Greece City: Wati

Ferries from Patras, Astakos and Cefalinia usually arrive at the main port and the capital of Itaca Island – Waty (Vathy), which is still the name of Itaks.

The port lies in the South Molos Bay so deeply that opens from the sea literally at the last moment when the ship is already approaching. This is a neat and very compact city, literally squeezed between the narrow bay and the slopes of the mountains nevevo (669 m) and analytics (243 m), and considered the most idyllic seaside settlement of all Ionic Islands. Like his neighbors, he was badly damaged by the earthquake of 1953, but some of the beautiful samples of the old architecture were preserved here quite well – the islanders used to live in the conditions of seismicity and the time of the century built their homes with this moment.

sights

The main cultural center of the city is small Archaeological Museum (open from Thursday to Sunday from 8.30 to 15.00; The entrance is free) on Kallinikou Street, just quarters from the pier. Just below the alley can be detected quite interesting Museum of Folklore and Culture (in the summer is open from Monday to Saturday from 10.00 to 14.00; 1 euro). The most banks, hotels and restaurants in the city are concentrated around them, as well as mail, police and medical center. The best taverns lie around the southern part of the bay, as well as around Nikos and Kohili. And stretching parallel to the Embankment of a series of streets serves as a pier for a variety of quiet "Kafeno" and approxes, very popular with the local residents themselves.

Beach rest

Within fifteen minutes walk from the city center there are two good pebble shores – Dex behind the hill at the pier and tiny Luca against. However, it is also fragile to get to the best beaches of the Eastern Coast – Sarakiniko and Skinos, to which even on foot no more than an hour, and on buses – literally 10 minutes.

Around the city

But the majority of tourists immediately go to the three main historical sights of the island – the source of the island (Aretus), the cave of the Nymph and the ancient city of Alakomen.

Walk to Source of Areetuza, near which the famous cave is located, where Odyssey, after returning from the wanderings, he lived unrecognized with the Eumeya pigs, takes only 1.5 hours on foot. Cave Nymph (Marmapil, 2.5 km from the city) lies on the edge of the hill above the beach of Dex and quite picturesque, although it is unlikely to surprise compared to the caves of neighboring ciefnium. According to Homer, it was here Odyssey hiding gifts of Tsar Alkinoa, although there are some evidence that "True" The cave was much closer to the beach and destroyed it during the mining of stone many centuries ago. And lying on the saddle between the Beach of Dex and Cape Pisatos ancient Alalkomen (Alakomenae) Heinrich Schliman considered "The city of Odyssey" – Here, during the excavation, a mycean burial chamber was found and several household items stored now in the Archaeological Museum. But later studies of the ruins were dated to the V century BC. NS., Therefore, these buildings could not belong to the living at least 500-700 years earlier than Odysse. In fact, the most likely placement of the Palace of the Tsar Itaks is now considered an ancient settlement above Stavros.

Reviews and studies of trips

Ithaca, autumn

According to spiro and other Kefalonites (the inhabitants of the Island of Kefalone, neighboring with Ithacan), they did not remember such a wonderful summer senior. But all sooner or later ends. Read more →