Kefalonia Reviews

If you have experienced life on Kefalonia and would like to write about it contact us and we’ll try to include it here:

Alan Wright

We have visited Katelios about 15/16 times - it is a wonderful resort. We would like to recommend “Medus” - One of our favourites, it is owned by Elias who is very helpful and friendly, we always get a welcome drink and really good service. He has a wonderful menu and all his staff are pleasant and make the holiday special.

This September, we had a different type of holiday - we took 2 of our grandchildren with us. The menu at Katelios Taverna has dishes to appeal  to young children, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, English sausagage. Elias is a wonderful guy, he was fantastic with our young boys. He is assisted by his mother [who loves children] and his father who is a very quiet but friendly man. Waiting on tables are two English ladies - bothcalled Lynne. They all made our holiday so special. We will be back there next June and September!

Nick

I would like to recommend the Taverna Kelafatas on the harbour in Argostoli. Good food at reasonable prices.
Bernadette: I came back from kefalonia on the 18th of August . I went with my daughter, my friend, and her son, for two weeks. We stayed at the Bella Vista appartments.

The accommodation was basic, It felt a bit like a camping holiday. The rooms were boiling at night but we were given a fan, which was great, but I also ended up freezing bottles of water to take to bed with me!  We had a ground floor flat which you could see the sea, the view was beautiful.

We had a pool and plenty of sun loungers and chairs/tables etc and you could hear all the insects at night which was a lovely sound. The people who gave us our key and cleaned the pool seemed kind and helpful, the pool was cleaned every night and closed about seven, but there didn’t seem to be any hard or fast rules about it.

The only real thing we all didn’t like is the big slopes we had to walk up to our apartments and to and from the beach. It was hard going carrying water especially in the heat. though I must stress we aren’t the fittest of people so the exercise probably did us good.

I really loved swimming in the sea, seeing all the fish in the water and trying to catch them in a net, impossible! but I bought a snorkel and goggles, its a must, next year imp buying good quality ones its a fantastic feeling being under the sea.  the local supermarket was run by a family, the main server was a very lovely person, always willing to chat about what we had been upload it is handy that the majority of people on the island could speak good English. Lazy I know!!

We went to Argostoli  on the night of Gerassomo’s feast day. we sat in the square eating our meal when a parade of Greek priest and followers walked passed, that was quite moving, it was lovely seeing the priests singing their prayers on the stage. we went on the b-b-q and oneness island excursions also. although it hands extra cost to the holiday it is worth doing them, now looking back.

Abi

We had a wonderful time in Kefalonia . Our only problem being that we stayed in what was the wrong resort for us, but nevertheless still a very pleasant resort. We hired a car and visited Lourdas, Scala, and too many other wonderful beaches to metnion. Although we have returned to Turkey this year we have never found such a small island with so much beautiful scenery and lovely beaches. PS If you like Playa in Tenerife, Alcudia in Majorca or built up places like Cyprus don’t go here!

What I liked about Kefalonia -The beaches…LOVED Argostili… so magical -Scala WONDERFUL BEACH AND RESORT -airport so quaint -Disliked the banks (minor point). Not very keen on Lassi, although compared to other places in the world it was a lovely resort. It was just a bit too English for me!  unless you like all inclusive bingo adult and child entertainment you will have a great time on this beaytiful island!

Em:

I’m 15 and went to Kefalonia last summer, it was certainly the best place ive ever been to! We stayed in a villa called the “House on the Hill” and it was situated perfectly 2mins from Lassi and 2mins from Argostoli! We often ate out in Argostoli and the night life was fabulous, there were many young Greek people out who enjoyed just lazing after a big meal and a long day.

The people were VERY friendly and i loved the Greek way of life. We spent time in Fiskardo which was filled with many yachts from all over the world worth alot of money and it was a very colourful place! We visited Lassi, and spent time sunbathing on Markris Gialso Beach. There was a taverna there which i can’t remember the name of but it over-looked a gorgous turquoise sea and a baby blue sky. I think, when im older i would like to spend a gap year there as it was certainly one of the best holidays, it was just magical. Everyone was friendly,  the houses were gorgous and everything was kept was soooo clean. I just hope it doesn’t change before i go back there!!!!!

Laurie & Maureen Steel

We have been there and seen the island.  We have met the people and we loved them both.  Now we have seen the Corelli film and read the book.  We liked the one and loved the other. Now we head for the real thing.

Kefalonia is not in what you see.  The buildings that stand are, for the most part, modern.  Those that lie ruined from the earthquake or buried from earlier history are difficult for us to rebuild in our minds.  They are tantalising glimpses of the people who built them and then built their lives there.

The real Kefalonia is in the heartbeat that comes from within the depths of the black mountain.  It is echoed in the fleeting hoof beats of the wild horses as they move, ghostlike among the dark pines.  The wind across the mountain is echoed by the leaf rustling breeze that moves among the olive groves on the lower slopes, drawing the warm scent of the wild herbs down to the crystal water’s edge.  There among the diamond bright sparkle of breaking wavelets the turtles come to answer the call that is as deep within them as the mystery is within the depths of the island foundation, carrying that clear water beneath the beating heart of living rock and casting it up on another shore.

Sit in the bustle of the square in Argostoli as the blue black velvet sky draws back to show jewel sharp stars.  They are the same stars that we see from our poor viewpoint on our own grey island.  Sit in the village kaphenion in Markopoulou and sample the Rizigalo; ice cold and cinnamon spiced, whilst those same stars turn slowly overhead.

In Kefalonia  we imagine that we can see beyond those glinting pinpoints into the mantle of time itself.  There we meet the people of the island, generous and welcoming now as they have ever been to the stranger in their midst.
Visit the village square, near the church in Metaxata.  On the church wall is a memorial plaque to the crew of a Greek ship lost in a storm in the twenties.  Close by there is a memorial to the Englishman, Lord Byron, who helped the Greeks fight for their freedom.  He was only there for a short time, but he gave much in the Greek cause, and eventually died on Greek soil.  The memorial is simple.  It says, “Greece Remembers”.  Local men lost or foreigner dead, the Kefalonian heart encompasses all.

Last year we stayed in new accommodation.  We had not been there before.  We greeted our hosts in our modest Greek.  We were rewarded with gifts of fruit and smiles, the second as warm and fresh as the first.  We walked the village roads and were greeted by  an openness and warmth that eased its way beneath the skin to sink the foundation on which our firm love of this land is so solidly built.  As solid as the very rock beneath the feet of every traveller to visit this magic spot.

Who can leave this place and not wish to return?  With respect I would say that it could only be he who is without a soul. One day we will not wish to return, because we will not leave.  Our hearts and home will be there.  Me ektimisi.

Michael Prime

To me as a travelling type the best beauty is that which lies within nature itself. The thing with Kefalonia is that its beauty is natural. From its sheer cliff faces that disappear beneath the blue of the Ionian Sea. Many poets, writers and artists have used Kefalonia as their Muse, and who could blame them?

It is hard to understand how such an island could have been subjected to such tragedy. Today apart from the amount of semi derelict buildings you see as you travel round the island, i see wild flowers, herbs, and the famous Kefalonion Furs. Butterfles, birds and even cats that sunbathe!

Every town from Fiskardo through to Argostoli, Sami to Lixouri we see nothing but Buildings from white to pastel blue set out against the mountainous terrain, and i think how can a place like this exist, it is near perfect. From the Blue of Mirtos to the greens and yellows of the citrus plantations, i see before me a place natural beauty my only wish is that it could stay that way.