Taking its name from Kephalos, the first king of the area during the Palaeolithic age, Kefalonia boasts a fascinating history.
Ιt was from here that Odysseus set sail with twelve ships on his epic voyage surely one of very few people to choose to leave Kefalonia rather than stay for as long as possible.
The Romans captured the island in 187 BC after fierce local resistance and it remained a popular haunt of pirates and invaders for many hundreds of years, through occupation by the Byzantines, the Turks, theVenetians and the Spanish before the arrival of Napoleon's army and its subsequent defeat by the allied fleet of the Russians and the English.
Ιn the mid nineteenth century Kefalonia finally gained its independence, along with the rest of the Ionian islands, but was occupied by German troops during the Second World War. The Italians' refusal to leave the island resulted in the massacre of thousands of Italian soldiers, an event described in ‘Captain Corelli's Mandolin’ by Louis de Bernieres, a book which has combined with the island's myriad other memorable features to attract thousands of welcome visitors to this splendid holiday island.
Kefalonia is dramatically different from the rest of the Greek islands. Fertile valleys planted with grape vines and olive groves are home to hundreds of villages, churches and hilltop monasteries. Tiny pebbly coves and soft silver and red sandy beaches fringe the island's mountainous shoreline. Multi-hued stalagtites and stalagmites fill the cool caverns of Drogarati and sunlight creates ever-changing colours on the subterranean lake of Melissani. Loggerhead turtles nest on the island's southern shores and rare birds flock to the Koutavos lagoon in Argostoli. Kefalonia really is a place of unique natural splendour and an indescribable beauty.
The Municipality of Sami is located on the eastern coast of Kefalonia, covering an area of 129.326 acres, with a population of 2.297. Sami is the most significant harbor on the island. The area combines an extended coastline and a most interesting inland. Along the coastline one finds landscapes of exceptionally beauty such as Paliouras and Antisamos Beach, as well as the small lake of Karavomylos where portion of the subterranean waters of Katavothres in Argostoli finally end up.
The area is full of interesting geological phenomena. Seventeen cave sites have been recorded in the area - a rare occurrence in Greek geomorphology- and significant in tracing the area's prehistoric period. To date, two of the caves are accessible to the public: the lake-grotto
of Melissani in the Karavomylos area, and, Drogarati Cave located on
the road to the village of Chaliotata.
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