Waiting for the Season to Start in Kefalonia.

The political situation here in Britain is so dreadful that I've decided I can only deal with it by quitting newspapers and magazines, switching off television or radio, abandoning all social media and turning off the internet all day. I reconnect it for an hour or so daily,  the way we always used to do - remember? Saving up all those little questions we'd normally google and having all the emails in at once.  As someone said to me the other day, "well, it means we talk to each other a lot more, doesn't it?"  Yes, and that's good.  It means I'm behind with blogs, although I do my best, as I love to read what you all write. 

So, almost immediately after I finished my last post, we finally headed off to two of the Greek Ionian islands, Ithaka and Kefalonia, which we'd planned to visit before my ankle started giving trouble.

You can only get flights to Kefalonia in the off-season via Athens, so after spending a night at the airport we took one of those little planes that I rather like.  You can see everyone in their winter gear, despite the bright sun.  Greek weather isn't always great in March, although we had some sunny days up to about 21 degrees (around 70F), but it became so cold and windy at times that I was sorry I'd left my woolly gloves in England!  

 The reason we went to Kefalonia is that T subscribes to something called "Footpaths of Greece"  which waymarks and describes some of the many old pathways and donkey tracks that criss-cross the country and its islands. Kefalonia and neighbouring Ithaka are two of those islands.   I was hoping my ankle would be better enough to risk tackling at least some of the easier tracks, and I'm glad to say I didn't have any problems at all. 

I can't tell you how beautiful it can be walking Greek trails at that time of year.   This is the start of a 2 km hike up a hillside to an large abandoned Venetian castle at Assos, dating from 1598, which we had entirely to ourselves the whole balmy sunny afternoon.

We stayed in the capital, Argostoli, where many shops, cafes and hotels stay open before and after the main season.  I don't usually recommend hotels, and I didn't get any freebies from ours, but I'll recommend the Aggelos Hotel for two reasons. No, three reasons. It is only a two star, and inexpensive, so that needs to be borne in mind, but it has a beautiful, beautiful view of the bay and the mountains. This is what you see when you look out of the front door. And so quiet, with just the  occasional pedestrian, yet an easy walk to restaurants and bars if that's what you want. 

Second, the breakfast was great, with a big variety of food ranging from Greek cheese pie to sesame sticks, lemon cake to the most delicious Greek yogurt and honey ever.   There was a breakfast room in the basement, but since we were staying out of season we had a choice where to sit and eat, so we took our food up to the small terrace, and sat in the morning sun with that view. Yes, I know it's a half eaten breakfast - but I hadn't thought to take the photo beforehand! 

And third, the staff were really helpful.    Nothing was too much trouble.  I guess you could add a fourth plus, which is that it was actually open when so many other places were closed. 

In fact, Argostoli is quite a thriving little town and it has been spending the winter renovating its sea front to create walks and places for visitors to go. Here's an evening photo of the causeway that cuts off the end of the bay to create a wildlife lagoon beyond. 

One of the nicest walks we did was called "Seven watermills," and it's near the port town of Sami. We only saw two mills before the path became too technical for my ankle to cope with, but even so we took four hours meandering around,  including a stop for a picnic, because there was so much to see.  We didn't meet a soul, and all the time we were accompanied by a very, very clear and fast river running between white stone banks.

We really did spend a lot of time just sitting and looking at the water, rushing and twinkling in the sun.

There were clouds of butterflies of all types. I'm never going to be a wildlife photographer but I managed to catch a common blue 

and a much rarer one called the Southern Festoon

Before we left the UK, I went on the Kefalonia forum at Tripadvisor and asked advice from one of the experts about things to see in Argostoli.    He suggested I visited ARK, Animal Rescue Kefalonia. "You might like to bring the volunteers some sandwiches," he said. 

So, one evening we drove down an extremely narrow country lane, and just as we were wondering if we'd come to the right place, we arrived at the rescue centre. It had officially closed for the day, but the chorus of barking at our arrival brought along Joyce, a young Dutch woman who has volunteered there for three years, followed by Marina, the lady who started the refuge in memory of her friend Doris, many years ago.  They were happy to show us around. 

We loved it.  It was run entirely for the animals' benefit, with just the kind of things animals like ... here you see dogs sitting on chairs and tables to their hearts content. 

The cats were allowed to lie on the bed all they wanted, too - and note the little tiled "houses" and carefully divided feed plates so all the cats can live together in harmony and have a night on the tiles if that is what suits them....  Of course, the cats roam about more than the dogs, but most of them chose to live in the shelter. 

What struck me is that the place smelt completely clean, and considering there are 250 dogs and goodness knows how many cats, I can't imagine the work it takes to keep it that way.  

Marina was really delightful, a most warm hearted lady who reminded me a bit of one of my great-aunts, who was also a devoted animal lover.  Here she is. 

Each of the animals is given a name, and Joyce and Marina know their histories and look after them appropriately.  These two below, for instance, are a mother dog (at the rear) and her son.  I've forgotten what they were called, but the mother was chained on a very short leash and starving when found, and the son was the only puppy from her litter that had survived.   Now they are fully restored to health, but are still unhappy when other dogs are in their compound.  And, when the son was adopted, he pined so much that he was returned.  So the pair of them now live at the shelter permanently, in a compound of their own. 

All the dogs in the group below, though, are happy in a pack but would probably like an owner of their own. 

Certain dogs who are used to all kinds of people and understand a domestic environment, are allowed to range around freely and meet the visitors, and very well behaved they all were.   T and I were full of admiration to see such a huge crowd of happy healthy animals. 

 The whole place is supported by donations, and it gave me quite a headache to wonder how much it costs to feed 250 dogs every day - not to mention vaccinate and de-worm them, and neuter them if there is enough cash.  We hadn't brought any sandwiches after all, but we gave them a bigger donation than we'd planned, and I am sure that every penny of it was put to good use. 

That evening we ate in a souvlaki place on the main square, and very good it was... but there was far too much, so we took away a doggy bag.  Literally so.  Next day, we took the ferry to Ithaka, and a couple of dogs at the Ithaka port were very glad indeed of the leftovers.

I'll leave you with this picture taken one evening at dusk on the other side of Argostoli lagoon. I've been wondering for years what this pink shrub is called. It lives near water and is quite pale and dainty in appearance - so if you know, please tell me!