Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LOVER'S LEAP
Fourteen kilometres south along the main road from Atháni, barren
Cape Lefkátas
drops
abruptly 75m into the sea. Byron's Childe Harold sailed past this point, and “saw the evening
star above, Leucadia's far projecting rock of woe: And hail'd the last resort of fruitless love”. The
fruitless love is a reference to Sappho, who in accordance with the ancient legend that you
could cure yourself of unrequited love by leaping into these waters, leapt - and died. In her
honour the locals termed the place Kávos tis Kyrás (“lady's cape”), and her act was imitated by
the lovelorn youths of Lefkádha for centuries afterwards. And not just by the lovelorn, for the
act (known as
katapondismós
) was performed annually by scapegoats - always a criminal or a
lunatic - selected by priests from the Apollo temple whose sparse ruins lie close by. This
purification rite continued into the Roman era, when it degenerated into little more than a
fashionable stunt by decadent youth. These days, in a more controlled modern re-enactment,
Greek hang-gliders hold a tournament from the cliffs every July.
11
equipped. May-Sept.
€40
Meganissi
Katoméri
T
26450 51240.
The island's
longest-established hotel is a comfortable place with
decent-sized, comfortable rooms, a restaurant
and
pool,
and is handily located for exploring. May-Sept.
€45
Rose Garden
Vathý
T
26450 51216.
Popular place
tucked into the corner of the square and seafront, where
you can get good fresh fish or a few meat or veg options
from the oven.
May-Sept daily noon-midnight.
Tropicana
Spartohóri
T
26450 51486.
This simple
summertime restaurant (daily noon-11pm) offers a
variety of pizzas and some other basic snacks and meals,
plus they are the point
of c
ontact for good-value rooms in
the village. May-Sept.
€30
The west coast
Lefkádha's
west coast
vies with anywhere in Greece in displaying coastal scenery at
its most dramatic. On both sides of
Áï Nikítas
, the only real resort, mountainous
roads rise and descend from the sea, offering tantalizing glimpses of the stunning
sandy beaches that are sandwiched between imposing cliffs and lapping waves of
turquoise.
Áï Nikítas and around
Jammed into a picturesque gorge 12km southwest of Lefkádha Town is
ÁÏ NIKÍTAS
, the
prettiest resort on Lefkádha, a jumble of lanes and small wooden buildings. To add to
its appeal, the village itself is now a pedestrian zone, at least in theory. Sea taxis (€3
one-way) ply between Áï Nikítas and
Mýlos beach
, the delightful cove just round the
southern promontory.
A couple of kilometres back north, sand-and-pebble
Pefkoúlia
beach
is one of the longest on the island.
Káthisma beach
It's a 45-minute walk (or a short bus ride) from Áï Nikítas to the most popular beach
on the coast,
Káthisma
, a shadeless kilometre of fine sand, which becomes nudist and a
lot less crowded beyond the large jutting rocks halfway along - freelance camping still
goes on at this end too.
Atháni and around
South of Kalamítsi, past the hamlets of Hortáta and Komíli, the landscape becomes
almost primeval. At 38km from Lefkádha Town,
ATHÁNI
is the island's most remote
spot to stay. Three of the Ionian's choicest
beaches
, where azure and milky turquoise
waves buffet strands enclosed by dramatic cliffs, are accessible from Atháni: the nearest,
reached by a 4km paved road, is
Yialós
, followed by
Egremní
, down a steep incline
unpaved for the last 2km. Further south, an asphalted road leads to the dramatic and
popular twin beach of
Pórto Katsíki
.
