Love Among The Ruins - The Ghost Towns of Kefalonia

Kalimera! If you've ever read Louis de Bernières masterpiece, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, you'll know about the Ionian earthquake that devastated Kefalonia on 12th August 1953. It  measured 7.36 on the Richter Scale and destroyed almost every house on the island. While six hundred people died, the economic impact of the earthquake was devastating. 100,000 residents left the island to live elsewhere, leaving only 25,000 residents on the island.  The survivors who stayed began the task of rebuilding, aided by remittances from those who had made a new life elsewhere. (REF)

As a consequence, throughout Kefalonia's interior you'll find ghost towns, the remnants of these ancient mountain villages destroyed in a single day. Keen to see the original village of Skala, we followed part of the Kefalonia Trail, identified by a series of blue and white paint markers which enable visitors to walk the length of the island through landscapes completely untouched by mass tourism. These markers are really easy to spot and, combined with some handy signposts, even idiots with no sense of direction like Jon & I can manage to follow without falling off the edge of a cliff or getting lost in a forest.

These trails allow walkers to experience a variety of landscapes and terrains, from dirt tracks weaving between silvery olive trees, verdant orange groves and dense forest to rocky cliffs and ancient donkey paths. 

The heady scent of wild thyme and mint reminded us of Corfu.

Oh yeah, don't be tempted the follow the markers with a blue rectangle with a cross over the top, that means You're Going The Wrong Way...ask us how we found that out! 

Wandering amongst the ruins, where so many lives were lost, was a reminder of the fragility of life and how we need to make our every moment count. The walk took us around four hours from start to finish but it's something that will stay with us forever.

 

By our standards, our week on Kefalonia was rather lazy - a couple of long walks, a wander around a Roman villa and a hike up to an Ancient Greek temple. We spent most of our time on the beach, swimming (me), reading and basking in the sunshine until gone 6.30pm. For breakfast we bought locally grown fruit and Greek yoghurt, which we ate outside on the terrace and for our lunch we shared a Greek salad and bread accompanied with a large draught beer in a shady taverna.

After showers we'd enjoy a shop-bought sundowner on the terrace - beer, rum & cola or Aperol Spritz if we were feeling fancy, before wandering into Skala old town (a five minute walk from our apartment) for a beer in one of the handful of bars which were open, all of which brought complimentary snacks out with the drinks. 

We ate dinner wherever looked nice - we don't pay any heed to online reviews, preferring to trust our instincts over the advice of a stranger. We didn't come across any laminated menus with photos of the food and chips didn't come with everything, the food was all authentic, freshly made & absolutely gorgeous. We'd either share a selection of mezzes or, if Jon hankered for something meaty, there was plenty of choice for me, the minced mushroom moussaka deserves a special mention as does Jon's Kefalonian meat pie which he says was worth the price of plane fare alone! 

To accompany dinner, we shared a carafe of the house wine (Greek red is more like a rose, refreshingly light and doesn't go straight to your head). All the tavernas we ate at gave us complimentary after-dinner drinks, everything from ouzo, Greek brandy, a locally made cinnamon and clove liquor and our personal favourite, Mastika. Afterwards we'd treat ourselves to a cocktail or have a drink back on our terrace. 

Although our holiday included a whopping 20kg check-in baggage allowance plus a 10kg carry-on, we travelled with hand luggage only enabling us to check-in online and head straight to security when we arrived at the airport. 

If you love your clothes, it's never a problem to wear them on repeat. 

We'll be staying on Corfu for 17 nights in September and we'll probably take even less!

We found the holiday on the TUI website under their Last Minute Holidays & Late Deals section and paid £238 per person for a package that included flights, transfers, accomodation and a ridiculous amount of luggage. 

We stayed at the family-run Marietta Studios and Rooms, one of TUI's Small and Friendly choices. Our self catering studio had a double bed (quite the rarity in Greece!), a kitchenette, an attached bathroom and a terrace with mountain views. For an additional charge you could have aircon (something we both hate). The bins were emptied daily and the rooms cleaned and linen changed every three days. The Marietta also had a swimming pool, a bar/cafeteria and sunbeds but, even though the other guests were mostly lovely, sitting around a pool with a load of Brits isn't our thing.

That's the view from our terrace, aren't those traditional roof tiles gorgeous? 

Flying time from Birmingham: 3 hours 15 minutes

Time Difference: +2 hours

Our combined daily spend for the entire stay averaged at £55 - that's for airport parking (we needed to be at BHX for 4.30am, hours before the first train leaves Walsall station), all our food and drink, a couple of pairs of sunglasses, admission to the Roman villa, sandwiches at the airport on the way back and several gins on the plane. We walked everywhere, drank the tap water and lay on our towels on the sand on beach (the daily hire charge for 2 x sunbeds and an umbrella is €15).

We loved Skala, it was quiet, felt authentically Greek and in May wasn't overwhelmingly touristy. Although it gets a lot busier when the season gets properly underway, we've been told that Kefalonia isn't a party island. 

You think we got a bargain? You can book a 7 night stay at Marietta leaving from London Stansted tomorrow for £180 (HERE)

Thanks for reading, see you soon!