Sami, Poros & the east coast

Sami is a port town rather than a resort, and the reason to be here is what sits just behind it. Melissani is a collapsed cavern with a lake at the bottom; a boatman rows you under the hole in the roof and, around midday, the light turns the water a blue that does not photograph properly. Drogarati, up the road, is a dry stalactite cave with acoustics good enough that concerts are held in it.

The coast here is shingle and pine. Antisamos, over the headland from Sami, is a wide white bay backed by green hills; Agia Efimia further north is a small harbour with good fish tavernas and boats for hire. Behind everything rises Mount Ainos, a national park of black Kefalonian fir with semi-wild horses on the upper slopes and the island's only real hiking.

Further south the coast runs on through Poros to Skala, the island's longest sandy beach and its flattest, easiest corner. It is a long way from Argostoli, which is exactly why people who have been to Kefalonia before choose it.