Diary From a Greek Island: Lefkas
by C Jordan on 17/09/08 at 4:58 am
The beauty, pleasure, and fun of the Greek island of Lefkas.
Today we have decided to head inland and stay away from combining any bare flesh with the sun.
The main town of the island is Lefkada, which is a little bit nerve wracking to drive through, so we swung left before we came to the town and headed into the mountains.
The roads are quite steep with hairpin bends to gain height, so most of the driving going up in the 1000cc Punto is in first and second gears. The most striking thing is the vastness of the views: soaring mountains and dramatic drops to the seas or into valleys. No snapshot could do it justice because the beauty was the whole of it and not just part of it.
Kyria is a “village of traditional crafts” recommended for sight-seeing to tourists. It’s not. It is a small not very attractive town, aimed directly as a tourist trip. We didn’t stop but turned around and carried on our journey. What is more appealing are the ‘natural’ small villages – just a collection of houses with perhaps a small taverna, grouped along the road with the residents going about their lives – the typically black-clad older Greek women to be seen everywhere.
Heading south we drove into the south-west peninsula and came to the highest village on the island, Athani. This has genuine charm. To the north, east and south the views are dramatic and mountainous. To the west the sea goes on until it disappears into the mists on the horizon.
We called into a taverna (boasting “panoramic views of the sunset”) for lunch, and ordered a cheese toastie, an omelette, orange juice, and two coffees, which came along with the compulsory bread. Not surprisingly the food was well served, but we were pleasantly surprised to find it to be probably the cheapest prices we had paid anywhere on the island. The owner was a small friendly man and a woman, we assumed to be his wife, appeared at one point marching a rather glum child, who appeared to have been body-surfing in dust, off to be hosed down.
We were treated to the Greek preference of mobile phone tones by two locals (businessmen we presumed) who were seated at a table with the usual confusion of varied plates in front of them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the drive across the island, taking in the views and sights on the way back to Nidri and returning the car to the hire company.
For the last three days in Nidri there are no diary entries because we just relaxed and enjoyed the resort. Days were spent on the beach – sunbathing, swimming and snorkelling and broken by going into the cool of a taverna at lunch time for a salad and a cold beer. Evenings were spent walking along to the harbour to sit in a restaurant looking out at the rich folk’s toys in the harbour. There was an odd moment of envy there sometimes, but mainly it was of quiet satisfaction of just being there.
All photographs were taken by the author.
The map was taken from Google images.
Other articles about places and events by this author:
A Cultural Landscape: Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Fingal’s Cave and the Incredible Architectural Rock Formations of Staffa
Carnival: Dirty Jenny in Aalst! (Carnaval: Voil Jeannetten En Aalst!)
Hilarious Flashmob Craze is Spreading Around the World
Liked it
s hayes
Sep 17th, 2008
Top article
Kiki Stamatiou
Sep 25th, 2008
Beautiful article. Very interesting. I took a trip to Greece with my parents back in 1975 at the age of 5, where I met my relatives for the first time, who lived in Greece. My dad was born on the Island of Evvia. My maternal grandfather hailed from Peloponeseus. My mother’s maternal grandfather hailed from Cosma. And my mother’s maternal grandmother hailed from Andritsina. I enjoyed the lakes and beaches in Greece, in addition to the village life as people carried on with their daily routines. Thanks so much for sharing your adventure. I too have work published on the Triond website, published under my pen name Joanna Maharis which is also my USER name.
Take Care,
Kiki Stamatiou (Joanna Maharis)
C. Jordan
Sep 25th, 2008
Thanks for your comments I,ve already read several by S. Hayes, and I’ll return the compliment to you Kiki.
goodselfme
Sep 30th, 2008
Thank you for taking me along to /Greece. I will make note of your good ideas if I ever go again. I took all travelers cheques and drank the coffee there, but I like your ideas better, /that Greek coffee put hair on my chest and I am a lady.Nicely posted
C. Jordan
Oct 1st, 2008
Hi Goodself, the Greek coffee is good. Best way to finish an evening is with a”helenica coffee metrio y eena Metaxa” (that’s what it sounds like anyway!)- a greek coffee, medium sweet with a nice glass of Metaxa brandy!Thanks for the comment
gabbic1219
Oct 21st, 2008
nice story…my mother has been to italy twice,expresso thats some strong coffee also…. i hear greece is beautiful and i watch part of the olympics when it was there!i love baclava…the pastry,i probally spelled it wrong,lol but it is delicious!
Sandra
Oct 22nd, 2008
Lovely article! After living on Crete for 12 years your story brought back many memories of very happy days in the sun, sea and mountains amongst wonderful people. Thank you!
lefkada-travel.com
Dec 7th, 2008
thanks for sharing with us your experiences, that’s very interesting for helping us to make the good choose in our holidays
chris73
May 3rd, 2009
I liked that “…with the usual confusion of varied plates in front of them.”
hihihoho. I almost don’t drink but believe me it’s realy nice all that different plates especialy seafood by the sea drinking ouzo! Even if a am realy a coffee adict i don’t drink Greek or Turkish coffee (it is the same) most because i am bored to prepair it! 
The name is “Agios Nikitas” and not “Agios Nikitos”, “Agios” means “Saint”. “Kathisma” in greek means “seat” like “have a seat”. About gabbic1219 “baclava” is correct but originaly (probably) is Turkish or Turkish-Arabic.
Keep wherever you go, the eye of a traveler and you will gain a lot.
Until
Spikey
May 11th, 2009
Your article is very interesting. We love Nidri and the Isle of Lefkas. We’ve been going for six years. Met some great friends both Greek and English. I’m so glad I’m going to see that wonderful view from our hotel right on the beach at Nidri and to be visiting many of the tavernas. Only 34 days to go.
Aron@hotels in hawaii
Aug 18th, 2009
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Tom Pedersen
Sep 22nd, 2010
Genital removing toboggan! LOL.
elnavann
Mar 30th, 2011
Hi – I enjoyed your article. I have never been to Greece and hope that I will have the chance to spend a few days on one of the islands. Will invest in an umbrella before I go to the beach.
Brenda Nelson
Mar 30th, 2011
wow what a great experience, so glad you shared, especially pictures.
danise
Mar 31st, 2011
the view is so beautiful!!!