Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece

A friend of mine says the photo above suits his idea of the Mediterranean.
I particularly like the fact that it looks as if this woman arrived at the beach solo on the dinghy. I believe she is contemplating the settings... this empty beach is a rare finding along Kefalonia's coast. The rolling hills protecting the small bay submerge smoothly into the Ionian Sea, providing the perfect shelter for tiny-baby-fish to learn the way their fins and gills work :).


Snorkeling in these waters is a real bliss. Repeatedly, I took consecutive deep breaths... descended... and schools of fish surrounded me, almost rubbing me. But only until a certain depth, after which they kept an eye on, waiting for my return. When snorkeling, one of the things that scares me the most is the same that draws me the most: it's the varying intensity of the BLUE. First and foremost, it mesmerizes me. After a while, I start to think about sharks, seeing shapes materialize out of the blue... literally :). In this particular beach, nonetheless, it took more than that and the usual feeling of cold before I decided to say farewell to my fins&gills new friends and come out of the water.

After a few minutes soaking in the sun, I realized I'd better jump into this wonderful sea once again, as this was one of the last days in Kefalonia...

Island hopping...

Finding deserted beaches in Greece is rather difficult if you don't have a boat. Really difficult. We already knew it would be even more so if we'd go to Lefkada's Porto Katsiki, often dubbed as one of the best Mediterranean beaches. It provides you a stunning scenery with its huge surrounding limestone cliffs. The sea has one of the most particular shades of blue I've seen, although the visibility underwater is terrible. If you could just ignore the crowds and the noise, it would be close to perfect. In this photo I hardly managed to frame two persons... that's how crowded it is.

Under scorching heat, we drove in search of beaches more to our liking, dodging the hordes of italian cars and motorcycles. When the italian license plates became more scarce, we drove a little longer... and found this beach... empty!