One of the things I love most about ancient Greece is the mythology. The sensational stories of crazy, angry, vengeful gods and goddesses wreaking havoc on nature and humanity. The drama and tragedy, these mystical stories and colorful otherworldly characters with cool names inspired so much in the imagination of my youth. So it was just a bonus that part of my Kefalonia Adventure Tour would be to visit Melissani Cave. There is a legend that this cave is named after the nymph, Melissanthi, who killed herself in the lake that sort of bears her name after being rejected by the god Pan, who is depicted as a half man half goat that always has an erection and is usually surrounded by a bunch of nymphs. There is some archaeological support that this could be the lake of legend, which is always fun to imagine, and the place is just so magical I mean how could one NOT think up wild stories about erections and nymphs and suicide, especially if there was no TV. There is a more likely legend that a young girl named Melissanthi drowned there accidentally while looking for her lost sheep. Origin of Little Bo Peep? And the very most likely reason it’s named Melissani is because the greek word for honey bee is “Melissa” (as my friend Melissa told me years and years and years ago so now I get super excited whenever I see her name anywhere in Greece) and there were probably a lot of bees and honey being made around here for eons and eons. By the way, Kefalonian honey is delicious!
This full-day tour was a great way to see a lot of the island if you’re like me and can’t drive. I booked this one through Etam Travel in Skala, but they are based in Argostoli. It was cheap and really good value, we saw a lot of stuff, wished we actually went to Myrtos beach though and maybe a little more time in Agia Efimia. We were lucky and had a great guide from South Africa who has lived on the island for more than 20 years and shared tons of interesting information.
Going to get right into the gallery with this one and probably the rest of Greece. I’m going home next weekend and have already spent almost two weeks in Northern Spain that I need to get a-crackin’ on.
Early morning on the road from my house to Skala. There is a very funny shepherd story here that is too long to write in a caption.
Lots of balls on this menu.
View from St. George’s Castle.
Venetian castle, originally a Byzantine structure from the 12th century.
External walls were built by Venetians in 16th century.
Don’t know how old those trees are, but I love ’em!
Ruined walls
More ruined walls
Even more ruined walls
View of Argostoli
Walking along the ruined walls
Beautiful views
I felt like I was in a stone circle on this hilltop
It had the same ethereal quality
There was a lot of damage to the already ruined ruins during the very severe 1953 earthquake
So amazing
Som more ruins
And some more
I love these trees!
Like broccoli
Cute taverna in Peratata
Brugmansia, or angel’s trumpet, apparently highly toxic, but very fragrant. These are all over the place!
Cute little shop in Peratata
Where Nikos taught me how to say “ring”
I got lost, I blinked and overshot it.
Ayioi Theodoroi
Lovely little church
Somber grounds
Jasmine!
Didn’t get lost with this one
Church of Evangelistria, Peratata
Bus shot
Another one, not too bad
View down to Myrtos Bay
I love these loud, garish maps
Myrtos Beach
Myrtos Beach, we didn’t actually go there, but I’m definitely going there next year. Look at it!
Hi!
Tree!
Thing that boats get tied to!
Lunch stop in lovely Agia Efimia
Agia Efimia garbage
Agia Efimia beach
Cute little whitewashed church, Agia Efimia
Another angle
Yup, another angle
Church bells
I took this for my sister, we were in Crete and I made her walk 12km instead of taking a bus because we were spending too much money and we were so hungry and there weren’t any tavernas anywhere and as we were getting closer to our village we saw a sign that said “Giros 2km” and my sister got all excited because she thought we only had 2km to go to get some Gyros. I crack up every time I think of that.
That’s the one thing I don’t like about tours, would have loved to go on a little walking path, but just had a fixed amount of time there.
Lunch at To Perasma
Love these table cloths!
Hands down the best sardines I’ve had in a loooonnnggg time.
The waiters were dicks but the yaya in the kitchen was lovely and recommended them.
What can you expect when you order sardines?
This cat was so black
And so brazen
Am I going to have bad luck now?
Closing up for the season
Nice view
There’s that tree again!
Beautiful little beach at the other end to town
Love the water
This is one of my favorite pics
Time to visit the lake cave!
Our gondolas
Hi!
Chris and Jane from England
Man I look dark here
Making a pretty funny joke that cracked the gondola guy up
Pretending I’m his wife
Top of the Melissani Cave, roof caved in revealing lake
Gondola-ing through the cave
Pretty water
Creepy Pan’s Labyrinth throwback
More pretty water
So much light
Replica of clay plate depicting a procession of nymphs
Replica of a clay figure of Pan with his omnipresent erection
Replica of a clay disk with dancing nymphs
I bought some cool aluminum rings from this artist who is cutting an old lady’s walking stick here
Drogorati Cave
Lots of stalagmites and stalactites
So many weird sculpturey looking things
And phalli
And this looks like a Roman army
More cave
More cave
I always think of Star Wars in caves
Tomb of St. Gerasimos
The dude is still in there, reportedly non-perishable, and apparently it is opened when someone needs a miracle
He was buried twice and just hasn’t decomposed. I was kind of glad that no one took him out that day
Inside the monastery of St. Gerasimos
Outside the monastery
Nice view of monastery grounds
Crates outside the Robola wine cooperative
Grape mixing blades?
I wasn’t really paying attention here.
Old wine press
I don’t know…bottling and packaging?
So much Robola…
…so little time
Okay, maybe a little time
Very pretty scenery
I like these pots
I liked the Lindos, everything else was ehhhh.
But very beautiful vineyard
Entrance to Robola Wine Cooperative
I like the little Greek guy
I’ve been so bad about writing and I’m anxious to start writing about Spain before I come home, but have such great pictures of my boat trip to Ithaka. I’ll be on vacation next week so maybe I’ll have more time to write. Maybe. Thanks for reading!
Your life is beautiful. And so is that black kitty!
Isn’t that black cat stunning? Surprisingly, I have had a lot of cat friendships on this trip. Okay, just one, really, but that’s a lot! A special one with Turandot, the mama garden cat in my pebble house in Skala. They weren’t “allowed” in the house, which I thought was a good rule, in general I’m sort of indifferent to cats, I’m definitely a dog lady. But after about a week of feeding her, she would show up at the glass door to the garden after dinner and stretch up on her hind legs and just stare at me. I asked Voula if this was normal and then she fessed up that she brings her in sometimes, but the cat usually doesn’t ask strangers to come inside. I adore her, and actually missed her when I left. She is so affectionate, like a little puppy, she would burrow her head anywhere she could. Here’s a bad selfie of me and Turandot.