Beaches rather than history is what this peninsula is known for. There is a theory, however, that it was here, and not the nearby island of Ithaki, that the poet Homer had in mind when he described Ithaca, the land from which Odysseus set sail. All of which may be mischief making, but if there was ever a shoreline you'd risk monsters, sirens, and the wrath of the Gods to see again, it's that of the Paliki.
The low-rise port town of Lixiouri is the rather underwhelming gateway to the otherworldly coast and gloriously cracked landscape of this peninsula. The car ferry from Argostoli typically cuts some 40 minutes off the drive looping north of the capital and back down to the popular red shores of Xi and Megas Lakkos beaches, where the region's only large resorts lie. But that rather misses the point. The Paliki remains gloriously under explored and suprisingly wild, making for an excellent road trip.
Car, scooter, or boat are the only ways to get around here. Breezing west along coastal roads past tiny villages, craggy hillsides, open vineyards, and even wetlands to the blissful shore of Petani Bay is one of the simplest joys you can find on Kefalonia. Such exploration even reveals a few hard-won secrets, such as the heavenly Ammos beach, access to which was cut off from the mainland by a tremor in 2014 and can only now be reached by boat. Or perhaps you'll discover the peninsula's many brilliant rural tavernas. These are rarer since the financial crash of 2007, but you can still find incredible dining among the inland villages, while the seafood in Xi is some of the best on the island.
