3 Best Sights in Kefalonia, Greece

Drogarati Cave

A 4-km drive from Sami, this 150-million-year-old cave was only discovered after a land collapse revealed its entrance. Earthquakes and trophy-seeking tourists have since damaged its more impressive stalactites but it remains a compelling sight, especially its 900-square-meter Chamber of Exaltation, which has also been known to double as a concert venue on occasion.

Melissani Cave

An atmospheric Greek-style cenote, the collapsed roof of this limestone cave lake creates a magical setting, albeit one firmly capitalized on by mass tourism. Discovered in the 1950s, it is thought to have been a place of worship during antiquity. In recent years a tunnel has been burrowed down to reach the water, and now rowboats await at the bottom to drift sets of visitors across its cool, cobalt blue, briney waters, said to originate 31 km away.

Saint Gerasimos Monastery

This monastery, run by nuns, was founded in 1560 by Saint Gerasimos, patron saint of the island. He spent his final years here secluded in a cave, atop which now sits a richly decorated chapel that contains the silver casket where his body lies. He is associated with a number of miracles, and was said to be undecayed when exhumed, smelling of a pleasant, flowery scent that some claim lingers around his casket. The cave itself is reached via a small hole, descending a ladder to its twin chambers below. On his feast day (August 16), Gerasmios's casket is paraded and laid beneath the nearby plane tree said to have been planted by the saint.

Modest dress (no shorts) is required if you want to enter the chapel; some coverings are available.

Kefalonia

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