Holiday on Cephalonia & Itaca
Authentic Greece is the specialist for holidays and apartments on Cephalonia. A holiday on the beautiful beach island of Cephalonia stands for holidays in the authentic Greece. Authentic Greece offers hotels and apartments on Cephalonia. All apartments on Cephalonia have been selected with care.
Regina Blue Sea apartments are beautiful apartments, direct on the sea in Skala, Cepahalonia. Please visit: regina-blue-sea
Cephalonia has the most beautiful beaches you can immagine! All the beauty of Greece is concentrated in Kefalonia – Cephalonia, the biggest island in the Ionian sea and with 32,000 inhabitants and 781 km², is the fifth largest of all the Greek islands. Here you can find a lot of different landscapes: a green luxuriant vegetation alternates with a rugged, bare environment, uncountable wild beaches with wonderful crystal waters, the underground lake of Melissani, the stalagmite Grottos of Drogarati, mountains that reach 1725 mts. to Mount Eros with its Black Fir Forest, extremely rare unique species protected here thanks to the Institute of National Parks that also protect local rich flora and fauna: 1014 different types of plants, wild Enu horses, hawks, extraordinary golden-eagles and the marine fauna includes dolphins, Monaca Seals and the Caretta-Caretta turtles.
Do not forget places like Fiskardo, Assos, Luxouri, Skala, Sami, Kourkoumelata, and Argostoli the elegant centre of the island because they will amaze you and if you have time do not miss a trip to beautiful and mythical Ithaca that can reached in only 15 minutes by ferry. Basically you will love Kefalonia for its beautiful beaches, various excursions, tavernas, fantastic wine (Robola), the hospitality of its people and for many other things you will discover…….together.
What to know about the history of Kefalonia – Cephalonia?
The island of Kefalonia, usually known in English as Cephalonia and also known as Cephallenia, Cephallonia, Kefallinia, or Kefallonia is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece. There are five harbours and ports: four main harbours on the island, Same or Sami, and a major port with links to Patras and Ithaca. Poros, in the south, has ferry routes to Kyllini; Argostoli, in the west, is the largest port, for local boats and ferries to Zante and regularly to Lixouri; Fiscardo, in the north, has links to Lefkas and Ithaca.
During the Middle Ages, the island was part of the County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos under the Kingdom of Naples and later the Venetian Republic. The island was under Venetian rule from the 1200s until 1797 when the French Napoleonic Occupation took place, and was only interrupted by Ottoman rule between 1479 and 1500.
From the 16th to the 18th centuries, it was one of the largest exporters of currants in the world together with Zakynthos and owned a large shipping fleet, even commissioning ships from the Danzig shipyard. The towns and villages mostly were built high on hilltops, to prevent attacks from raiding parties of pirates that sailed the Ionian Sea during the 1820s.
From 1797 to 1798, the island was part of the French départment Ithaque. From 1799 to 1807, it was part of the Septinsular Republic, nominally under sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire but protected by Russia. After a second period under French control (1807–1809), it was liberated by Great-Britain and became a dependency of the British Empire, named the United States of the Ionian Islands from 1815 to 1864.
In 1864, Kefalonia, together with all the other Ionian Islands, became a full member of the Greek state.
Until late 1943, the occupying force was predominantly Italian – the 33rd Infantry Division Acqui plus Navy personnel totalled 12,000 men – but about 2,000 troops from Nazi Germany were also present. The island was largely spared the fighting, until the armistice with Italy concluded by the Allies in September 1943. Confusion followed on the island, as the Italians were hoping to return home, but German forces did not want the Italians’ munitions to be used eventually against them; Italian forces were hesitant to turn over weapons for the same reason. As German reinforcements headed to the island the Italians dug in and, eventually, after a referendum among the soldiers as to surrender or battle, they fought against the new German invasion. The fighting came to a head at the siege of Argostoli, where the Italians held out. Ultimately the German forces prevailed, taking full control of the island, and five thousand of the nine thousand surviving Italian soldiers were executed as a reprisal by German forces. While the war ended in central Europe in 1945, Kefalonia remained in a state of conflict due to the Greek Civil War. Peace returned to Greece and the island in 1949.
Perhaps the best known appearance of Kefalonia in popular culture is in the novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by English author Louis de Bernières. The book is believed to be inspired by the picturesque village of Farsa, just outside of Argostoli. The love story comprising the theme of the book is set before and after the Acqui Division massacre, during the Second World War, and the film adaptation was released in 2001.
