Assos, Myrtos Beach and Fiscardo, Kefalonia, Greece
Planning a trip to the north of Kefalonia
The walk up to Assos Castle (almost!)
What we missed - before we headed down for a swim
Planning a trip to the north of Kefalonia
This story is more about a drive to the north of Kefalonia from the capital Argostoli, but it does include a short walk from the village of Assos up to the castle on the peninsula, clearly visible from the coast road. It should have been an easy route to follow, but we went the wrong way!
We had booked a hire car for the duration of our stay, although it would be possible to explore the island by public transport from Argostoli. Not quite so easy from a hotel a couple of miles out, but the hire car meant we could get to and from beaches, and call in to supermarkets, as we wished. I supposed that's the alluring convenience of the motor car! It would have been handy for hiking elsewhere, although with a car you usually need circular routes!
I'd decided I wanted to visit the north of the island - the guide book referred to Fiscardo as an idyllic village that survived the earthquake, and to Assos as the next most attractive village on the island. It didn't look too far to drive and we could also visit the picturesque Myrtos Beach on the way.
Saturday started quite cloudy, and we set off from our hotel, around the peninsula road past the lighthouse to Argostoli. On the other side of the town we picked up the sign for Fiscardo, 48 km. The road no longer goes over the causeway across the bay, built nearly 2 centuries ago, which is now reserved for pedestrians. You need to drive around the head of the bay and turn left for the road north.
This road bends its way through small villages, and at Kardakata another road leads off left to the Paliki peninsula. Continuing around many bends, after the village of Agon a view opens up on teh left across the Myrtos Bay towards the northern hills of Paliki, rising to 517m. Somewhere to go hiking on the next visit! Kiriaki Beach, below, also looked inviting, but we headed on a few km further to the bend which overlooked Myrtos Beach itself. There was space to park, and we crossed the road to look down at the beach. It is genuinely dramatic, a strip of white against the blue sea and the steep hillside which curves around it.
We decided to head straight for the beach (Frances was tiring of the journey) as if we left it until the drive back from Fiscardo it could be too late, or poor weather. The skies had brightened up, so we stopped off for some provisions at the little supermarket in Divarata, just where there's a road off to the left leading down to the beach.
It was one of those zig-zag roads where you need to concentrate, without barriers to stop you going off the edge, but with hardly any other traffic it was easy enough. Down at the beach we found a line of a dozen or so cars parked, but we moved the car to the north end of the beach where it was quieter, away from the music coming from the cantina. The beach was a mixture of smooth white shingle and sand, with a ridge just above the shoreline. We got changed and went in for a swim - there were no waves, just a swell which made it seem like the sea was tilting one way then the other. The pebbles were hard underfoot, but it wasn't bad in the water, although it shelved steeply. Some bathers have apparently been caught by surprise as they quickly got out of their depth.
We enjoyed our swim, but the sun still hadn't broken through the clouds properly, so we dried off and had our lunch. A couple of little dogs came up to see us, and we saw a man walking along from his car accompanied by two more dogs. He found a spot right at the end of the beach, stripped off completely, and went for a swim. Frances was very surprised! Meanwhile, the dogs continued to explore the beach and our little camp. Then he emerged from the water, got dried and dressed again, and went back to his car.
We didn't stay much longer, although it looked like the sky was starting clear at last. By the time we had driven back up to the main road, the sun was out, and stayed that way until nightfall.
The turnoff to Assos was just a bit further along, and we had already had views of the peninsula with the fortifications on top, and the village below on the isthmus connecting it to the mainland. The road wound down 4 km through trees, most of them the tall thin cypresses that are often seen on the Greek islands (see top photo).
At a fork, we took the left turning which led us along a narrow street to the south of the main part of the village, straight to a car park with the sea visible on either side. The view across the bay to the village cafes was stunning - along with Myrtos Beach and the Fanari, it's one of the most often used images of Kefalonia.
The walk up to Assos Castle (almost!)
I persuaded Frances that we should have a walk up to the castle, although she wouldn't wear her walking boots as it was so warm. We spoke to a few other tourists on their way down, and they said it was quite a long hot climb, but we set off anyway along the wide vehicle track. After a couple of bends through the trees we reached an old gateway with steps, on the left, and decided to try that for a change. At the top of the steps we found a bit of a track through the trees, and reached a churchyard. After the church, we were back onto the main track. Frances had found the detour to the church quite exciting, but wasn't as interested with the walk up the main track.
(There's clearly some psychology here for walking with youngsters, or at least this youngster - she enjoyed the Sami walk as well when we were finding our way through a tunnel in the trees, but wasn't impressed by the walk along the road at the top of the hill, despite the view and the interesting wildlife!)
At another corner in the track we could see a gap in the trees ahead, with a track leading up to it. We went up, and saw another track leading up to the right, directly towards the castle. This seemed better than zig-zagging this way and that, so we went up between the trees. We reached another bend in the main track, and instead of rejoining it (as we should have) we continued straight upwards on a rough track over the steep stony ground between bushes. This was a mistake - it was fine for walking for a while, but Frances didn't have suitable footwear, and it was hot, and even so we were managing. There were great views on all sides, out to sea, back over Assos, and up to the castle walls getting ever closer.
But then we ran out of track. There was a kind of low wall, with thorny scrub on the other side, and steep hillside leading up to the castle, and nowhere very obvious to walk. We could see people ahead, where the main track climbed towards the castle, but couldn't get across to them. Frustrated, I checked for possible routes, but couldn't find one, and reluctantly had to concede that we couldn't get to the castle. Frances was ready to go down, and by the time we had picked our way carefully down to the main track there clearly wasn't time to go along it to the castle, if we were going to get to Fiscardo before dark. It was around 3.30 already.
What we missed - before we headed down for a swim
We met another couple coming down the track, and they said there wasn't that much to see anyway, but from the details in the Landmark Kefalonia Visitors Guide it sounded like it would be worth the effort. Apparently the castle was "built by the Venetians towards the end of the 16th century...[ protecting] 60 public buildings and 200 private houses from the ravages of pirates."
The guidebook says that the track leads to the upper entrance to the castle, and it's possible to walk through the castle grounds following the track to reach a lower entrance, which leads onto a footpath providing an alternative route down. The two cross at one point (so maybe we were on part of the alternative track, and then lost it). Sounds like one to explore properly on the next visit to the island!
We walked back down - leading the other two walkers along the detour via the church - to reach the bay. There was a younger couple getting ready for a swim - we fetched our swimming stuff from the car in the nearby carpark, and joined them. Another older couple also saw what a good idea it was, and soon there were 6 of us swimming and floating around in the cool waters, in an idyllic setting. We had to watch out for some patches of tar on the little beach, but otherwise it was a lovely moment. After 20 minutes we got changed again, and set off for Fiscardo, via the main part of the village. It was a pity to have to leave - the cafes looked delightful. Assos deserves at least a full half day, not just the couple of hours we managed.
We reached Fiscardo quicker than we expected - less than half an hour, crossing over the narrow inland part of the northern tip of the island. Cars were excluded from the harbour area, so we parked on the road above and walked down. It was still sunny and it was obvious why this is such a popular place for visitors. Colourful Venetian-style buildings ranged around the waterfront, with tables along the edge, and an array of colour sailing and fishing boats.
We walked around for a while, calling in to a couple of souvenir shops and looking (in vain) for some flippers which would fit Frances. A large cruise ship could be seen sailing past the entrance to the bay. A man caught a small red fish with fins like small wings, and was trying to extract the hook. A fisherman was cleaning his boat and tidying up the nets. Narrow streets led up steps to the church above the harbour. Bob Dylan music flowed out from one of the cafes. We picked another one for our meal, and were the first there, but as we headed back to the car for the drive home at 7 p.m. quite a few other people were walking down to the harbour area to find somewhere to eat.
I was glad to leave when we did - it had been a long day and it was a tiring drive back as darkness descended and there were (it seemed) hundreds of sharp bends to negotiate before we got back to our hotel. But I felt we had really seen a flavour of what Kefalonia has to offer the visitor.
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