Ithaca is the fifth-largest island in the group of the Ionian islands, covering an area of 96sq km. According to one view, Ithaca took its name from the first settler on the island, Ithacos, son of Poseidon and of Amphimele.
According to another, the name is Phoenician in origin. It has become famous from the tale of the adventures of its king Odysseus, who devised the idea of the Trojan horse, thus making it possible for the Greeks to capture the city of Troy.
Despite the efforts by archaeologists to locate it, the Homeric capital of the kingdom of Odysseus has not yet been discovered. This is perhaps due to the series of destructive earthquakes which intermittently shook the island throughout history. The historic course of the island was very similar to that of the other islands of the Ionian sea.
The capital of Ithaca and its main port is an attractive town of Vathy or Ithaca built amphitheatrically around a deep and sheltered bay. It has been identified with the Homeric harbor of Phorkys. At the entrance of the harbor lies an islet Lazaretto. As its name implies it was once a lazaret (quarantine house) and on it, there are also ruins of Venetian origin.
At the time of the great earthquake in 1953, the island was devastated, but many of the buildings were rebuilt in their original style. It is worth visiting the restored cathedral dedicated to the Presentation on the Virgin, with its wood-carved iconostasis and the house in which the hero of the Greek War of Independence, Odysseus Androutsos, was born.
The Archaeological Museum houses a collection of “Protogeometric pottery”, votive vases, various small artifacts, bronze objects of the Geometric period, coins, etc.
In the library of the Cultural Centre of Ithacathere are some rare books, among them the only of the Odyssey and the Iliad in Japanese, as well as the edition of complete works of St. Athanasios dating from 1686. There are some fine beaches for swimming near Vathy, at Minymata, Skinos, Yidaki, Phylliatro, and Sarakiniko.
How to get to Ithaca:
Via Patras. The distance by road from Athens to Patras is 219km. The harbour of Patras is linked to Vathy, in Ithaca, by frequent ferry boat services via Sami to Kefalonia. Also from Astakos, in mainland Greece, frequent ferry boat services run to Vathy. Astakos is linked to Athens by a daily bus service. The island is linked by ferry boat and fast boats to the islands of Kefalonia, Lefkada and Meganissi.
