Kefalonian adventures
I can honestly say, that last Summer, we had one of our best family holidays yet. It was the perfect combination of totally chilling out with sparks of adventure and exploration thrown in. If you're looking for an easy, stress free holiday then read on to find out more about our Kefalonian adventures.
Itinerary - Kefalonian adventures
5 days at the Apollonian Resort and Spa
9 days in Fiskardo at Porto Fiscardo
Day trips to:
Myrtos Beach
Asos
Boat trip along the coast and to the island of Ithaca
Melissani Caves
Argostoli
Apollonian Resort and Spa
It's rare for us to stay in a 'nice' hotel. We usually book self catering apartments but for this holiday we decided to do a bit of both. Our first stop was the fabulous Apollonian Resort and Spa at the southern end of the island near Lixouri.
We booked half board and so we ate our breakfast and evening meal at the hotel (and lunch too most of the time). The facilities at the hotel are wonderful, especially the swimming pools. There are two large pools on offer - we spent all of our time in the larger of the two due to the gorgeous views out to sea.
Our room was split level, with kids taking the mezzanine floor upstairs. It worked well and there was plenty of room for us all. The restaurant and bar are all fairly new and very well looked after. The food was outstanding - there was huge variety of dishes on offer and plenty for vegetarians. Loads of fresh fruit and salads as well as local Greek dishes. There were child friendly options too, for the fussy eaters (yes, my son ate pizza and chicken nuggets most of the time). There's also an outdoor cinema and entertainment in the bar area in the evenings (we saw some Greek dancing!).
The idea was to spend time doing absolutely nothing but chill out, read books, swim and relax, so we had a very quiet few days.
We did venture down the road to the local Xi beach a couple of times for a dip in the sea and lunch. It's not the prettiest beach on the island but it's known for it's soft red sand. It's also famous for the clay from the surrounding cliffs. We saw lots of visitors covering themselves in the clay to benefit from it's detoxifying and cleansing properties. There are plenty of beach beds and umbrellas on offer, as well as beach clubs and restaurants to cater for the crowds. It was very busy both times that we visited. The water is beautifully clear and shallow and the kids really enjoyed swimming in it.
We didn't hire a car for this leg of the holiday as we planned to spend most of our time at the hotel. After our 5 days of total relaxation, we packed our bags and headed back towards Argostoli on the ferry to collect our hire car.
Fiscardo
For the second part of the holiday, we drove up to the most northern part of the island - the gorgeously picturesque Fiscardo. The pretty fishing village is very charming. It is one of the few areas that wasn't destroyed by the earthquake that devastated the island in 1953.
The drive involved some interesting hair pin bends, wild goats and spectacular views over the ocean. We were warned in advance of the hairy driving conditions, so it was pretty much as expected. It's advisable not to do the drive at night unless you are a very confident driver with great night vision!
We arrived at our lovely little apartment at Porto Fiscardo around lunchtime and were very impressed with the apartment and it's location. The accommodation had been recommended to us by friends and it was perfect! The building is host to a number of apartments that all share a swimming pool. There's a pool side bar serving freshly made breakfasts and lunches - the El Greco wrap became a firm favourite.
Our apartment consisted of two bedrooms, a kitchen/dining/lounge area, bathroom and outdoor terrace overlooking a little bay. The pool area was beautifully maintained and the staff welcoming and professional. There were plenty of sun-loungers and umbrella's for all and the pool area was never overcrowded.
There's a little beach, literally across the road from the apartment. So we'd grab our snorkels and masks and nip down to the beach to spot the fish. The water was super clear and there were plenty of fish to see. It was the first time my kids have been snorkeling and then absolutely loved it.
You can see the beach from the swimming pool, so I could spend a happy half hour relaxing on the sun deck and watching my husband and kids snorkeling below. See those bright white legs in the water? They're mine.
The heart of Fiscardo village was a mere 5 minutes walk from the accommodation, so we'd stroll there in the evening and choose one of the many restaurants for dinner. Although Fiskardo must have been a quiet fishing village once, it's now host to a plethora of sailing boats and super yachts.
The little harbour area is densely packed with boats and is very busy in the evening. It's worth booking a table in advance or going out early to make sure that you have a choice. There are plenty of lovely restaurants though, the standard was very high, so we were rarely disappointed with our meals.
Much of our time was spent chilling out around the pool, snorkeling at the little beach and reading in the shade. But, we were also keen to explore the area, so we planned a few day trips too...
Myrtos Beach
This stunner of a beach (which has made it into my all time top ten!) was made famous by the film, Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Sometimes when you see photos of a beach, you think it can't possibly look that good in real life. Well, it does! We stopped on the way to Fiscardo to have a look at it from the roadside and then we couldn't wait to get back there a few days later to jump in that water.
There's two important bits of advice for you if you're visiting this beach - get there early and take beach shoes (it's very pebbly and you need a sky high pain threshold to go barefoot). There's a car park at the bottom of the cliff but it fills up quickly. We aimed to get there for around 9am and were able to park easily. We plonked our stuff down and made straight for the water.
The beach shelves steeply into the water and underwater visibility is fabulous. Myrtos has a reputation for having strong waves and currents but we were lucky as it was mostly flat and calm during our visit. We spotted some fish straight away but as the beach got busier the water became murky with suncream and it was harder to see.
There's some very handy showers on the beach and also a little cafe serving drinks and snacks.
Asos
Another easy day trip to make from Fiscardo is to Asos. Asos is a tiny little harbour village jutting out off the coast of the island. The views are spectacular on the way down the cliff side, with many a hair pin bend. The countryside is lush with pine and cypress trees and the waters crystal clear and all shades of blue. There's a small pebbly beach facing the harbour, which is perfect for a swim.
There's a handful of harbourside cafes overlooking the tiny bay. We chose to have breakfast there after our early start (another tip - arrive by 9am if you want a parking space).
A 15th century castle tops the peninsular that's attached to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. Built by the Venetians, the castle was a place of massive strategic importance, to protect the inhabitants from pirates. I wanted to take a walk up to the top to see the castle but the kids weren't keen on a hillside hike. We had a mooch around instead, until my husband's flip flop snapped and then it was game over and back to the car.
Boat trip along the coast and to the island of Ithaca
A highlight of the holiday was the day we hired a boat and ventured around the coast for the day. The boat hire places are very busy and so it's important to book a boat in advance. The first place we approached - the very popular, Regina's Boat Hire - didn't have any boats available for the whole time we were there, but thankfully the second place - Fiscardo Boathire had some boats available.
Our friends had joined us for the second week, so we hired two boats, packed loads of food (from the fab bakery in Fiskardo), added water and suncream and off we went. The boat hire place will give you a map and suggested places to visit.
The first stop was the best. Heading north from Fiskardo, we made our way around the top of the island. We were looking for a secluded beach, with trees almost to the water's edge and cave that you can swim into. We accidentally passed it initially (my bad!) but finally found it on our way back. Wow! Such a special little find. I know I've mentioned the water constantly but it was so clear!!!!! And FULL of fish.
We dropped anchor and jumped off the boats to have a snorkel around. The kids really enjoyed swimming in the little cave, especially when a wave came and made a scary noise (lots of screaming). You can see the cave on the right hand side of the photo.
We carried on travelling further South now, down the coast and visited lots of different bays. In one, we were supposed to find 'shipwrecks'. We weren't sure if the upturned dingy at the bottom of the bay was one of them. After a long search, we decided that it must be!
The final part of the boat trip involved travelling over to Ithaca - the little island next to Kefalonia. The water was a little choppy out in the open sea which meant lots of screaming and being splashed in the face. It was worth it though. We arrived at a gorgeous little beach at the tranquil harbour. Time for an ice cream and a snorkel before boarding our little boats for the journey home.
Melissani Caves
The best time to visit the Melissani Caves is around midday to ensure that the sun is overhead which lets you see the gorgeous blue colour of the water. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the caves at that time, so we made do with a visit later in the afternoon. There was a tiny patch of the most wonderful blue colour still visible on one side of the cave when we were there but we certainly didn't experience the full glory of it.
The upside was, we didn't spend hours queuing for what is literally a 5 minute boat ride across a cave. Well worth a visit if you like that sort of thing and you have the time. Expect long queues at the best times.
Argostoli
On our last day, we'd decided to drive down the eastern side of the island to visit Melissani Caves and Sami and then cross back over to the busy city port of Argostoli on the other side. I haven't mentioned it yet but we had a slow puncture in our tyre for the entire trip! We'd had to stop regularly at petrol stations to re-inflate the tyre every time we'd gone out in the car. A little worrying when you're driving around sharp bends with high drops into the sea below! Luckily we made it to Argostoli - which is near the airport - before disaster struck!
We wanted to visit Argostoli as we'd heard that you could see sea turtles in the harbour. The kids really wanted to try and find some before we left the island. About 5 minutes after parking the car, we saw a large crowd looking into the sea. Lo and behold, we'd stumbled upon an America research team that were tagging sea turtles! We joined the crowds to see more.
We had dinner nearby and were treated to a visit from a friendly sea turtle. He/she swam up and down next to our table for the whole meal.
I can't tell you much more about Argostoli because we arrived back to our car to find a totally flat tyre! We spent the rest of our time changing the wheel and trying to get back to airport in time for our flight!
So, there you have it, a summary of our Kefalonian adventures. Two weeks of total relaxing fun and adventure on the fabulous island of Kefalonia. I would highly recommend both of the places that we stayed without hesitation. It was such an easy, low stress holiday with fabulous accommodation and plenty to do. If you have any questions about our trip, let me know! A big thanks to everyone that send recommendations to us before we went.
If you fancy an adventure a little bit closer to home, read about our trip in France and Italy for some ideas.
This year, we're visiting Croatia and planning visits to Dubrovnik, Hvar, Brac, Vis and Split. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear from you!
Gem x
