Fiscardo, Kefalonia

I don't know anyone who has ever had a bad word to say about Kefalonia so when we were deciding on a destination for a last minute holiday before Alistair disappeared off to university it seemed like the ideal choice. We certainly were not disappointed.

Fiscardo, our chosen resort, was picture perfect being one of the few areas largely unaffected by the earthquake that hit the island in the 1950's and even new buildings have been kept in the Venetian style that dominates the harbour. The harbour is popular with sailors and one night there were over 100 yachts and cruisers at anchor - in the height of summer this can rise to around 500 - 600 when any number of flotillas makes use of the facilities. The harbour side is lined with excellent restaurants, bars and cafes. There are four or five mini markets, a couple of bakeries, a chandlers, a post office, souvenir shops and galleries and a couple of ATM's (no bank or pharmacy at present).

As usual we managed a few dives and the water was as clear I we have experienced anywhere with visibility as much as 40 metres. The dives were varied including a well in to a cave dive with the most amazing colours in the plant life on the walls, a wreck dive - the vessel had only been down about 3.5 years and some of the sections were still moving, a wall dive with good contrast in the marine life at different depths and a fairly shallow dive with great geological formations. We had missed the turtles and seahorses but did see moray eels, groupers, schools of bass, parrot fish, bream, wrasse and scorpion fish amongst others.

One day we took out a motor boat and visited beaches along the coast swimming and fishing - it was magical, on another we walked to the next bay, Emplysi, stopping off to the visit the ruined and new lighthouses and the Panorama Taverna for a great lunch. Our apartment was directly on the waterfront with its own platform for swimming and sunbathing which was perfect. It had two bedrooms, a twin and a double, a well equipped kitchen, a sitting area and a small balcony and was just a five minute walk from the centre of town.

The week went far too quickly and there were many things we did not get chance to do including visits to the island of Ithaca, the small resort and Venetian Fortress at Assos, Myrtos (Mirtos) Beach which was made famous by the film Captain Corelli's Mandolin and recently voted one of the top beaches in the world or the capital Argostoli. We would also have liked to do more diving, have hired the boat again and to have taken out a yacht with a skipper so maybe we will have to go back..........