Get Her to the Greek: Day Nine

Filakia, Kefalonia

11.09.2018 - 11.09.2018

A giant bag of oranges had been provided in our welcome basket and we hadn’t managed to eat many of them, so I decided to try my hand at fresh OJ. We enjoyed fresh juice and a lovely breakfast at the villa.

I should note that Villa Quarda definitely exceeded our expectations. It was set on the end of a compound of 4 oceanfront villas, with a private pool, and a footpath to the beach below. When we arrived, we noticed the “Beware of Dog” sign, complete with an image of a ferocious looking German Shepherd.

Our guard dog came to visit us for cheese every morning. He made us feel very secure, indeed.

We started our day by taking a second stab at the beach we had attempted to find on our first day, Paliolinos. This time, we found it on actual paved roads with no problems.

It was a pretty little beach, but we were underwhelmed, so we chose to lay our towels elsewhere.

We found ourselves at Ai Helias. The only way to access the beach was a pretty long walk STRAIGHT DOWN. Because of that, we were surprised to find that it had a small bar, sunbeds, and umbrellas.

We enjoyed caipirinhas (yes, during frappe hour) and swimming in the cool, clear water. We did not enjoy the very LOUD Greek woman next to us, who had her private bits hanging outside of her swimsuit, talking and gesturing loudly on the phone nearly the whole time we were there. We also did not like the sand.

When lunchtime rolled around, we debated just trying to subsist on limes and mint from the bar in order to avoid trekking back up that hill in the midday heat, but we were used to our massive Greek lunches, so we pried ourselves off of our chairs to go in search of food.

We returned to Aviothos Beach and settled in at Enetiko Taverna for an oceanfront lunch: cucumber salad, olives, peppers, spicy pasta arrabiata, and beef stifado.

For our final night on Kefalonia, I had reserved the best table at Il Borgo, an upscale restaurant with a commanding view of the valley and the the Castle of Saint George.

The food at Il Borgo was a little different than the traditional Greek found everywhere else. It was a welcome change of pace. We started with sautéed mushrooms in white wine and grilled shrimp with garlic and cous cous. For dinner, we shared a massive rib steak and pesto pasta, followed by a darling little cheesecake. Even though we ordered dessert, the free sweet came out with the bill – an incredibly rich, moist spice cake.

The real show stopper, however, was the sky. Nature put on quite a show for our last night on the island. Kefalonia wanted to make sure we wouldn’t forget her easily.