Ithaca and Kefalonia.

Of Homer and Food.

Islands 4 and 5. Ithaca, supposedly the home of Odysseus, although many islands claim the same. We get a taxi from the port and we’re driven alongside the water and then up into the mountains. The driver is playing the most beautiful music to accompany the amazing views and then we are dropped at the top of the village to a little stone house with a view over the port.

We wander down in the heated late afternoon and have another wonderful meal. The garlicky mushrooms and homemade bread are wonderful but I am feeling the cold taking over.

After a good sleep, I’m ready to explore. The little town is full of craft and art shops but the next day we’re off again via the most amazing small port where we wished we had come earlier to have a dip.

And then we’re in Sami, Kephalonia. Our accommodation is not far from the port but of course it is when you’ve got bags and it’s 38 degrees. We are dripping and exhausted by the time we get there but the place is beautiful with a view of the sea.

We head down for lunch past plum trees, huge bunches of amethyst and pale green grapes, pale figs ready to be plucked and we stumble upon the best restaurant - The Mermaid with mama Tulla, the chef. Beautiful Greek food. Lemony chicken and the best homemade chips ever!

We walk back in the heat and head down to the lovely little beach near our apartment and spend the rest of the afternoon cooling down. That evening we thought we would try another restaurant which went badly wrong and for the next few days, we went to Mama Tulla’s for lunch and dinner, having a breakfast of warm, freshly picked figs on the way to the beach.

On these islands, you need a car to get anywhere. We went down to check out the deals and one woman, gloriously adorned, gave us the best. She told us the price, took a deposit of 50 euro, wrote down our name on a piece of paper and said come back tomorrow. We went via a cafe that our host from the apartment owned and had the best coffee and a slice of the famed orange pie. It was to die for. I don’t think I got a photo but it was so good! I looked up the recipe and it involves cooking separate sheets of filo and adding oranges and eggs and all manner of ingredients. I was thinking of making it but it would take forever.

We picked up the car and she didn’t even hold a security deposit. She waved us off and we went to explore. On the way, we had to stop for a lot of goats with their bells on, which really was the highlight of our day. Having lived in a city for most of our lives, we appreciated sharing our lives briefly with a bunch of goats.

We were on our way to Argostoli and were very glad we didn’t choose to stay there. It was a tourist mecca for mostly Italians, so the restaurants reflected that but we found a cute cafe and I had a Greek coffee flavoured with cardamon. For lunch we managed to find a Greek taverna. By the time we arrived there we were tired, hot and exhausted but the food was good. Stuffed capsicum and tomatoes with mint, dill. On the way back to the car, we saw people looking over the edge of the port and we realised they might be looking at turtles and there they were; big, beautiful and circling.

That night we went to Mama Tullas and had rabbit with tiny white flat onions and a wholemeal rice. The flavour was amazing, I tasted juniper and cinnamon in a tomato sauce. And on the way home we were trying to get the figs which were surrounded by blackberry bushes and after watching us for a while, the old man of the beautiful bunches of grapes came over with a metal rake. We thanked him and we kept on trying but without luck and he returned and pulled a big branch down for us and filled our outstretched palms with them and wouldn’t take any. Breakfast was organised.

The next day we went to the little fishing village of Fiskardo which was beautiful with a Venetian influence very evident.

We lunched at a lovely restaurant in the mountains with an abundance of cats and had a tasty rabbit stew with horta. The drive back was amazing, the views stunning.

Our last day, we spent mostly at Mama Tulla’s as our plane didn’t leave until late and we had to leave our apartment early. Lunch was vegetarian moussaka, okra in a tomato sauce. Dinner was stuffed peppers with goats cheese and the famous Tulla’s lemon chicken with home made chips.

In the afternoon, we hung out at a cool restaurant bar near the port.

That day was the longest, we arrived back in Venice at 10 pm, exhausted but well fed.