Ιόνια Νησιά

The six Ionian islands, shepherding their satellites down the west coast of the mainland float on the haze of the Ionian sea, their green, even lush, silhouettes coming as a shock to those more used to the stark outlines of the Aegean. The fertility of the land is a direct result of the heavy rains that sweep over the archipelago – and especially Corfu – from October to March, so if visit at this time, come prepared.

The islands were the Homeric realm of Odysseus, centred on Ithaca, and here alone of all modern Greek territory (with the exception of Lefkada) the Ottoman Turks never held sway. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire possession passed to the Venetians and the islands became a keystone of Venice’s maritime empire from 1386 until its fall in 1797. Most of the population remained immune to the establishment of Italian as the official language and the arrival of Roman Catholicism, but Italian influence remains evident in the architecture of the island capitals, their music, language and even cuisine.  The islands were briefly held even by the British during the Napoleonic Wars before they were ceded officially to Greece in 1864.

There is however no question of the islanders’ Greek heritage and identity – the first Greek president, Kapodistrias, came from the islands as did the author, and national poet of Greece, Dionysis Solomos.

Today, tourism is the dominating influence, especially on Kerkyra (Corfu) which was one of the first Greek islands to enter the package holiday chain. However, the island is large enough to withstand the onslaught and still retains many of its charms. Kerkyra is arguably, more so among Greeks hailing from the Ionian islands, the most scenically beautiful of the group. Zakynthos (Zante) follows on Kerkyra’s path of commercialised tourism although it still retains a lot of its picturesque charm and beauty. Paxoi is the least commercialised of the islands, partly because of their lack of water making it hard to support large-scale tourism, and partly due to the difficulty of getting there and as such retain the most charm for the out-of-the-way traveller. Lefkada, although connected to the mainland by a causeway and iron bridge, mostly retains low-key tourist centres and only two major tourist resorts while having some excellent beaches. Perhaps the most rewarding duo for island-hopping are Kefalonia and Ithaki: the former with a series of “real towns” and a life in large part independent of tourism, the latter, Odysseus’ capital, protected by an absence of sand – no silky sand beaches there. The Ionian islands’ claims to Homeric significance are manifested in the countless bars, restaurants and streets named after characters in the Odyssey – including the hero himself, the author and characters apparently from the islands such as Penelope, Calypso, Nausica and the Cyclops.