Louis de Bernières first introduced me to the Greek island of Kefalonia in his bestselling novel, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Reading it for the first time was to have a profound effect on me, creating an almost mythical allure to this “island where the gods would choose to live”.
I wanted to breathe in the heady thyme-scented air, stare out across the sapphire seas and drift off to the tinkling bells of the goat herds that he had described so viscerally. Since that first read, I have revisited both the book and the island many times and remain transfixed by both. Kefalonia is an oasis of amplified beauty and de Bernières captured it perfectly, giving the island a role every bit as powerful as the human characters.
Famed for its vertiginous white cliffs and strikingly blue seas, it’s intoxicating to explore by boat but easy to circumnavigate by car, the roads twisting improbably between the rock-strewn mountainsides and the crystalline waters. You’ll stop often, if not to steer around the nonchalantly cliff-hopping goats, then to pause and stare at the pine-clad mountains tumbling down into the sea that glows with myriad hues of blue.
Myrtos Beach is the island’s poster child but there’s little to prepare you for its beauty. An improbable swirl of what de Bernières described as “crushed sapphire” gives a watery impression of an artist’s palette, the vibrant cerulean jostling for prevalence against the white limestone cliffs and the deep indigo of the Ionian ravines. Sunset here is otherworldly.
You’ll be endlessly tempted to dip off the road and walk through pine-scented pathways to hidden coves of pristine white pebbles, arcs of golden sands and fish-filled translucent waters. There are hidden treasures aplenty: the silence of Dafnoudi Beach at the end of a meandering woodland trail, the ancient olive trees backing the tiny crescent bay of Chorgota, the uber-chilled beach bars of Antisamos or the broad expanse of sand slipping into Avithos’s aquamarine. To escape the heat, you can drift on the enchanting Melissani Cave Lake or wander deep into the Drogarati Cave.
It’s an island whose history is tinged with a sadness as poignant as its beauty. De Bernières’s book highlighted the horror of Italian soldiers massacred by the Germans here when they refused to surrender, but it also ends referencing the 1953 earthquake that devastated the island a second time.
A haunting melancholy whisps around the whimsical hilltop ruins such as Assos Castle and the remote villages where vestiges of surviving architectural beauty remain. Fiskardo is one such example, the now popular yachtie haven is pictorial paradise; bougainvillea tumbles from wrought-iron balustrades and narrow cobblestoned alleyways climb up from the harbour. A visit to Agios Gerasimos Monastery shows the power of careful restoration, where arched windows, staggering frescoes and tranquil courtyards surrounded by olive groves reflect both the island’s resilience and Byzantine-style roots.
The island’s food is a gastronomic extension of its enchantment. Lemon trees bow under the weight of the plumpest of fruit. The air is fragrant with bountiful herbs. Fish plucked straight from the waters grace your plate with delectable elegance.
The regional cuisine is championed by Kefalonia’s celebrity chef and cookbook author, Tassia Dendrinou, who owns Tassia Restaurant in Fiskardo – a perfect place to try the island’s speciality meat pie or bingeworthy seafood pasta. There’s little to beat the day’s boat-catch of sea bream, eaten overlooking Agia Effimia’s inky waters at Paradise Beach Restaurant, a local stalwart run by husband-and-wife team Nikitas and Nikoletta Dendrinos. While meze platters, Greek salads and souvlaki are always best eaten on the sands, the ultimate place to indulge is undoubtedly Avithos Preview Taverna, alongside the eponymous beach.
De Bernières’s book, and the resultant Hollywood blockbuster film that brought it to mainstream attention, may now be several decades old, but the island they both capture remains as vivid, seductive and unforgettable as ever.
Paradise Beach
Melanie O’Shea is a freelance travel and lifestyle writer whose work has been published in The Times, Delicious Magazine and BBC Countryfile, among others. She runs her own travel content writing agency, zingcontent.com
