An Ithaca day trip is a one-day visit to Ithaca, a small island of the Ionian Sea. Homer named it as the home of Odysseus. Visitors cross by boat from Kefalonia or Lefkada. The trip is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers what an Ithaca day trip includes, the ports it sails from and Vathy bay. It also covers Kioni and Frikes, the search for Odysseus and the hill villages.
The landscape and coves, the best months and common questions come last. The sections include Ithaca day trips and related Kefalonia and Lefkada cruises that can be booked online.
What is an Ithaca day trip?
An Ithaca day trip is a one-day visit to the Ionian island of Ithaca, the home of Odysseus. Visitors come mainly by boat from the islands of Kefalonia and Lefkada. The island had just 3,231 residents in the 2011 census.
An Ithaca day trip lands on an island with a long list of names. Greek tradition says it took its name from Ithakos, its first inhabitant, a son of Pterelaus. Another story calls Ithakos a son of Poseidon and Amphimele.
A third idea links the name to the Greek word ithi, meaning cheerful, or to ithys, meaning steep. People have lived on the island since the 4th millennium BCE. The Romans occupied it in the 2nd century BCE.
An Ithaca day trip crosses to an island that Venice had to resettle. The Normans ruled Ithaca in the 13th century. By 1503 the island was almost empty. So Venice gave incentives to settlers from nearby islands and the mainland.
After the fall of Candia, settlers from Crete moved to Ithaca. An Ithaca day trip also reaches an island that had a place in the Septinsular Republic. Ithaca had one representative in the fourteen-member senate.
In 1830, the local community asked to join the newly restored Greek state. The municipality of Ithaca was set up in 1866 under the name Municipality of Ithacans.
- Byzantine period: Greeks called the island Thiaki.
- Middle Ages: Italians used the names Piccola Cephallonia, meaning Small Kefalonia, and Anticephallonia, meaning anti-Kefalonia.
- Ottoman period: The island was called Fiaki.
An Ithaca day trip in high summer meets a crowd. In the peak summer months, the population of Ithaca more than doubles. Ithaca lies in the centre of the Ionian Sea.
Which ports does an Ithaca day trip sail from?
An Ithaca day trip sails from Sami, Agia Efimia or Fiskardo on Kefalonia. Other boats leave from Nydri and Vasiliki on Lefkada. They land at the three basic ports of Ithaca. These are Vathy, Piso Aetos and Frikes.
The harbour of Piso Aetos takes the main volume of shipping routes. Vathy and Frikes cover the extra needs. The west coast has no harbours except Polis Bay and the bay of Piso Aetos.
An Ithaca day trip from Kefalonia has three starting points. Fiskardo lies at the closest point between Kefalonia and Ithaca. Agia Efimia lies at the southern entrance of the Strait of Ithaca. Sami lies at the inner end of a bay that forms a safe harbour opposite Ithaca.
Fiskardo has been identified with the ancient town of Panormos, which Herodotus mentions. Pylaros, the district around Agia Efimia, is thought to be named after the Greek word for gate.
An Ithaca day trip from Lefkada uses Nydri or Vasiliki. The municipality of Ithaca names them as the Lefkada ports linked to Ithaca. They lie 34 km and 54.9 km from Aktion airport.
On an Ithaca day trip, Frikes is a natural harbour with a quay. A red light marks the edge of its bay. The port is safe at all times except in north-east and east winds.
- Airports: The closest airports are Kefalonia (EFL) and Aktion-Preveza (PVK).
- Taxis: Visitors without a vehicle have only taxis to leave Piso Aetos and Frikes.
- Links: Sea links join Astakos with Pisaetos and Frikes, Kyllini with Pisaetos, and Vasiliki with Frikes.
The small harbour of Kioni has a pier with a steady green light at night. The deep water in Kioni bay means anchors go down at about 10-20 m.
Why is Vathy bay special on an Ithaca day trip?
An Ithaca day trip reaches Vathy, a town that fans out like an amphitheatre. It sits in the inmost part of the gulf. A narrow neck hides the gulf until a boat passes through. The harbour is protected from all winds except the north-west wind.
An Ithaca day trip enters a bay with a clear shape. The southern branch of the bay of Molos is the harbour of Vathy. Aetos Bay forms two smaller bays, which are Brosta Aetos and the harbour of Vathy.
A lighthouse stands on the islet of Skartsoumponisi in Aetos Bay. The islet of Lazaretto lies in the bay. Pine trees cover Lazaretto, and its chapel is the only building on it. The chapel draws worshippers on 5 and 6 August every year.
In 1817, under British rule, a two-storey building went up that covered the whole islet. It was later used as a prison. The 1953 earthquakes badly damaged it, and it was demolished.
When the French took Ithaca in 1797, Vathy became its capital. An Ithaca day trip finds a Venetian bell tower from 1820 on the Metropolis church. Its post-Byzantine screen of icons, called an iconostasis, dates from 1793.
The old power plant that now holds the Folklore and Nautical Museum was a gift of G. K. Drakoulis. It ran from 1923 until 1967. The museum opened in 1997.
- Archaeological Museum: Built in 1960, it has a reception area and three chambers.
- Athena and Hera: A sign from the 6th century BC names the goddesses Athena and Hera.
- Nautical museum: The Folklore and Nautical Museum holds more than 1,500 exhibits.
An Ithaca day trip also finds the Cultural Centre of Ithaca in Vathy. Its library has 10,000 volumes, of which 195 are old and rare.
What do Kioni and Frikes add to an Ithaca day trip?
An Ithaca day trip adds two small harbour villages in the north, Kioni and Frikes. Kioni brings old houses, churches and windmills. Frikes brings a natural harbour with a long trading past. Frikes lies 3 km from Stavros.
On an Ithaca day trip, Kioni shows how hill people moved to the coast. It grew in the 16th century. Settlers from the mountain village of Anogi needed a way to the sea.
An Ithaca day trip meets houses from that first period, and they won Kioni its protected status. The 1953 quake wrecked Kioni houses, yet the survivors show Venetian and British styles.
The three windmills at the mouth of Kioni bay are lit up at night. At Rachi, a church of Saint Nicholas keeps old columns inside its altar. A monastery stood there in the 19th century.
In the 17th century, Rachi saw a bloody battle in which locals drove off pirates. The Evangelistria church there dates from the end of the 19th century and has a fine altar screen.
Frikes gives an Ithaca day trip a second harbour. Hill villagers made it a fishing base and trading port in the 16th century. According to certain academics, it is the harbour Homer calls Reithron.
- Wind: In summer the bay of Frikes catches a north-west wind that suits sailing and windsurfing.
- Feast: Kioni honours the Prophet Elias on 20 July with a morning service reached by small boat.
- Residents: Frikes had 42 residents in 1991, 50 in 2001 and 94 in 2011.
Nikolaos Galatis, a founder of the secret society Filiki Etairia, was born in either Anogi or Kioni. An Ithaca day trip reaches Stavros, on a narrow ridge between the bays of Frikes and Polis.
Where does an Ithaca day trip look for Odysseus?
An Ithaca day trip looks for Odysseus in a cave, on a hill and at a spring. The Nymphs’ cave, Aetos and the School of Homer each give a clue. Rival theories name other places, such as Lefkada and Paliki.
In the Odyssey, the Nymphs' cave has stalagmites, stalactites and springs that never dry up. It has two entrances, one for men and one for the gods.
The archaeologist Sarantis Symeonoglou dug in the Nymphs’ cave, Marmarospilia, from 1998 to 2001. He reached 36 m below the cave ceiling. A tunnel he found at 15.50 m runs east toward Vathy.
From the fortress of Alalkomenes, an Ithaca day trip sees the whole channel to Kefalonia. The oldest ruin on Aetos is a round building with pottery from 1400 BC. Experts link it to a sanctuary of Apollo.
On an Ithaca day trip, Pilikata is a hill north of Stavros. British digs found people lived there without a break from 3000 BC to the 12th century BC. W. A. Heurtley put the main palace of Odysseus on this hill.
At the School of Homer, an underground spring dates to 1300-1200 BC and fed people during sieges. One clay plate shows Odyssey-like scenes: a man tied to a ship’s mast, bird-women and a pig-headed figure.
- Roof tiles: At the School of Homer, one of 14 stamped tiles and fragments bears the name Odysseus.
- Arethusa: The hunter Corax fell from Raven’s Rock, and the spring is named for his mother.
- Lefkada: Wilhelm Dörpfeld held that Lefkada was Homer’s Ithaca.
Robert Bittlestone’s 2005 book Odysseus Unbound looks at Paliki, a peninsula of Kefalonia. It argues that Paliki was an island at the time of the Trojan War. Mary Beard saw “a very fair chance indeed” that he is right.
What do Anogi and the hill villages show on an Ithaca day trip?
An Ithaca day trip climbs from the coast to the hill villages of Anogi, Exogi and Platreithias. Anogi holds an old church, giant rocks and a nearby monastery. Exogi holds two pyramids. Platreithias holds a string of settlements.
An Ithaca day trip to Anogi meets a village home to people for more than 6,000 years. Its church has a Venetian bell tower. Antonios from Agrafa finished the paintings in 1680.
The rock giant Araklis stands 600 m east of Anogi, and its name twists Herakles. Near the road to Vathy, a rock bears chisel marks from an attempt to carve the horse Bucephalus.
Under British rule Anogi had a prison, and in the 19th century more than 1,000 people lived there. An Ithaca day trip finds Kathara monastery 2.5 km from the village. It was built around 1696.
By tradition, the icon of Kathara was found among burning “kathara”, a local word for dry brush. Its feast falls on 8 September. The monastery stands at 550 m on Mount Niritos.
An Ithaca day trip to Exogi meets a village that has shrunk. About 1,400 people lived there in the mid-18th century. By 1928 it had 354 residents, as people left for Australia and South Africa.
- Pyramids: The millionaire John Papas built two pyramids at Exogi in the 1930s.
- Pernarakia: The old monastery site above Exogi looks over almost all the villages of northern Ithaca.
- Windmill: The only working windmill left on Ithaca stands near the Panagia church at Skala.
Platreithias is a spread-out village made of smaller settlements. It lies 20 km from Vathy and 2 km from Stavros. Its name seems to come from the dry river Platy Reithron.
What landscape and coves does an Ithaca day trip pass?
An Ithaca day trip passes a limestone island with pine trees, protected seas and pebble coves. Two Natura 2000 sites guard its water. Five coves stand out: Gidaki, Filiatro, Sarakiniko, Afales and Polis.
Part of the sea around an Ithaca day trip is the Natura 2000 site GR2220005. It covers the sea west of Kefalonia, the strait between the islands and the north coast of Ithaca. The site spans 18,767.65 hectares, and 99.99 percent of it is sea.
Posidonia seagrass beds cover 3,748.51 hectares of the site and are in very good condition. A steady group of 15 to 25 Mediterranean monk seals lives there. That is 5 to 7 percent of the world population.
A second site, GR2220003, covers the inner Ionian archipelago. It includes Meganisi, Arkoudi, Atokos and Vromonas, and its area is 98.4 percent sea. One of the last 3 or 4 small groups of common dolphins in the Mediterranean lives there.
A geology report says Jurassic and Cretaceous rock of the Ionian zone covers all of Ithaca. So an Ithaca day trip meets a mainly limestone island. Small patches of flysch and marl, two layered sea rocks, lie in the far north-west. Aleppo, stone and Turkish pines grow across it.
- Gidaki: People call it the best beach on Ithaca, with snow-white pebbles.
- Filiatro: Olive trees shade it, and the gulf is protected from winds.
- Sarakiniko: The gulf lies about 4 km from Vathy and has two beaches.
- Afales: It has large white pebbles and a view north to Lefkada.
Polis beach lies below Stavros, and by legend an ancient city lies sunken under its bay. Twelve smaller boulders stand high in the saddle of Mount Niritos. Alykes, a seasonal salt lake, is listed as the only wetland on Ithaca.
Which months suit an Ithaca day trip?
An Ithaca day trip suits the dry months from June to August. Rain is rare then, and the sea is warm. Late spring, September and October stay mild too. Winter brings the heaviest rain, and festivals run through the summer.
An Ithaca day trip in winter meets the wettest weather. Ithaca gets 1025 mm of rain in an average year. December has 195 mm on 15 days, and November has 156 mm on 12 days.
July brings only 1 mm of rain on 1 day, and August brings 9 mm on 1 day. Rain falls from 61 mm in April to 34 mm in late spring and 15 mm in June.
On an Ithaca day trip, highs reach 26.4 °C in June and 28.6 °C in July. August peaks at 29.3 °C, and September stays at 26.8 °C. Highs are 18.2 °C in April, 22.5 °C in late spring and 23.0 °C in October.
The sea is warmest in August at 25 to 26 °C. July and September measure 23 to 24 °C. Late spring has 18 to 19 °C, June 20 to 21 °C and October 21 to 22 °C.
- 30 June: The summer season begins in Frikes, for the Holy Apostles.
- Last Saturday of July: Perachori holds its wine festival at the old primary school.
- 5 and 6 August: Stavros holds the longest festival of the summer.
- 14 August: Anogi celebrates the eve of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary at its Byzantine church.
On 15 August, Platreithias closes the summer celebrations without official status. In summer the Mistral blows from about 1 pm. The sandy beach of Platys Ammos is best visited before midday.
What do island hoppers ask about an Ithaca day trip?
An Ithaca day trip raises questions about size, distance, airports, a famous poem and local basics. The island is small, and Kefalonia is next door. The poem, the Greek name, the time zone and the currency each have a short answer.
How big is the island of an Ithaca day trip?
The 2021 census counted 2,862 residents on Ithaca. Kefalonia, next door, had 36,064 residents then.
How far is Kefalonia from an Ithaca day trip?
The strait between Kefalonia and Ithaca is about 20 km long and 4 to 6 km wide. Aetos, Agios Ioannis, Stavros and Lefki lie on the Ithaca shore of the strait. The boat route between Sami and Fiskardo runs inside it.
Which airport is nearest to an Ithaca day trip?
The municipality of Ithaca calls the airport of Kefalonia the nearest one to the island. Kefalonia Island International Airport opened in 1971, and its ICAO airport code is LGKF. Its runway 14/32 is 2,436 m long. A list of Greek airports names none on Ithaca.
Which poem links Cavafy to an Ithaca day trip?
The poem Ithaca is a 1911 work by Constantine Cavafy, first published in the journal Grammata of Alexandria. It is the ninth of forty poems in Poems 1905-1915, and the only one drawn from the Odyssey. Maurice Tempelsman read it at the 1994 funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
What name and time zone does an Ithaca day trip use?
In Greek the island is called Ithaki and written Ιθάκη. In ancient Greek the name was written Ἰθάκη and said Ithákē. Greek standard time is Eastern European Time, called Ώρα Ανατολικής Ευρώπης in Greek. Its IANA time zone code is Europe/Athens.
Which currency does an Ithaca day trip use?
Greece joined the eurozone in 2001, so Ithaca uses the euro. Georgios Stamatopoulos designed the Greek euro coins, with ships on the small ones. Rigas Feraios, Ioannis Kapodistrias and Eleftherios Venizelos appear on the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins. The 2 euro coin shows Europa on a bull.