προϊόν: Κεφαλονιά

άρθρο της Kerin Hope, ανταποκρίτριας των Financial Times στην Αθήνα..λίγο παλιό βέβαια, Φεβρουάριος 1996 με επιφύλαξη...

Rugged but green, with some of the best beaches to be found in western Greece, the island of Kefalonia is less well-known than it should be. One reason is that there are only a few large resort hotels. Another is relatively infrequent flights from Athens, and bookings must be made in good time.

Kefalonia is big enough to make it worth hiring a jeep for a few days, both to reach less accessible beaches and take in some stunning views from rough roads across its precipitous hillsides. The variety is surprising, from pebble beaches shaded by olive and cypress trees in the north to long stretches of golden sand and dramatically bare gray and white cliffs in the south.

Contrasts can be sharp on Kefalonia. It is renowned both for its shipowners, who run some of Greece's biggest merchant fleets from Piraeus and London but come back for vacations, and for a strong left-wing tradition that survived the demise of communism in Eastern Europe. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Aleka Paparriga, leader of Greece's still-active Communist Party, comes from one of the island's marxist villages.

Kefalonia's two towns, Lixouri and Argostoli, face each other across a deep inlet. So strong was the rivalry between them that the statue of Andreas Iaskaratos, a 19th century poet from Lixouri, was erected in the town square with its back to Argostoli. Even now, the towns are inclined to compete rather than cooperate for government funds, and local politics are filled with controversy.

Mr. Gerasimos Metaxas, the island prefect, wants Kefalonia to become a center for marine tourism, with offshore tax and residence privileges. He says "Kefalonia, unlike most Greek islands, is both big enough, still comparatively unspoiled, and near enough to Western Europe to be developed as an offshore center for the region. The aim would be to bring back some of the expatriate talent--the lawyers, shipbrokers, and services experts--to work here."

Like the other Ionian islands, Kefalonia was spared the Ottoman occupation and remained under Venetian rule for six centuries before a brief period of British administration in the 19th century.

Argostoli's historical museum contains a well-preserved collection of costumes, furniture, porcelain, and portraits dating from British colonial days, and much of the island's road network dates from that period.

Kefalonia once boasted an opera house included on the Italian singers' circuit, elegant Venetian architecture, and a standard of living found on few Greek islands. But all that ended with a disastrous earthquake in 1953 which leveled most buildings on the island and left thousands homeless.

One village that survived with its square houses and red-tiled roofs almost intact is Fiscardo, a favorite anchorage for yachts on the northern tip of Kefalonia. The Venetian castles at Assos and Kastro are still impressive, and the monastery of St. Gerasimos, the island's patron saint, also escaped damage. Preserved in a silver sarcophagus, the mummified saint is still an object of reverence.

Remains from the classical past are few, but one recent archaeological discovery points to Kefalonia's importance in the Bronze Age. A beehive-shaped tomb near the port of Poros, similar to the royal burial places at Mycenae on the Greek mainland, dates from the 14th century BC. Finds of gold jewelry and seal-stones suggest it was the vault of a rich ruling family.

Climb the steep hillside above Poros and you find the walls of a Mycenaean fortress hidden in the pine forest. The view takes in a broad stretch of coast from the next-door island of Ithaca to the western Greek mainland.

Kefalonia has its own culinary traditions, including a spicy meat pie that may owe something to the British occupation and an unusually wide variety of "horta," wild greens doused in olive oil that are a staple of Greek taverna eating. But unlike many Greek islands, Kefalonia's vineyards have been revived by a new generation of winemakers. An Italian grape variety, robola, produces a dry white wine much appreciated by expatriate Kefalonians. Try any wine with the Gentilini label, produced on the Kosmetatos family estate.