Kefalonia
Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian islands and the only one where the drive between two interesting villages can take an hour. Distances matter here in a way they do not on Paxos or Ithaca. The single biggest planning question is whether to base in the south, near Argostoli and the airport, or in the north around Fiskardo and Assos. We would say the north, for two nights at minimum. The south works for one. Splitting between both means a lot of time on roads.
The 1953 earthquake levelled almost every settlement on the island. Fiskardo, on the northern tip, was the only village to survive intact, and its pastel Venetian harbour-houses are why most photographs of Kefalonia start there. Assos, just south of Fiskardo on its slender peninsula under a Venetian fortress, was rebuilt with such patience that it now reads as if nothing happened. The fortress walk, an hour up and back, is the best short hike on the island.
Three things in the interior most visitors miss. Mount Ainos rises to over 1,600 metres, and its dark forests of the Cephalonian fir, Abies cephalonica, are a national park; the species is endemic to Greece, and its principal stand is here. Melissani, an underground lake whose roof partly collapsed in antiquity, is best entered between eleven and one when the sun reaches the water and turns it a blue that does not photograph honestly. Myrtos Beach, between two limestone cliffs, is the long view from the road.
Robola, the white wine grown in the Omala valley since Venetian times, is worth tasting at the Robola Cooperative rather than at a restaurant. Louis de Bernières set Captain Corelli's Mandolin in the south of the island; the film's beach scenes were shot at Myrtos and Antisamos, and you will find tribute menus in too many tavernas. Skip those and find a fish lunch at Fiskardo or Sami instead.
House Notes
Arrival
EFL (Anna Pollatou International) takes private jets; Signature Aviation holds the FBO. The ferry alternative is Kyllini to Poros with Levante Ferries — roughly 90 minutes, several crossings daily through summer. For yacht guests arriving from the south, Sami harbour carries 5–8 metres alongside the main quay and is the cleaner approach to the island interior.
The address
Emelisse Nature Resort sits above Emblisis Bay on the Erissos peninsula — rooms and private villas set in native cedar and cypress, a fifteen-minute walk from the Fiskardo harbour. The position gives both the northern basing advantage and immediate sea access without sharing the quay with the village evening crowds.
The kitchen
Tassia, on the Fiskardo harbourfront, opened in 1972 — the first restaurant in the village. Tassia Dendrinou, who has run it since, published two cookbooks on Kefalonian cuisine — Recipes of Tasia and Tastes of Tasia, both with Livani. The menu is grounded in the garden behind the kitchen; the octopus and the local cheese board are the things to order. Reserve several days ahead in July.
Vino di Sasso
Evriviadis Sclavos runs a biodynamic estate in Lixouri — Demeter-certified since 2019, family vines planted on the Laskaratos Hill slopes since 1919. His Vino di Sasso, an unfiltered Robola grown at 650–700 metres on fragmented limestone, takes its name from the English commissioner Napier who first called it wine of the stone. Jancis Robinson scored the 2019 vintage 17/20 and gave it a decade. Tastings by reservation at the winery.
The library
The Korgialeneios Library in Argostoli holds around 60,000 volumes and is among the three largest libraries in Greece — founded in 1924 from the will of benefactor Marinos Korgialenios, rebuilt after the 1953 earthquake. Its oldest piece is an edition of the Souda Dictionary from 1499. The folklore museum below covers Kefalonia from the Venetian conquest through to 1953. Open Monday to Friday, mornings only.
Drogarati
The Chamber of Exaltation inside Drogarati Cave — 65 by 45 metres, 20 metres high, a constant 18°C — has served as a concert hall for its acoustics since the cave opened to the public in 1963. The cavern itself is reckoned more than 150 million years old. It lies three kilometres from Sami on the road toward Argostoli.
Foki, on foot
Walk 1.4 kilometres north along the harbour road from Fiskardo — past the Roman graveyard, keeping left — to reach Foki, a sheltered pebble cove named for the Monachus monachus seals that still visit. On the right side of the bay, a series of limestone caves lead into the tunnels of a disused mine. Calm days allow a swim into the cave mouth; the inner beach is pebbled and almost always empty.
The monastery
The Monastery of Saint Gerasimos stands on the Omala plateau, 15 kilometres from Argostoli — the convent of nuns the saint founded in 1560 and named New Jerusalem, rebuilt in Byzantine style after the 1953 earthquake levelled it. His underground hermitage survives beneath the older church, reached by an iron staircase three metres long into two stone chambers. The three plane trees he planted himself still stand in the courtyard.
Fiscardo Sailing
Captain Fotis runs a 46-foot Bavaria Cruiser out of Fiskardo for full-day private charters — the standard loop covers the Ithaca coastline and Atokos, the uninhabited islet of the northern Ionian with two protected bays and no other infrastructure. Up to ten guests; departure around 10:00 from the Fiskardo quay. The boat also takes half-day and sunset bookings on shorter notice.
Gentilini
Gentilini, in Minies just south of Argostoli, has worked the indigenous Robola since Spiros Cosmetatos planted his first vines in 1978 — his daughter Marianna and her husband Petros Markantonatos hold the estate now. The Robola is grown above 650 metres on the slopes of Mount Ainos, citrus and mineral, low-yielding and increasingly rare. The tasting room is where to take it, rather than from a harbour list.