picnic and he would lend us a cooler box. We stocked up at the bakery with cheese pasties and spinach and cheese pasties and a currant bun and water and set sail.

Again, Tom was great. Our task was to head north hugging the coast until we got to a bay where a scene from Captain Corellie was filmed (another bay from the film). It took an hour to get there and turn around so we could motor back down the coast and explore the bays, dropping anchor and swimming around in the clear blue water.

I had bought another set of goggle (we lost one the day before) and we were able to observe the fish. We must have anchored and swam at three bays before heading back to Agia Efimia and returning the boat.

On the way home we visited the sunken cave at Karavomilos. It was a novel boat ride, but not worth the €5 each. The old bloke who rowed our boat was a character and seemed to work hard for tips, asking us several times whether we liked the trip. It was okay, but we were tired and ready for the half hour and 20km drive over the mountains and back to our apartment.

We were keen to shower and get cleaned up for dinner. Tom had half an hour sleep as I showered and wrote the diary. I think this holiday is doing us both the world of good. We are taking each day as it comes and changing our plans as the mood takes us. It’s very relaxing. We went down to the Phaedra restaurant again because it was so good the previous night.

On the way we checked out some of the alternative accommodation which might have been put in by First Choice. All looked fine, but none seemed as nice as out place from the outside. The Panorama, which I thought we were getting, was up the top of a steep hill. I can see why people complained on the discussion forum for Kefalonia. We are still of the opinion that we would want to stay here again if we were to return – which we probably won’t because there are so many other places to visit and see.

For dinner we shared a starter of Greek meatballs and calamari and then Tom had the dish of the day, which was breaded sole with potatoes and vegetables followed by another Greek dessert. I had kleftico again (delicious) and half a litre of the homemade white. We have found a nice table that appears to be reasonably smoke free, in fact we only had a problem on our first night there when a guy two tables away lit up a cigar.

We checked out the football shirts for Mike again and the choice grows, so Tom has been charged by Mike to decide. We asked the man in the shop to keep a Barcelona shirt for him. It will cost €15, which is €25 cheaper than the same shirts in the capital, Argostoli.

After shopping we took the footpath from the village to our apartment and strolled back through the olive groves in the dark with only the moon and stars to light our way. Once in the apartment we listened to another podcast before turning in. Another great day.