A Lefkada island tour crosses Lefkada by land, from the town on the lagoon to the mountain villages and the west coast. The tour is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers the island in numbers, its rocks and earthquakes, its writers, museums, crafts and festivals, and its wildlife.
Foreign rule, the best months and common questions come last. The sections include Lefkada island tours that can be booked online.
What is a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour crosses the fourth largest of the Ionian Islands. Mountains cover 70% of it. The regional unit of Lefkada covers 359 km² and counted 22,826 residents in 2021. Elati, the second-highest peak, reaches 1,126 m.
The municipality of Lefkada had 21,900 residents in 2021. When the Ionian Islands passed to Greece in 1864, the island had about 24,000 people. Around 1530, Lefkada Town had about a thousand.
On a Lefkada island tour, the peaks rise in a row. Agios Ilias reaches 1,014 m and Mega Oros 1,012 m, the third and fourth peaks. A fifty-metre floating bridge links the island with Akarnania.
Gira, a 7 km strip of white sand, wraps around the lagoon on the north side. Only Syvota and Agios Nikitas are officially protected traditional settlements in the province.
- Apollonia: The former municipality, seated in Vasiliki, has 13 communities and 20 settlements.
- Ellomenos: It has 9 communities, and Nydri is its seat.
- Sfakiotes: In the centre and north-west, it has 7 communities, with Lazarata as its seat.
- Karya: The former municipality has three villages: Karya, Englouvi and Pigadisanoi.
Which rocks and earthquakes shape a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour crosses an earthquake island. At least 23 earthquakes since 1612 have caused ground failure on Lefkada. On average, a damaging quake strikes every 18 years. The larger eastern part belongs to the Ionian Zone and is mostly limestone.
Pre-Apulian rocks appear only in the south-west. There, limestone lies in the west, with clay and sandstone further east. The south-west coast belongs to the Paxos zone, with Triassic to Eocene limestones and dolomites.
On a Lefkada island tour, the Ionian Thrust runs right through the island. It surfaces again on the west coast of Ithaca and in south-east Kefalonia. The 2003 quake broke the North Lefkada fault segment, and the 2015 quake the South Lefkada one.
The 14 August 2003 earthquake, magnitude 6.2, struck offshore the north-west coast at 08:14. Its focus lay about 10 km down. Lefkada Town recorded a peak ground acceleration of 0.42 g.
On a Lefkada island tour in the south-west, 2015 left marks. Dragano and Athani reached intensity VIII, with very heavy damage to masonry buildings and churches.
- Ponti: In 2015 a 2 m³ limestone block fell from 500 m. It rolled about 800 m and killed a person.
- Liquefaction: In 2003 it repeated what the shocks of 1914 and 1948 did.
- North and south: The bulk of 2003 effects hit the north, while 2015 effects were in the south-west.
- Wood frames: In 2015, traditional wooden-framed buildings suffered only minor damage.
Which writers came from a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour meets the poet Aristotelis Valaoritis. He studied at the Ionian Academy in Corfu from 1838 to 1841. On 25 March 1872 he recited a poem at the University of Athens. That day marked him as a national poet.
Valaoritis took his law doctorate at Pisa in 1848 but never practised law. In 1859 he published Kyra Frosini, a long narrative poem with a dramatic structure.
On a Lefkada island tour, Angelos Sikelianos is the second great name. Born on 28 March 1884, he entered Athens Law School in 1900 but never graduated. His first collection, The Moonstruck, came out in 1909.
In 1914 Sikelianos and Nikos Kazantzakis spent forty days on Mount Athos. The family home in the old town houses the Angelos Sikelianos Museum.
Spyridon Zambelios, born on Lefkas in 1815, published a book of Greek folk songs in Corfu in 1852. The poet Spyros Vrettos, born on Lefkada in 1960, published his first book in 1985.
On a Lefkada island tour, Lafcadio Hearn links the island to Japan. His mother, Rosa Cassimati, came from Kythera, and his father was an Anglo-Irish army doctor. Hearn went to Japan in 1890 and became a Japanese citizen in 1896, as Yakumo Koizumi.
- Sister cities: Lefkada and Shinjuku, where Hearn once lived, became sister cities in 1989.
- Zambelios: Ioannis Zambelios was born on Lefkada in 1787 and studied law at Bologna.
- 1821 plan: In January 1821, revolutionaries drew up a plan for the Greek revolution at his house.
- Rontoyannis: Panos Rontoyannis wrote a two-volume History of the Island of Lefkas in 1980 and 1982.
Which museums does a Lefkada island tour visit?
A Lefkada island tour stops at the Archaeological Museum, which spans the Middle Palaeolithic to late Roman times. Its cases hold tools, pottery, copper jewellery and gems from ancient tombs. They come from Nirikos, Nydri, Choirospilia and the cave at Fryni.
The private Phonograph Museum at 12 Kalkani Street also shows old coins, seals, boxes and postcards.
On a Lefkada island tour, church art fills the Faneromeni museum. It covers 1479 to 1864, from the Ottoman period to union with Greece. Its core is post-Byzantine icons by Ionian and Lefkadian painters, with parts of carved chancel screens.
Silver crosses, chalices, candelabra and gospel covers sit beside 18th and 19th century church robes. The Public Library, founded in 1953 in the Zoulinos mansion, keeps the richest collection of Ionian-school post-Byzantine icons.
On a Lefkada island tour, the poets have their own rooms. The Sikelianos Museum shows his wife Anna’s wedding dress and clothes Eva Palmer wove for the Delphic Festivals. Visitors can hear recordings of the poet’s own voice.
- Orpheus: The Orpheus group founded its Pantazis Kontomichis folklore museum in 1937, near the old town square.
- Kavalos: This village folklore museum opened in summer 2004 in the old elementary school.
- Hearn centre: The Lafcadio Hearn Historical Center holds early editions, rare books and Japanese collectibles.
- Japanese help: Kumamoto, Matsue, Shinjuku and Yaizu helped set up the Hearn centre.
Which crafts and festivals fill a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour meets Karsani embroidery, which goes beyond plain cross-stitch. It uses two stitches called stavrogazi and kafasovelonia. The finished pieces are double-sided. Women worked the motifs on bed sheets, towels and dowry items. They draw on nature, religion and daily life.
Karya’s small private folklore museum of Lefkadite canvas works carries the name of Maria Koutsochero. Maria Stavraka was nicknamed Koutsochero because of her disability. Karya holds a Traditional Wedding festival every August.
On a Lefkada island tour, the bride’s costume is a highlight. The gown was silk or wool-silk in a thick, shiny weave, in azure, pink, mauve, olive or rose. A gold-embroidered black velvet fez, tilted left, carried a 10 cm jewelled twig called the tremoula.
The Speech and Art Festival was first held in 1955 and takes place every summer. Maria Callas appeared in Lefkada in 1964, her last appearance before a Greek audience.
On a Lefkada island tour in August, the International Folklore Festival fills the town. Antonis Tzevelekis founded it in 1962, with dance groups from Yugoslavia, Italy and Greece. It now brings about 800 foreign dancers and musicians and about 300 locals.
- Gifts: A museum of festival mementos shows gifts from visiting dance groups across seven halls.
- Faromanita: Carnival opens on Tsiknopempti and ends with the Grand Parade on the last Sunday.
- Philharmonic: The Philharmonic of Lefkada, founded in 1850, is the oldest in Greece.
- Epiphany: As the bishop throws the cross, the crowd dips a rope-tied bunch of oranges in three times.
Which wildlife lives on a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour passes Natura site GR2240001, the lagoons and old salt pans of the Lefkada strait. It covers 2,143.40 ha, of which 747.48 ha is land. A hunting ban truly works there, because the lagoon sits beside the town.
Its birds of concern include the Dalmatian pelican, the great egret and the slender-billed gull. Coots arrive in early autumn and, with mallards, form the largest flocks. At sunset, cormorants fly off in an arrow shape to the islet of Sesoula.
On a Lefkada island tour in the mountains, Natura site GR2240002 covers 1,255.59 ha around Mount Elati. Despite the name Elati, meaning fir tree, no fir trees have been found there.
Two wild peonies grow there, Paeonia mascula subsp. russi and Paeonia peregrina. Lefkada is the only Greek site where their ranges overlap.
On a Lefkada island tour along the west cliffs, a rare plant clings on. Thliphthisa sapphus grows only on the white sea cliffs of Lefkatas, in one population of roughly 100 plants. It is named after Sappho and rated Vulnerable.
- Sandwort: Arenaria leucadia grows only locally in the lagoon site.
- Lagoon reptiles: The European pond turtle, four-lined snake, dice snake and Dahl’s whip snake live there.
- Mountain reptiles: The snake-eyed skink, Dalmatian algyroides and European glass lizard live higher up.
- Spiders: Lefkada has 117 recorded spider species, three of them first recorded for Greece there.
How did foreign rulers shape a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour crosses an island ruled by outsiders for centuries. Venice won privileges on Lefkada in 1198. It was granted the island in the 1204 treaty that divided the Byzantine Empire.
The Orsini family lost Lefkada in 1331 to Walter VI of Brienne. In 1343 he handed it to the Venetian Graziano Giorgio. In 1357 the island’s peasants rose in a revolt remembered as the revolution of the goad.
On a Lefkada island tour, the Ottoman years left a mark. After the capture of 1479, part of the population was deported to Constantinople. Evliya Çelebi visited in 1670 or 1671 and counted five Friday mosques, a bath and five fountains.
Under the Septinsular Republic, captain Apostolos Levendakis offered in 1802 to raise 60 fighters for the Russians. Forts Alexander and Constantine, guarding the bridge, were relics of the Russian occupation.
On a Lefkada island tour, the British era shaped the canal. Royal Engineer John Pitt Kennedy supervised a canal at Lefkada in 1820. It took boats of 4 to 5 ft draught from Fort Santa Maura to the town.
- Karlowitz: Venice made its hold official with the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.
- 1819: Lefkada’s peasants rose against British rule, and the revolt was crushed with great harshness.
- 1844: A 16 ft ship canal across the lagoon to Fort Alexander was proposed but only partly dug.
- 1864: High Commissioner Henry Storks handed the Ionian Islands to the Greek government’s special envoy.
Which months suit a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour suits summer, when July and August each average 12 hours of sunshine a day. In August, the sun shines for 88% of daylight. Lefkada gets about 2,865 hours of sunshine a year. July rain averages only 10 mm, on a single day.
The 1991 to 2020 averages run from 9.8 °C in January to 26.2 °C in August. August is the hottest month. Rain falls on about 89 days a year, mostly between October and April.
On a Lefkada island tour in June, daylight lasts 14 hours and 55 minutes. The sun shines for 11 of them. The sea averages 22.5 °C then, still a bit cool for swimming.
The sea is warm enough for swimming from July to September. It averages 26.2 °C in August and 25.1 °C in September. On the hottest days, the air reaches 35 to 37 °C, though sea breezes help.
On a Lefkada island tour in autumn, October still averages 7 hours of sunshine a day. Rain falls on 8 days. December has rain on 13 days, the top count of any month.
- Records: The highest readings include 40 °C in August 1998 and 39.2 °C in July 2015.
- Frost: Light frost can form on the plain, and February 2004 fell to -3.2 °C.
- Wind: Average wind speeds stay between 12 and 14 kph all year.
- Sunshine: July and August bring about 370 hours of sunshine each.
What do visitors ask about a Lefkada island tour?
A Lefkada island tour raises questions about the dialect, buses, the hospital, Easter, roads and the island name. Linguists class Lefkada’s traditional speech as a semi-northern Greek dialect, like that of Mykonos and Skyros. Lefkada and Euboea are the only Greek islands reached by road.
What dialect is spoken on a Lefkada island tour?
Semi-northern dialects drop certain unstressed final vowels but keep the vowels e and o. In Lefkada speech, bagatela means a worthless or trivial thing, possibly from the Italian bagattella.
How do buses reach a Lefkada island tour?
KTEL Lefkadas keeps stations in Athens, Thessaloniki, Veria and Patras. By bus, Lefkada lies 378 km from Athens and 420 km from Thessaloniki. In Athens, its coaches use the Kifissos station, opened in 1967.
Where is the hospital on a Lefkada island tour?
Lefkada’s hospital began as a brotherhood for Italians and a school for the poor. A 1953 royal decree made it official. It oversees a Vasiliki health centre and 10 clinics. A new hospital was handed over in 2019.
What happens at Easter on a Lefkada island tour?
Locals call the Holy Saturday pot throw throwing the piece. The broken pieces stay unswept that day. When the bell rings, the Philharmonic marches through town amid the crash of pots.
Which road reaches a Lefkada island tour?
The EO42 national road, created on 9 July 1963, runs 57.5 km and ends in Lefkada town. Drivers from western Europe land at Igoumenitsa, 100 km away, or at Patras, 170 km away.
Where does the name come from on a Lefkada island tour?
Cape Lefkatas, which gave the island its name, is also called Kavos tis Kyras, the Lady’s Cape. In antiquity it was Leukas petra, white rock, or Leukas akra, white headland. Strabo wrote that the coast of Acarnania was once called Leucas.