The center of Kefalonia is dominated by Mount Ainos, the highest point in the Ionian archipelago and home to a 30-square-kilometer national park. Its upper slopes are blanketed by well-shaded forests of protected fir trees, with trails picking their way through to revealnative wild ponies and endemic wildflowers. If visiting in peak summer, it's best to call ahead as the heat and high winds often see the park closed to visitors for fear of forest fires.
To the north, in the foothills of Mount Ainos, lies the Omala Valley, a tiny community of villages living off the hundreds of vineyards that scatter the plain. It is here, and only here, that the island’s famous Robola grapes are cultivated, a vine uniquely adapted to the thin, chalky soils of this mountainous valley. The area is also a famous pilgrim spot, with visitors flocking to the monastery, near Valsamata, where the mummified remains of Kefalonia’s patron saint, Gerasimos, still lies in state.
While here, take a moment to stroll the land south of the village, where you can still spy "Old Valsamata." This is one of a number of ghost towns on the island, abandoned and left to ruin after the 1953 earthquakes shattered foundations and lives, leading to newer namesake settlements springing up in their wake. In its crumbling remains you can see why four-fifths of the island left for a brighter future, and perhaps appreciate better the struggle of those who stayed.
