About Lefkada Island

Lefkada sits in the Ionian Sea off the west coast of Greece, joined to the mainland by a causeway and a floating bridge across a channel only a few hundred metres wide. You can drive onto it, which sets it apart from every other island in the Ionian group and has shaped its history, its architecture and the way visitors arrive.

Lefkada's Geography and Name

Lefkada, also spelled Lefkas or Leukas, is separated from the Akarnanian coast by a narrow strait. Corinthian settlers cut a trench through the isthmus in the seventh century BC to open a passage for ships, and the modern crossing is a causeway ending in a pontoon bridge that swings aside at set times to let boats through. The name comes from the Greek word for white, after the pale cliffs at Cape Lefkatas on the southwestern tip, which fall straight into deep water and are visible from a long way out at sea.

The island is one of the main sailing bases of the Ionian: sheltered water on the east side, short hops across to Meganisi, Kalamos and Ithaki, and a dependable afternoon breeze. Inland it is greener than most Aegean islands, with olive groves, pine and fir along the ridge, and gorges that still hold running water in midsummer. If you are working out when to go, the best time to charter a gulet in Greece lines up closely with Lefkada's own season, which runs from late spring into early autumn.

Myth and Early History

Lefkada has been inhabited since the Stone Age. Cape Lefkatas, also called Cape Doukato, carried a sanctuary of Apollo Leukatas, and it is the cliff from which, in legend, the poet Sappho threw herself into the sea over an unhappy love. The Lefkadian leap gave the cape a long reputation as a place people came to be cured of love.

The island also has a claim on Homer. The German archaeologist Wilhelm Dorpfeld, who excavated around Nydri from 1900, argued that Lefkada rather than modern Ithaki was the Ithaca of the Odyssey, partly because the poem describes an island that could be reached on foot. The theory has never won general acceptance, but Dorpfeld's Early Bronze Age finds are real and are held in the island's archaeological museum.

Conquests and Civilizations: A Timeline

Corinth colonised Lefkada in the seventh century BC. Rome annexed it with the rest of Greece, and by 879 AD it was a Byzantine bishopric. The Ottomans took it in 1479; the Venetians captured the fortress at the channel after a siege in 1684. French rule followed in 1797, then a period of Russian, Ottoman and British involvement, and from 1815 a British protectorate over the Ionian Islands. In 1864 the islands were ceded to Greece. Earthquakes in 1948 and again in the Ionian sequence of August 1953 destroyed much of the old town, which is why it was rebuilt in a local earthquake-resistant style: timber frames with light sheet-metal upper storeys, designed to flex rather than fall.

Lefkada's Natural Wonders

Porto Katsiki and Egremni

• Porto Katsiki, on the west coast, lies at the foot of a white cliff and is reached by a long flight of steps from the car park above. The pale pebbles and the depth of the water give it the colour that puts it in most brochures about Greece.
• Egremni, further south on the same coast, is a long strip of sand under a similar cliff. The earthquake of 17 November 2015 destroyed the stairway down to it and the beach was reachable only by boat for several years; an iron staircase with the same number of steps as the old one, and a rebuilt access road, have since restored the walk down.

The Waterfalls of Nydri

The falls above Nydri, in the Dimosari gorge, run off the mountains behind the village and drop into a pool enclosed by pale rock. The path in starts from the road above the village, and the water stays cold right through the summer.

The Lagoons

Two shallow lagoons, Divari and Ivari, wrap around the edge of Lefkada Town behind the causeway. Fed by both sea and fresh water, they support a distinct ecosystem and draw large numbers of wading and migratory birds. The old salt pans and the embankment path are within walking distance of the town.

Architectural and Cultural Landmarks

The Castle of Agia Mavra

The fortress guarding the channel was begun around 1300 by Giovanni Orsini, who received Lefkada as a wedding gift from the ruler of the Despotate of Epirus, and finished about two years later. Whoever held it controlled the crossing between island and mainland, which is why it was rebuilt so often: the Ottomans enlarged it after 1479, and the Venetians, having taken it in 1684, cleared out the walled town inside and turned the whole structure into a military installation.

Monasteries and Churches

• The Monastery of Faneromeni, about 2 km from the village of Frini, is the main religious centre of the island. It stands in woodland on a hill with a view down over the lagoon and Lefkada Town.
• Agios Ioannis Antzoussis is among the oldest churches on the island, built on a rock outcrop with a wide view of the surrounding coast.

Museums

• The Archaeological Museum in Lefkada Town holds the Early Bronze Age material from Dorpfeld's excavations along with later finds from around the island.
• The Museum of Phonographs displays gramophones, photographs and traditional instruments, and gives a picture of daily life on Lefkada over the last century and a half.

Activities and Adventures in Lefkada

On the Water

Sailing is the obvious use of this coast, with anchorages tucked into the sheltered east side and the channels around Meganisi within an easy day. Vassiliki, in the south, gets a thermal wind that builds through the afternoon and has been a windsurfing centre for decades. Divers work the reefs and caves along the western cliffs.

On Land

The interior is mountainous and walkable. Trails run through fir and pine to the ridge villages and down the Dimosari gorge to the sea. The quiet inland roads through Karya, Englouvi and the olive terraces suit cycling far better than the coastal traffic does.