Kefalonia Part 3 - On the Road

We left Farsa and followed the map to get to Lake Melassani. During the drive we realized just how mountainous Kefalonia is and the lake is on the other side of the island, so we had to cross all of those mountains.



Most of you know how *ahem* "good" of a driver Dave is. But what many of you don't know is that Greek drivers are worse. Because of this, Dave feels like he needs to fit in. Or that it's ok for him to drive like a maniac. Either way, lets just say that I spent most of the ride with my eye's closed. ;) Have you ever been on the seacoast highway in California? The roads in Kefalonia are more narrow and windy than that road.

About halfway across the island as we rounded a corner I yelled "GOATS!" and Dave slammed on the breaks as there was an entire heard of about 50 goats meandering up the road and eating on the side of the road. I got out to take some closer pictures and one of the goats (the white one pictured below) was super interested in us and the car. At one point I was standing in front of the car and he walked towards me and I reached out to him and then at the last second both of us jumped away from each other. Dave said that it was like both of us freaked out and at the same time had similar thoughts running through our heads, namely "AHH GOAT!" "AHH HUMAN!".







We continued on into Sami to Melessani Lake and when we got there we were two of maybe 10 people there to see the Lake. This is usually a place that is swarming with tourists during the high season (so much so that they have a dedicated line for people who arrive on buses). I think the fact that it was low season and thus not busy actually made this a much more enjoyable experience for both of us versus if we would have had to wait in a 30 or 60 minute line.





Lake Mellasani is an underground lake that is a mixture of salt and fresh water. The water from the lake travels all the way across the island and flows out of the ground near Argostoli (where we are staying). It was absolutely beautiful, even on a cloudy day. On sunny days you can see the light streaming in through the ceiling. We took a gondola ride through the lake, the water was so clear you could see straight down to the bottom. Surprisingly, we saw no fish at all, and just as we were leaving a swarm of bats dive bombed behind us.

I then saw signs for the Arcropolis of Sami and a "Kastro" (i.e. Castle) so Dave and I decided to check it out since we were on "adventure day" in Kefalonia anyways. We made our way into the mountains above Sami. Dave warned me beforehand that everything he had read online said this was a disappointing "historical" site. Once we parked the car and walked up, what we saw totally confirmed it. There's basically nothing left of either of them, and even worse the site is under construction (Dave think's they're trying to rebuild it so it's not so pathetic). However we did get a great view of Sami below us....and Dave conquered the most pathetic castle ever. "King of the castle, king of the castle." ;)





By this time we were starving so we drove down to Sami to eat on the waterfront. There we had some awesome seafood while watching a little old greek fisherman get his boat ready to go out to catch some fish.



At this point it was getting late in the day and we still wanted to see St. Gerrassimo's Church (or St. Geranimo's as Dave called it all day....he's such a dork), who is the patron saint of the island and who much uncle is named after, and St. George's Castle. Unfortunately we were racing the sunset as we forgot that with daylight savings time comes much earlier sunsets. When we got to the castle though we found it closed (it apparently closes at 3PM every day), which was disappointing because this (unlike the one from earlier today) was a true castle. According to Dave it was the original capital of Keflonia for hundreds of years. I told him we'll just have to leave more time to see it next time we're in Keflonia.





On the drive back Dave drove by the hotel and I asked him what he was doing. He said our day of adventure wasn't quite done yet. We kept driving through random streets till suddenly he said "AH HA" and pulled over. Turns out he had wanted to find the "lighthouse" of Argostoli, which was built in the 50's and has a gorgeous view. Unfortunately none of the pictures of us in front of it turned out, but Dave got this pretty cool shot of it.



And that finished up our day of adventure in Keflonia as we then had to go to the hotel and get ready for our 7AM flight!