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Ithaca
- Ithaki island Ionio Greece
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 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.
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