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Thursday 2nd May, 2013. Argostoli, Kefalonia, Greece
Agostoli is one of the busiest ports in Greece and sits of the west coast of the island of Kefalonia (Cephalonia spelled the Italian way!). The island was severely damaged by German bombing in 1943 during the Second World War, but even more so after a large earthquake in 1953. Most of the buildings on the island collapsed prompting an island-wide rebuild.
We breakfasted and disembarked the ship. M went to the tourist office to try (but failed) to post the Venice blogs while D went to hire a car. D returned with the car and we teamed up with a Canadian couple called Louise and Maurice to cut the costs. The four of us set off and headed for the nearest petrol station. It is normal in Greece for you to pick up and return the car empty. We asked the petrol pump attendant to put in 15 litres of fuel which should easily have been enough for what we needed. He proceed to put in 50 litres which filled up the tank. There was no way were were going to use all that fuel in a few hours. We felt
that this 'mistake' had probably been deliberate and that the remaining fuel would by siphoned off later!
Our first stop was the cave at Drogarati. It took us about 20 minutes to drive there. The cave lies about 3 km from the town of Sami (of 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' fame), in the region of Haliotata, where we had docked (but not disembarked) on our tour of Greece 3 years ago. Situated 120 metres above sea level, the cave descends to a depth of 95 metres. The temperature is a steady 18 degrees Celsius. The cave is regarded as one of the finest in Greece, the only one with such a large chamber; 65 metres x 45 metres and 20 metres high. It has served as the venue for many concerts. The cave contains stalactites and stalagmites which have grown over thousands of years.
Next we went to the town of Sami where we visited an ATM and got some much needed dosh. We then drove on to Melissani a.k.a The Cave of the Nymphs. This cave is located at Karavomylos, 2 km outside Sami. It is a unique cave structure, with a lake whose waters reach a depth
of 39 metres. The cave is 160 metres long and 40 metres wide and some of its stalactites and stalagmites are 20,000 years old. In the centre of the lake, where the covered section begins, there is a small island 30 metres long. A narrow waterway between this little island and the walls of the lake leads into the rest of the cave. The four of us purchased our tickets and boarded a small row boat which went out into the middle of the lake. We were lucky that we arrived at noon when the sun was high as the colours seen in the water were beautiful as the sunlight fell through from the aperture in the cave roof above. We then proceeded into the covered section, next to the island (which is actually made from rocks from a roof collapse several eons ago). There were a lot of huge spiders' webs in the cave, some complete with spiders! The webs were of disproportionate size to the spider though - they were quite small (their bodies were less than a centimeter). Melissani has been the site of several excavations which have revealed a number of finds, most of them from
the 3rd and 4th centuries BC and attesting to the cult of the god Pan. A number of female figures have also been found, hence the name 'Cave of the Nymphs'.
We left the cave and as we had plenty of time (and plenty of fuel!!), we decided to take a tour along the coast road to the North of the Island. We drove north as far as Messovounia, ascending to 460 metres. We had fantastic views of the beaches and towns below as well as the island of Ithaca just off the east coast. We saw many ruined buildings that were destroyed in the 1953 'quake and had never been reconstructed. Many of the agricultural terraces had also gone to seed. We then cut across the northern peninsula and drove south along the coast on the west side of the island. We stopped at the town of Assos which is almost an island, attached to the mainland by a narrow spit of land. We parked in the car park, strolled around the marina and stopped for some refreshments at one of the restaurants in the cove. High on the cliffs on the Assos peninsula is a medieval fort.
We took some photos but did not climb up to the top.
We continued on down the west coast, stopping to look at some of the stunning beaches below us. We made it back to Argostoli with 30 minutes to spare before 'All Aboard'. Once safely on the Noordam, we rested by the pool. M took a dip in the jacuzzi to ease her aching legs (too much walking). We played a bit of TT and returned to the cabin for a rest before the show. The show was called 'Rock Legends'. M enjoyed it but D was not impressed. We dined with Jennifer and Bill and then joined them on deck for a G & T before retiring.
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