01684 562406
New Birmingham Flights to Kefalonia are going to be a winning combination for Malvern World Clients. Flying every Week on Saturday Mornings from May 23rd 2015 to September the 26th 2015 with Flybe on a weekly charter with Ionian and Aegean Holidays. The Flights are due to Depart Birmingham at 05.45 arriving into Kefalonia at 11.15 with the return flight leaving at 12.15 from Kefalonia and arriving back into Birmingham at 14.00
Lee and Hilary Harrison have visited most of the superb Apartments, Villas and hotels offered by Ionian and Aegean Holidays and have worked with them for many years. We organised a Wedding for 100 guests recently With the Bride and groom getting married with the stunning back drop of the Village of Assos, with all of the Guests staying in Villas and apartments in Fiskardo. Everything worked like a dream with the help of Ionian and Aegean and also Cephalonia Concierge for the local arrangements . It really is a stunning Island.
To View General Photographs of Kefalonia taken by Lee when in Kefalonia CLICK ON THIS LINK HERE
FISKARDO
A Norman adventurer by the name of Roberto Guiscard sailed into this enchanting natural harbour on the northern tip of Kefalonia. His stay was not altogether successful, he soon succumbed to the plague. Happily, later visitors, most notably the Venetians, left a more lasting legacy in the graceful buildings that line the waterfront.
Owing to a quirk of geology, these buildings survived the great earthquake of 1953 that devastated much of the Ionian. Modern Fiskardo, thanks to strict planning regulations, combines all the aesthetic beauty of Venetian architecture, with a thriving community, that has become a popular port of call to yachtsmen and visitors from all over the world.
For the armchair sailor, boat watching from the comfort of a shaded table beside the water, cold drink to hand, can become addictive but for the more energetic, Fiskardo has all the facilities of a well run small village.
Despite the evident bustle of life around the harbour, Fiskardo has none of the brashness of many Mediterranean holiday centres.
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Narrow alleys and steps lead away from the harbour past old houses, their balconies festooned with jasmine and bougainvillea, towards the cypress forest and olive groves that surround the village.
Within a few minutes one can be wandering along ancient tracks to deserted hamlets. Discovering paths which wind through unspoilt and protected woodland to narrow coves, where the contrast between the shining white pebbles of the beach, and the clear blue of the water invites one to stop and stay for a while.
History is here too. From the Venetian light tower on the headland, in the ruin of the Norman church, behind the Roman remains, to the mysterious origins of Cleopatra’s Chair.
Natural beauty, history, shops, villas and tavernas, Fiskardo has them all. But perhaps, the town’s greatest attraction, and the one that brings visitors back time again, is not so immediately obvious. It is the local people.
Virtually every business, from a restaurant providing internationally acclaimed cuisine to a traditional bakery hidden up a side street, is family owned and operated. These are people whose natural hospitality is a way of life. Behind the Venetian façade of Fiskardo lies a spirit of people whose individuality and friendliness has survived invasion, revolution, and earthquake.
Be warned, a holiday here can easily become a way of life!
ASSOS
The island of Kefalonia is renowned for the variety of its natural landscapes. For sheer awesome beauty, the stretch of coastline that runs from the northern tip of the Lixouri peninsula in a great sweep to Cape Dafnoudi in Erissos, is unmatched in the Ionian.
At the very heart of these magnificent and wild cliffs is the world famous Myrtos Beach, with its crescent of dazzling white sands and azure water, broken only by the incessant surf, said to be one of the seven finest beaches in the whole of the Mediterranean.
North of Myrtos the scenery becomes even more dramatic with vast crags overhanging a restless sea, and steep mountainsides of rocky outcrops, where only falcons hover, the last place where one would expect to find a haven of peace and tranquility.
The first view of the craggy headland of Assos that juts uncompromisingly out from the mainland, complete with the remains of a massive Venetian stronghold, only reinforces the feeling that this is an awesome place, magnificent certainly but a haven, never!
A closer look from the safety of a lay-by on the high main road to Fiskardo, will reveal a cluster of whitewashed houses, with striking red roofs, perched on a narrow isthmus connecting the headland to the shore. A side road sweeps down in a series of winding bends through old vine terraces on the hillside, and suddenly a small land-locked harbour appears, sheltered by the slender ridge and the steep slopes of the headland. There’s a peaceful, tree-lined plateia behind a small beach, three or four tavernas and a cluster of picturesque houses clinging to the hillside; the village of Assos, a true sanctuary.
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When viewed from the small stone quay, with fishing boats moored alongside and a few yachts at anchor in the bay, the headland appears much more benign with a scattering of green pines breaking up the bare hillside. The afternoon sun turns the castle walls to a warm orange and the sound of children playing in the shallow water drifts across the harbour. The Assos of war and invasion is transformed into a peaceful paradise.
All our properties in Assos share virtually the same fantastic location on the isthmus above the village and harbour. Here, the Nine Muses of Greek Myth sat and guarded the passage to the heights of the headland. It is a short stroll either down the narrow road or a stepped lane to the village centre, Paris plateia, named in honour of the French city that raised funds for the rebuilding of the village after the earthquake of 1953.
A single, narrow street leads away from the sea, overlooked by traditional cottages and houses. It soon branches and the left hand continuation zigzags steeply uphill to join the original Venetian road which can be followed all the way up to the main road, a wonderful walk. The castle, currently being restored, is well worth a visit. A spectacular cliff path to the fortress has also been repaired and joins up with the original road to make a wonderful expedition.
Despite its relative isolation, Assos is only half an hours drive from Fiskardo to the north and the unspoilt villages of the high central plateau, which can be linked in a circular drive or one can continue down the east coast to Agia Efimia, Karavomilos, with its famous Melissani flooded cave, and Sami, returning in time for the sunset from Myrtos Beach.
Call Malvern World Travel today to book on 01684 562406 or email [email protected]
