GGood food, sun, beach, cultural treasures: German holidaymakers love Greece. The Ionian Islands off the west coast of the country offer some of the most beautiful and in some cases hardly ever visited destinations. From the main island of Corfu to the south, Paxos, Lefkada, Ithaca, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Kythira line up, as well as other islands, some of which are private or smaller.
The archipelago is named after the Ionian Sea in which it lies, through which, according to ancient Greek legends, Io swam Lover from Zeus. The Greeks call them too Eptanic, Seven Islands. Today’s Ionian Islands country region includes only the northern ones, while Kythira (with Andikythira) belongs to Attica, others to the Peloponnese region.
Source: Infographic WORLD
Since the climate is slightly wetter and cooler than the Aegean, the islands are greener and the area is ideal for sailing because of the fair but rarely too strong winds. Perfect starts for a Inselhopping with the charter yacht are Corfu or Lefkada, both easily accessible by plane. The islands, which (apart from Corfu) were part of the Mycenaean culture in the Late Helladic, offer some special cultural features. Until 1797 they belonged to the Republic of Venice, which left a rich legacy.
Also culinary. This is how viticulture was promoted, and Robola grapes, which no longer exist in Italy, thrive on Kefalonia to this day. The noble white wine Robola Kephallinias is pressed from them. Napoleon’s France and the British also shaped the islands, and other influences came from Austria, for example, via the Adriatic port of Trieste, which connected them to Central Europe. A famous example of local culture is the music of the Ionian school, which also produced the Olympic anthem and Greece’s national anthem.
Very British
Cricket is the racquetball sport where a game (with tea and lunch breaks) can last a full five days – something only the English could dream up. But cricket is also a popular sport on the Ionian Islands, especially on Corfu. It has been indulged in here since 1823, now also professionally. As in many earlier colonies, this passion is a legacy from the days of British rule: in 1809 the Crown took over the scepter over the Republic of the Ionian Islands, later United States of the Ionian Islandsand kept it as a protectorate until Greece joined it in 1864.
The national cricket team, which represents the country in international matches, belongs to the Hellenic Cricket Federation – the only Greek sports federation not based in Athens but in Corfu.
Source: Infographic WORLD
Sisis Palast
What do Sisi, Kaiser Wilhelm II, James Bond and a number of EU politicians have in common? They all enjoyed the beauty of the Achilleion on Corfu. The Austrian Empress Elisabeth, better known as Sisi, had the palace built in 1890-1892. As a big Hellas fan, she planned to emigrate there and kept traveling to her domicile on Corfu until 1896.
After her assassination, Kaiser Wilhelm II bought the Achilleion and used it as a diplomatic center. Later it was a military hospital in World War I, the seat of the German occupiers in World War II, a kindergarten, casino – and the filming location for the Bond film “On a Deadly Mission” (1981) with Roger Moore as 007. A little later it went to the state. During Greece’s EU Council Presidency in 1994, the treaty allowing Austria, Sweden, Finland and Norway to join the EU was signed here.
Today the Achilleion, restored in 2003, with its majestic garden, is a museum dedicated to Sisi’s memory. Among other things, two Achilles sculptures can be admired – one was set up by the empress, the other by the emperor.
The Achilleion is Empress Sisi’s dream palace on Corfu
Quelle: picture alliance / imageBROKER
Strandwrack
White sand, turquoise water – and a shipwreck as the icing on the cake: Navagio Bay Zakynthos harbors one of the most photogenic beaches in the Mediterranean. It is not accessible by land, only by boat.
The mundane story behind the romantic picture: it wasn’t pirates who stranded here, cigarette smugglers left the ship in 1983 without a driver after fleeing the ship for fear of being arrested. At least that’s what the locals say. The third largest of the Ionian Islands (after Kefalonia and Corfu) still offers true treasures – namely beautiful nature with rare animals. For example, the loggerhead turtle, also called Caretta.
Conservationists have been looking after these endangered sea creatures for decades, which make the island’s beaches their main Mediterranean nesting sites. If you don’t come across them while swimming at Porto Koukla beach, you can book a boat tour with guaranteed sight. Also worth a trip are the Blue Grottoes in the north of the island, where water reflections offer impressive natural spectacles.
A boy is looking at the famous Zakynthos shipwreck
Quelle: Getty Images
Onassis’ paradise
The Ionian Island is said to be worth $153 million Scorpios cost when the Russian billionaire’s daughter Ekaterina Rybolovleva secured it for herself in 2013 by means of an expensive contract. The legendary celebrity island has been the epitome of the exclusive, invitation-only private island since the Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis bought it in 1963 and made it the scene of his jet-set wedding to Jackie Kennedy five years later.
Numerous stars were guests of the island, where the family temporarily lived with around 600 servants. The patriarch, his son and daughter Christina Onassis were also buried there, while the singer Maria Callas had her ashes scattered in the Ionian Sea. According to media reports, celebrities such as Bill Gates and Giorgio Armani are interested in the island, which, it is said, cannot be sold due to a clause in the will.
Rybolovleva is said to have therefore bought a number of Onassis companies, which made possible a 100-year lease for Skorpios. The plan: The island is to be transformed into a luxury resort with an important art collection.
The boat in the picture suggests that Skorpios is not a poor man’s island
Quelle: picture alliance / robertharding
Where is Ithaca?
“Ithaca’s sunny heights are my home; in this towers Neriton’s head with rustling treetops”
In the Odyssey sings about Homer, the earliest poet of the West, King Odysseus’ long journey home after the Trojan War. The epic, first written down around the turn of the 8th to the 7th century BC, is one of the most important works of our culture, its title serving as a synonym for every odyssey.
It is fitting that to this day it is unclear where Homer’s Ithaca – Odysseus’ homeland, kingdom and destination – actually lies. That today’s island is meant sounds plausible. After all, Ithaca is mentioned in writings at least since the 5th century BC. so called. For generations, a number of islanders have been called Odysseus or have other names from the epic, and an ancient coin with Odysseus’ image has been found.
However, some researchers consider the island of Lefkada to be Homeric Ithaca instead, because the geography matches Homer’s descriptions better, others rely on the Paliki peninsula on Kefalonia, where an ancient royal tomb was also discovered. The mystery of which of the Ionian Islands was Odysseus’ home remains for now.
Bizarre, record-breaking, typical: You can find more parts of our regional geography series here.