3 Best Sights in Kefalonia, Greece

There's little to see within the village of Assos, yet it's still a dazzling sight. It is largely made up of a single steep road that plummets down to the harbor and then up past pebble shores to a parking lot, for those wanting to continue on to the castle. En route, pinkish-purple bougainvillea bloom from every crevice; vine-like roots wrap the ruins of hollowed out buildings; pretty townhouses painted vibrant pastels glimmer in the sunlight; and the view from on-high over the turquoise waters below is magnificent. By the village square, which bears a plaque commemorating the "Parisiens" whose money rebuilt Assos after its destruction in 1953, are a string of cafés and tavernas swarming the edges of a pebble beach. Here, visitors swap dips in the knee-deep water of the bay for cooling drinks. It's worth resting a while here after climbing to the castle, which can be a sweaty task.

Fiskardo derives its name from a Norman Duke and adventurer, Robert Guiscard, who attempted to occupy Kefalonia in 1084. He failed, yet the town rather passively took his name anyway. Today, invaders still arrive in Fiskardo by ship, only these days they're called yachts. Summer sees their ilk far outnumber the traditional fishing boats in the harbor, lending an air of boho chic to the little village and its bustling waterfront of eateries and café-bars. Still, it deserves the attention. Fiskardo remains one of the prettiest stays on the island, with its narrow streets winding past colorful Venetian houses. There's little in the way of museums here, but history surrounds the village. As recently as 2006, a Roman cemetery of 27 tombs was discovered on the edge of the harbor, with its open-air site now easily visited and well-signed. Hiking trails into the hills and forests reveal even more historic relics worth exploring. The town is also a useful port, with ferries to the island of Lefkhada leaving daily during the summer months.

Kefalonia's second-largest town is less businesslike than Argostoli, and its post-quake rebuilding more in line with the old Venetian style, but there's little here to hold the imagination. One of a few buildings in the city to have survived 1953 intact is the Lakovatios library, a grand neoclassical affair that hosts a small free museum. Otherwise, it's a colorful enough port town, mostly used as a jumping off point by tourists en-route to the southern beaches of Xi and Lepeda, or for picking up a boat tour.