Welcome to the Island of Kefalonia

Kefalonia or Cephalonia is the largest of the Ionian Islands. It has a population of almost 32.000 inhabitants and the capital is the town of Argostoli. The mountainous morphology of the terrain with the flow of much water creates strange geological phenomena. Rocky shores and sandy beaches are found all over the place.

The airport of Argostoli and the ports of Sami, Agia Efimia and Argostoli are available in order to reach this island. According to the mythology the island, also called Tetrapolis, was named under Cephalos, the first king. It was divided into four cities under the names Pali, Krani, Sami and Proni, which took their names from the king's sons.

By the 11th century the island became one of the cultural centres of Mycenean Civilization. Archaeological findings such as fossils, animals, bones, tools are kept at the Archaeological Museum of Argostoli. Kefalonia became a naval base for the Roman forces and a base of operations against the rest of Greece in 189 BC.

Following the division of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western in 395 AD the island already belonged to the Byzantine Empire and played an important part in the defense of the Empire in confronting the pirates who came from North Africa and destroyed the coastal regions of the Mediterranean.

In 1185 the island came under the Franks. Turks also passed later on but not for very long. The British settled in Kefalonia in 1809 and these years played an important role on the development of the island.