CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 5 HISTORY OF LEFKADA................................................................................................ 7 LEFKADA – THE GEOGRAPHY....................................................................................17 AT A GLANCE .....................................................................................................................19
LEFKADA TOWN ......................................................................................................................... 19 WEST............................................................................................................................................. 20 EAST.............................................................................................................................................. 22 SOUTH.......................................................................................................................................... 22 SIGHTS TO SEE IN LEFKADA’S HIGHLANDS....................................................................... 24
LEFKADA TOWN.............................................................................................................. 27
BRIEF HISTORY AND ITS ARCHITECTURE .......................................................................... 27 TΗE MARKET AND CHURCHES ............................................................................................... 31 THE WEST PIER .......................................................................................................................... 32 THE POETS’ GARDEN................................................................................................................ 32 THE MARINA .............................................................................................................................. 33 THE FORT OF AGHIA MAVRA ................................................................................................ 34 THE LAGOON AT GYRA ........................................................................................................... 36 THE VENETIAN OLIVE GROVE ............................................................................................... 38
CULTURE.................................................................................................................................. 39
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM ....................................................................................... 39 THE HARAMOGLIOS LIBRARY................................................................................................ 39 LEFKADA’S PUBLIC LIBRARY ................................................................................................ 40 THE ORFEAS FOLKLORE MUSEUM.........................................................................................41 THE PHONOGRAPH MUSEUM .............................................................................................. 42 THE LEFKADA PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY .......................................................................... 43 THE INTERNATIONAL FOLKLORE FESTIVAL AND THE LITERATURE AND ART FESTIVALS.... 44 THE SERENADES (KANTADES).............................................................................................. 45 ARTIRIA ART GALLERY............................................................................................................. 45 EMINENT LEFKADIANS ..........................................................................................................46
SWIMMING .........................................................................................................................50
BEACHES NEAR TOWN............................................................................................................. 52 WEST............................................................................................................................................. 55 EAST............................................................................................................................................... 61 SOUTH.......................................................................................................................................... 62
TOURING.................................................................................................................................66
SIX PROPOSED ROUTES.......................................................................................................... 67 FOOTPATHS ..............................................................................................................................103 MEGANISI ............................................................................................................................... 108 RELIGIOUS MONUMENTS .................................................................................................... 110 SPILEA (CAVES)......................................................................................................................... 111 TREKKING................................................................................................................................... 112 SWIMMING................................................................................................................................ 113
THE COOKERY OF LEFKADA............................................................................114 CUSTOMS-MANNERS-EVENTS.................................................................... 117 ACTIVITIES. .........................................................................................................................119 USEFUL INFORMATION........................................................................................... 123
LEFKADA
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Green, azure, white. Kathisma, Engremni, Pefkoulia, Mylos, Porto Katsiki...Nature’s palette for Western Lefkada’s seashore contains the colours of joy and optimism, synonymous with summertime, with the exotic, lifting one’s morale. The landscape is grandiose, one’s gaze is lost in towering rocks and seawater the colour of dreams, sand beaches that seem endless. Even more impressive, Cape Lefkatas, the lighthouse, Sappho’s Leap, the age-old myths evoked and the stupendous sunsets that turn one inward, willingly or not, to infinite introspection. That is not all that is unique about the mainland-linked island of Lefkada. The arts and the culture once and still today flourishing in Lefkada town remain a vivid magnet of attraction for visitors, the Byzantine churches, the museums and philharmonic bands, pedestrian walkways lined with shops and cafes, the marina and the walkway by the sea, the easily accessible beaches of Mili or Ai Yiannis and, of course, the fort of Aghia Mavra and the special atmosphere of the lagoon at Gyra. Then there is the interior, the chapels and grand Byzantine monasteries such as Kokkini Ekklisia and Asomatos Archangelos Mikhail, the waterfalls at Dimosari and the Melissa ravine, the lush vegetation and the lovely villages of Exanthia, Katouna, Karya, Englouvi as well as the old-time stone clusters of houses as at Alexandros and Kolyvata, keeping alive the memories of the past. The eastern side boasts an array of luxury hotel complexes, excellent fish tavernas, beautiful beaches, it’s where you will find Nydri from where the wonderful little islets can be reached: Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos, in summer crowded with sail boats. There is also Vassiliki, beloved of surfers... There is no full stop here. You will put one in yourself, you who are travelling with us around Lefkada Island. We hope this guide will incite you to branch out on your own excursions, find secret places to suit yourself alone, that will bring you back again and again to this Ionian Island of magic.
5 LEFKADA
LEFKADA
6 HISTORY OF LEFKADA
The fort of Aghia Mavra in the 17th century – Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
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Lefkada is a mountainous island – geologists call it the ‘Alps of the Ionian Islands’ – surface area 302.5 sq km, which makes it the fourth in size of the Ionian Islands; and a population currently of 23,000. It is mentioned in ancient texts under the name Leucas (Lefkas), deriving, according to Strabo, from the god Apollo’s epithet Leucata, whose temple stood on the island’s southernmost cape, opposite Kefallonia. An ancient myth says that from this promontory the poetess Sappho plunged to her death in the sea, in despair from her love for Faon. The German archaeologist Dörpfeld believed that Lefkada is the Homeric Ithaca. This is why at the turn of the 20th century he excavated on the island, bringing to light significant finds dating to 2000 BC. Lefkada is present at the momentous events of the ancient Greek world: its ships are at the naval battle of Salamis; Lefkadians fight at Plataea; support the Spartans in the Peloponnesian war; join the expeditions of Alexander the Great. The Romans gained ascendancy over the island as over the rest of Greece, and brought it to decline when the emperor Augustus forced a major part of the population to migrate to Nikopolis, the town he built at the neighbouring Aktion following his victory at sea over Anthony and Cleopatra. At that time the island’s capital – of which some ruins are extant – was called Nirikos, later Lefkas, on the eastern side at the edge of the strait dividing Lefkada from Akarnania. This narrow channel made shallow by sediment did not always facilitate the passage of ships
HISTORY OF LEFKADA
HISTORY OF LEFKADA