Vassiliki lies on the southern end of the island of Lefkas - and the island has no Airport, which doesn't sound like a good start. However, if you read a few books (Particularly The Odyssey) you will realise that Ulysses got quite lost on his way home. from Troy to Ithaca, having apparently passed round the northern end of Lefkas betwixt Scylla and Charybdis, so as Lefkas is well to the North of Ithaca maybe he just preferred the scenic route. Prospero's Cell also provides good information.
However, Lefkas is an island which you can drive to and onto! So there is no need to get a ferry anymore. You fly into Preveza which in the early days was purely a Nato airbase with the usual interesting features such as being set on a neck of land with very wet water at both ends of the runway which is a cause for some concern. However, it now has been converted and the departure lounge, instead of being a few tables and chairs under olive trees, is a large fully air-conditioned space.
| From the airport one has a 30 minute drive to the end of the causeway, and you pass a Venetian fortress built on the site of an earlier Phoenician Fortress, and still armed with ancient cannon! | |
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One then arrives at the floating and raising bridge which allows one to stay in the comfort of the coach, and watch either the locals trying to recover a large lorry which somehow had missed the chain ferry and driven straight into the canal or a man on a motorbike using his belt to catch and lead a loose stallion! Fairly typical of life on the island. |
| From there you travel down the island, passing Lefkas Town and Nidri, along a good road with multitudinous spectacular views, the odd hairpin bend and uncountable numbers of small shrines by the roadside, put up either by families of those killed in accidents or by those who escaped. | |
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Finally Vassiliki hoves into view, nestling at the foot of the wide valley. Actually this is a bit of a fiddle as it isn't from the Lefkas road - the Lefkas road comes round the hill behind Vass so you cant see it until you arrive in it! |
Around the Island - What to do - Wildlife - Locals - Food & Drink - Cats - Tavernas - Shopping.