Kefalonia is part of the group of islands known as the Ionian Islands. It is also the largest of the group with a 781 square kilometres surface and a coastline of 254 kilometres.
The prefecture of Kefalonia also includes the islands of Ithaca, Kastos and Kalamos.
The island is located between Lefkada, in the north, and Zakynthos, in the south and has a population of almost 45.000 inhabitants who are mostly gathered in the island’s capital and main port, Argostoli. Their main occupations and source of income are agriculture, fishing and tourism.
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The island of Kefalonia is very mountainous: the highest mountain, Mount Ainos, rises at an altitude of 1520 metres, and is the only mountain in the whole Mediterranean to possess an unique fir forest specie called Abies Kefallia.
Those are protected species and the area where they grow has therefore been declared a National Park.
Many fruitful plains, amazing lakes and rivers, caves, thick and verdant forests and wonderful beaches with golden sand and crystalline waters embellish the island.
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Because of its huge natural wealth, Kefalonia was, like all the other Ionian Islands, dominated by various civilizations such as the Byzantine, the Frankish, the Ottoman, the Venetian, but also the Napoleonic and the British Empires.
During World War II, Kefalonia was under Italian and German domination and the capitulation of Italy led to the massacre of 5000 Italian soldiers; |
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this event inspired the writer Louis de Bernieres its famous book, entitled “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” which became later a movie. Apart from the capital, Argostoli, the island of Kefalonia has a multitude of picturesque villages and small towns scattered all around it.
The most famous of those villages is the particularly picturesque Fiscardo, the only village that wasn’t destroyed by the disastrous earthquake of 1953, and which keeps its beautiful neoclassical buildings until today.
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Because of its innumerable beauties and charms and for having everything to offer even to the most demanding visitor, Kefalonia is one of the most popular of the Ionian Islands.
 Impressions & Advices |
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