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Islands Fit for Heroes Odysseus Was King Here, Byron Wanted to Be

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Islands Fit for Heroes Odysseus Was King Here, Byron Wanted to Be The sunlit terrace at the Perantzada Art Hotel on Ithaca. Opposite, guests from Villa Skinos jump off the Allegro islands fit for heroes Odysseus was king here, byron wanted to be. Ithaca and northern cephalonia have enough bays and private villas for you to create epic journeys of your own By Rachel Howard. Photographs by Julien Capmeil 117 TR26756_v3.indd 2 16/1/08 14:02:36 TR26756_v3.indd 3 16/1/08 14:02:48 Clockwise from left: the Kathara monastery on Ithaca; a fisherman in Kioni; Ileana von Hirsch in the grounds of Villa Skinos; the breakfast room at the Perantzada Art Hotel; the waterfront at Fiskardo, Cephalonia; lunch at Cemetery Beach, near Kioni. Opposite, sunbathing in Kioni was in a taverna on Crete returning to his rugged kingdom in the recently and the owner asked Ionian Sea. Thousands of Odysseus’ fellow me where I was from,’ recalls islanders have fled pirates, Turks, and Ileana von Hirsch, whose earthquakes to set up Ithacan enclaves maiden name, Gratsos, is a around the world, where they, too, yearn byword for shipping in the for their homeland. Many have now come Ionian islands. “Ah, Ithaca,” home, regenerating crumbling villages the man sighed. “They say people from deserted since the earthquake of 1953. IIthaca and Cephalonia are all bad and all Although its local legends have mad, but I can never remember which is become universal, Ithaca has long lived which.” That just about sums it up.’ in the shadow of Cephalonia, the largest A strait just three miles wide separates and most self-confident of the seven Ithaca from Cephalonia’s northern tip, Ionian islands. ‘We Cephalonians consider but the two islands are very different in the people of Ithaca to be suffering from character. Cephalonia is now associated inter-family marriages,’ says political with the suave Captain Corelli; for strategist Pavlos Yeroulanos. ‘The harbour centuries Ithaca has been synonymous of Vathy, Ithaca’s capital, is like a with a hero of epic proportions, Odysseus. snailshell – the boat has to do a 360-degree He spent his best years fighting monsters turn to leave the port, so no one can and bedding nymphs in far corners of the find their way out.’ Yeroulanos has blue Mediterranean, all the while intent on eyes and strawberry-blond hair: 118 TR26757.indd 4 16/1/08 14:56:11 Yachts fill the harbour of the upmarket town of Fiskardo 123 TR26759.indd 8 16/1/08 14:01:09 TR26759.indd 9 16/1/08 14:01:17 probable site of Odysseus’ palace. From Ithaca & Northern cephalonia this vantage point, you can look down on the bays of Frikes, Aphales and Polis. Getting There trees and olive groves, Levendis Estate bathrooms with glass Academics have been squabbling about By air British Airways this fully-staffed, two- At this eco-chic retreat walls. Top-floor suites (0870 850 9850; www. the location of Odysseus’ kingdom for storey villa is ideal for everything is organic have the best views of ba.com) flies from wealthy recluses. and home-grown, from Vathy harbour. centuries. Amateur archaeologist Robert Heathrow to Athens The waterfront the fruit preserves to Doubles from £810 Bittlestone has infuriated Ithacans by from £160 in March. location is fabulous: the homeopathic per person per week, claiming the Paliki peninsula in Cephalonia EasyJet (0871 244 a path leads through toiletries. Four cottages including flights (0845 is really Homer’s Ithaca. It might be wisest 2366; www.easyjet.com) the garden to the nestle in glorious 811 6502; www. to adopt Lord Byron’s approach: ‘However flies from Gatwick and village beach and the gardens with dramatic simpsontravel.com). sceptical he might have been as to these Luton to Athens, from terrace overlooks Kioni views to the sea. An Petrino House £93. From May to bay – and many infinity pool with a This secluded stone supposed localities,’ said a female tourist October there are memorable sunsets. marble colonnade is house is packed with who visited soon after the poet, ‘he never various charter flights But the interior is just a grand setting for character. Exposed offended the natives by any objection to direct to Argostoli as impressive: the moonlit barbeques. beams and lace the reality of their fancies.’ airport, Cephalonia, large living room is There’s massage for curtains offset antiques It was far too hot to take to the hills, so from £210. Otherwise, filled with art, guests grown-ups, hammocks in the cosy living we stuck to the precipitous road with its Olympic Airways (0870 have three bathrooms slung between cypress space. But the walled glimpses of pebble coves far below. Ithaca 6060 460; www. (including a wet room) trees for children. garden is the highlight, olympicairways.com) and a courtyard garden Sleeps 2–20. Book the with its gnarled olive is an island of two curvy halves, joined by flies daily from Athens for lazy afternoons. whole estate – your trees, shady nooks, a slender waist. This isthmus, 180 metres to Argostoli, from €50. Sleeps eight. Price own private paradise and secret plunge above sea level, affords giddying views to By boat From Patras, on request (020 8422 for €18,000 a week. pool. Sleeps five. From east and west. Beyond Stavros, a lively hub ferries depart twice 4885; www.fivestar From €3,650 per week £532 per week per for the scattered settlements of the north, daily to Cephalonia greece.com). for a two-bed cottage, person, including the landscape softened a little, the terraced hills shimmering with olive groves, the Clockwise from top left: cottages ablaze with bougainvillaea. We on the road in Ithaca; Stavros didn’t have high expectations of the tiny Drakopolous, owner of Villa port of Frikes, whose name translates as Stavros; the lobby at Emelisse Hotel, Cephalonia, and the ‘Horrors’, but it wasn’t as bad as all that. hotel firepit; a starter at Tassia’s Yachts bobbed beside tightly packed restaurant in Fiskardo; diving in restaurants hoping to make a buck from at the Emelisse Hotel. Opposite, passing sailors. You can even get a hot Ithaca’s Perantzada Art Hotel shower at The Gods mini-market. The road petered out at Kioni, where houses painted in ice-cream colours hug a scooped-out harbour. Spavento’s tables were so close to the water that drinking alcohol would be asking for trouble. So we sipped iced coffees, eavesdropping on Greek-Australians, whose accents twanged the hot, still air. As a boat spewed out its millionaires of shepherds and fishermen, have been snared by Ithaca’s gentle allure. cargo of day-trippers from Lefkada, we as swathes of land have been snapped up Thirty years ago she boarded a ferry to slipped away, following the path around by even wealthier expatriate Greeks. One Paxos and ended up on Ithaca. She met the headland to a string of scrappy coves, (2.5hrs) and Ithaca Kandiliotika including car hire flights and car hire Greek-American has built his own golf her Greek husband, Zikos, at a church with ample opportunities to filch plums (3.5hrs). From Piso Wake up to a chorus and transfers (00 30 (020 8232 9780; www. course; another has peacocks in his back festival, and never looked back. Perhaps and apricots from fragrant gardens along Aetos, ferries go to of goat bells at these 26740 31648; www. greekislandsclub.com). yard; the most ostentatious take their she drank deeply from the secret well at the way. At the end of the trail was a Sami (30 mins) and two snug cottages levendisestate.com). Villa Skinos helicopters to remote beaches. Kalamos: allegedly, those who drink from graveyard so near the beach that the dead Fiskardo (1hr). Daily overlooking the Ithacan Perantzada Art Hotel This historic estate is Thankfully, building regulations limit here will always be happy, healthy and must get drenched in winter. A makeshift services run from straits. Interiors are Two boutique hotels occasionally available properties to two storeys (though palms return to Ithaca. café with a few rickety tables stood Frikes to Fiskardo stylish, with saffron rolled into one. Some to rent. Price on have clearly been greased in some cases), Locals laughed when I tried to buy a beneath the trees; cold beer and Greek (45 mins). floor tiles, antique rooms display a application (020 Tour operator chests and piles of colourful twist on 8422 4885; www. restricting the development of large resorts. map: ‘But there’s only one road!’ It’s salad never tasted so good. Simpson Travel patchwork cushions. country-house chic – fivestargreece.com). Apart from one or two small hotels, tourist impossible to get lost on Ithaca if you Ithaca’s two most spectacular villages for the Perantzada Terraces are scented four-poster beds with Villa Agrampeli accommodation is confined to self-catering don’t stray from this narrow squiggle of are high in the mountains: Anogi (‘top of and Emelisse hotels with jasmine and striped drapes and & Villa Agrapidia villas. Most visitors to Ithaca – mainly asphalt. Should you feel adventurous, the world’) and Exogi (‘out of this world’). (see below): 0845 lavender. Unlike with playful art installations High in the hills, these Italian and British – come here simply to there are wonderful 400-year-old footpaths, With their mind-boggling views and ruined 811 6502; www. so many purpose-built – but can be cramped neighbouring villas are unwind. ‘Time slows down on Ithaca. The made by the Venetians and recently splendour, it can be only a matter of time simpsontravel.com rental villas, you’ll and viewless, and decorated in smart really feel at home most share balconies, style of life hasn’t changed for decades, cleared for ramblers.
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