Agia Effimia

Agia Efimia is a small fishing-village-turned-resort on the eastern shore of Kefalonia, the largest of the Ionian Islands, looking east across the water toward Ithaca. It was formerly the seat of its own municipality, Pylaros, and today belongs administratively to the wider municipality of Sami, alongside several other coastal villages on that side of the island.

Like much of the island, the village was struck hard by the 1953 Ionian earthquake, a disaster that levelled entire towns across Kefalonia and forced years of rebuilding. Only a few of Agia Efimia's original buildings survived, and much of what stands along the waterfront today dates from the decades that followed. The 2021 census put the population at 638, a figure that reflects a settlement built around one small harbour rather than any larger urban centre.

What remains is a compact, low-rise village of taverns, bars, a wood-fired bakery and a scattering of shops set close to the water, popular with both independent travellers and sailing groups passing along the coast. For anyone island-hopping through the Ionian on their own schedule rather than a fixed itinerary, it is worth a visit if you're chartering a gulet in Greece, if only for a slow evening on the quay watching the fishing boats come in.