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Kath HT Admin

I went to Lassi last year, staying in the San Lorenzo Village, which was superb. Argostoli is lovely at night with a lively square and top notch places to eat. The scenery is stunning.

We went 2 years ago and I have to say I really enjoyed it. We stayed in Agia Efimia which is one of the less touristy resorts. It has a main beach and a couple of coves (small pebble beaches not sand) and in the village there is boat, cycle and car hire plus you can catch a ferry to various places. It's set around a harbour and there are lovely tavernas for eating out on an evening. We hired a car and got out and about and saw lots of the island. It's really very beautiful.

It is one of the more expensive islands to get to and you might struggle to get 2 weeks for your budget. We booked through Olympic and got 2 weeks SC for just over £600, which I thought was a bargain BUT bear in mind this was 2 years ago and we got a good online early booking discount.

Infact I loved it so much I'm off back there for a week on my own this July

You'll find some info on the island here http://www.kefalonia.co.uk/

i have been to kefalonia many times and love it. the nicest place to stay is in assos which is an amazing little harbout town which kept many of its buildings afgter the earthquake of 1953 and has a kind of crumbling grandeur. it is, however, a bit pricey.

if you are going on a budget, i would try katelios, on the south coast, lourdas, on the south coast, poros, on the east coast. as someone said in one of the posts above, agia efimia is also nice but i suspect ia bit pricier.

as far as i know, there is no tour of the filming places. in actual fact, most of the filming was actually done on the island of Corfu!!!!! some was done around the port of sami on the north east coast of kefalonia though.

The film was indeed shot in Kefalonia.
I can assure you that none of it was filmed in Corfu.
And no there are no tours to see the film locations. Thank goodness.

If you really want to visit the locations you can and there is a book which describes the whole story of how the film was made and lists all the locations. I can't remember the exact title and my copy is packed away at present but it has the words Captain Corelli in the title so you will be able to find it on Amazon.

Search this board for information:
It seems I am not to be trusted to post the URL so it is along the lines of

kefalonia . me . uk/ only without the gaps.

We were in Kefalonia when the film was being shot. Sami was totally transformed, even the street lights were replaced with ornate Italian style lamp posts. Some of the scenes were shot in Anti Sami and the road from Sami was closed off with a tank and an armoured car to stop traffic, it was still possible to walk there though. A fishing boat was moored offshore with a large plywood cutout of a warship attached to the side.
Kefalonia is one of the few islands we have visited twice, both times staying in Lassi. Assos and Fiskardo are great places but a bit remote. You definately need a car to make the most of this island

i am afraid that i must retract my statement that some of captain corelli weas filmed in corfu. i was told thia my several people in kefalonia and had read it several places. but on further investigation, after reading 'skalarocks's comment, i discover that they left corfu because there were just too many tourists to make filming possible. so sorry about that ...

i discover that they left corfu because there were just too many tourists to make filming possible

That wasn't the reason at all actually!!!
They considered Corfu as well as many other places but when they visited Kefalonia they realised the film had to be made here. There were some challenges but once they had been here, nowhere else was going to be acceptable. Shame the film was such rubbish!

It's great to watch in the winter months though.....................and dream about that stunning scenery and the holidays to come!!
I always stay in Poros and a lot of reasonably priced accommodation can be found there. The downside is that it is in the south of the island so it is a bit of a trek to get anywhere if you are out touring this wonderful island.
However it is a great resort although no British tour operators use it now. The accommodation i use can be had for around 40 euros a night in August for a twin/ double studio and they are spotless.

John

Hi John. We stayed in Skala last year (which we weren't keen on - too British) and sometimes we used to go into Poros in the evening. I wonder why no British tour ops use Poros - I thought it was better than Skala . Gx

stayed twice at the Tara Beach hotel in Skala. would recommend it highly but not sure of the cost

Hi pargaluvva
The last tour operators from the UK were Golden Sun. their last season was in 2003 and they went bust in 2004.
I have heard several reasons as to why no UK operators use Poros now.
One is that the operators considered the accommodation in Poros no longer to meet the standard expected by British tourists so they moved en-bloc to the likes of Skala. Personally i find this reason unnacceptable as there is so much excellent accommodation available in Poros. i.e. the Odysseus palace, ocean view hotel and there are also lots of high standard self catering accommodation available.
The second (and much more likely reason) is that the accommodation owners were constantly being asked by the tour operators to take less and less money for their accommodation and it got to the point where they all basically said no more, it was at the stage that it wasn't worthwhile them operating on the margains that they were being asked to.
I have first hand experience of a hotel owner being treat this way at the hands of Golden Sun. We stayed in the Poros bay hotel for several years and had booked up to go back in 2003. " weeks before we were due to fly i recieved a phone call from my travel agent who told me my tickets had arrived but with a different hotel on my itinery. she contacted Golden Sun who said it was for "operational reasons" I phoned the hotel myself and spoke to the owner who informed me that Golden Sun wanted her to accept less money and also to reduce the facilities offered to her guests.
As she also rented some rooms out privately, she refused saying all guests would recieve exactly the same service. With regard to the money offered she said that the year before, Golden Sun paid £10 per night per person staying in the hotel for bed and breakfast. In 2003 they wanted her to accept £5 per person!! She told me she could not afford to run the hotel on those rates and threw Golden Sun out. She was still owed money from them when they went bust.
If the other accomodation owners were treat in the same way, i'm not surprised that the operators were "thrown" out of Poros.
The downside is how quiet Poros now is off peak. I was talking to a taverna owner and he said that in 2003, there were 450 British tourists in Poros on the first week of June. On the same week in 2004, there were only 40.
Makis Tollitis, who owns the Santa Irena hotel and the Paradise pool bar is working very hard to put Poros back on the tourist map. He runs an agency handling bookings for hotels, studios and apartments in the resort. He also does free transfers to and from the airport. I wish him every success.
Whatever happens in the future, i will be back in Poros every year for my summer holiday. For me it is my bit of paradise!

John

This is a familiar story. The big tour operators have so much clout they can virtually hold the owners to ransom. However everyone wants their holidays at the lowest price possible so whos to blame? When a company like Laskarina, who were not cheap, cant make a profit, the owners of the accommodation have to sell direct, at the end of the day its our choice.

The hotel in the film was the pericles, in sami kefalonia, think thomson and thomas cook does it

Rosie

I am a Kefalonia fanatic been there so many times cannot really remember how many well into the twenties, it's a beautiful Island with wonderful people, I too believe toe film Captain Correllis Mandalin was filmed entirerly on Kefalonia at Sami actually went to the set, I think where ever you go on Kefalonia you should enjoy yes some parts are now becoming quiet commercial but not in Lixouri.
pojo

hi
The crew stayed at the hotel pericles, a great holiday and a great location for travelling the rest of kefalonia. It will be my third time in three years staying at this accomendation.

There is nothing more really to see of the film, but i would say the scenery when out there is far more beautiful than the film showed.

Hi John (Kefaddict). It is a shame about Poros. I suppose people could do DIY but sometimes it is more expensive than a package. I love Kefalonia (the scenery is spectacular) but wasn't impressed with Skala. Not sure we will ever return to Kefalonia but I hope it doesn't get too commercialised. Enjoy your holiday this year. Gx

pargaluvva, we stayed in Skala the first time we went to Kefalonia. It is a nice resort, no doubt about it, but it just didn't have the "wow" factor for me. i couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. Maybe it had the feel of a purpose built resort, i'm not sure.
We hired a jeep for a few days and the day we passed through Poros on our way back to Skala that was it.........the wow factor. An authentic town, working port and a stunning backdrop. What more could you want!
From my local airport, Newcastle, it is very expensive to do a diy holiday to kefalonia. this year i would have had to pay around £450 for 2 weeks and then add another £30 for the transfer so that is almost £100 more than going through a tour operator.
I find it worth it though just to be able to stay where i want. I have many good friends in Poros now and virtually everyone remembers me each year when i return. I feel that the people are genuinly pleased to see me.
i can not see me taking my main holiday anywhere else than Poros for the foreseeable future. .................i have just booked Skiathos for September though!

John

Hi John. We went to Skiathos about 5 years ago. You will have to let us know what you think when you get back. My friend loves Skiathos (it's her favourite Greek island - bit too 'cosmopolitan' for me ). You might be able to help me. Thinking of going to Greece for a week in early June. We are a bit tied to dates and the only options we have are Kos and Halkidiki (Hanioti). Can't get anything for Samos where I would really like to go. Have you been to either of these? Thanks in advance. Gail