Ithaki

Ithaki is a small island in the Ionian Island Group in Greece. Ithaca is an independent municipality of the Kefalonia and Ithaka prefecture, and lies to the northeast of Kefalonia. There are also smaller islands included in the municipality of Ithaca. The capital of the island is Ithaki, or Vathi, which holds one of the world’s largest natural harbours.

Ithaca has been known for centuries as the home of Odysseus.

There is a strait located on the western side of the island that is fittingly named the Strait of Ithaca. Ithaki’s tallest mountain is Nirito, standing at 806 meters, and the second tallest is Merovigli. Lazaretto Islet, or the Island of the Saviour, guards the harbor on Ithaki. The Church of the Saviour and the remains of an old gaol are also located on Ithaki.

In Vathi, you can view quaint red-roofed houses that set among beautiful scenery at the end of the deep closed Molos bay.

The Cave of Nymphs is located just slightly northwest of Vathi. This is where, according to myth, Odysseus hid gifts that were bestowed upon him by the Phaeacians, who sent him to Ithaca ten years after the Trojan War had ended. The Monastery of the Archangels is also very well worth a visit, located at Perahori.

The bay of Polis holds a cave in which inscriptions were carved that testified to the worship of Artemis, Hera, and Athena. There were also twelve tripods found here that were very similar to the ones that the Phaeacians supposedly had given to Odysseus.

In Pelikata, excavations on the hillside have revealed a small Bronze Age settlement. The finding of this settlement have helped to reinforce the notion that ancient Ithaca lies somewhere close to this point.

For a look at villages who have been virtually unspoiled from modernism, Kioni and Frikes are wonderful stopping places. Ithaki is also filled with many wonderful beaches for you to swimming or simply relaxing and gazing into the clear and beautiful sea.