Having anchored in Ay Eufimia we went ashore to book a rental car for the next day. We wanted to get off the boat and explore some caves that we had read about. We had dinner ashore at a restaurant run by a family and the youngest generation provided us with a load of tips for our land travels the following day. We decided that we needed to get going a little earlier the following day if we were going to get to half of the places they suggested.
That said, it was probably 10 o’clock before we sat with a map in our rented Citroën C1. We decided to start with the caves. The first one was filled with water, the second one dry. We liked both but the first one was the favorite. It had brackish water at 15 degrees C temperature and was the home to eels, fish, bats, spiders and birds. We had timed our visit so that we would be there at lunchtime as we guessed that this would allow the sun to light the cave through the opening at the top. This really paid off in the form of turquois water and a fantastic light into the darker parts of the cave. We were being rowed around by a guide and were told that the cave was discovered when the roof caved in after an earthquake around 5000 years ago. The second cave was full of stalactites and stalagmites and was frequently used to house concerts.
We decided that visiting two caves was enough to satisfy our need for geological explorations and left for the village of Asos on the west coast. This was a fantastic village and, apart from Fiskardo, the only place on Cephalonia that survived the earthquake in 1953. After a lunch by the sea we climbed the mountain next to the village to see the fort on the top. The view was fantastic, but the fort was more of a ruin than a bastion of protection. It was worth the effort even though we always seem to embark on climbing a mountain during the hottest part of the day.
After a quick look at Cephalonia’s capitol Argostoli we returned to Ay Eufimia to return the car, swim and have dinner at the same restaurant as the night before. We were served by the son in the family who was of the same age as Daniel and Justin. He had just finished the Greek version of upper secondary school and was clearly not that keen on further studies. As an islander working in the family business, he was jealous of the opportunities available to Daniel and Justin. But this was peak season on Cephalonia and his family needed him now. Plans for the future would have to wait until the autumn. But he did talk about moving to the capitol. Argostoli that is – the capitol of Cephalonia.
Saoirse 