I remember the day I got my first e-mail
asking "Where is Kefallonia?" I was sort of
expecting it. It was the day the film
Captain Corelli's
Mandolin came out in
the USA and I assumed it would do for Kefallonia
what Summer
Lovers did for
Santorini, multiplied by a million, unless the movie bombed, (which it did).
I didn't want to be the kind of travel writer who reviews a destination just
because he knows it is going to be popular or
thinks it may be popular. But being insightful, I
knew that if one person e-mailed me the day the
movie was released then probably there were going
to be more. Rather then have to describe the
island to endless e-mailers, the sensible thing
would be to write about it and then direct people
to the webpage. I had no intention of trying to
cash in on the success of
Captain Corelli's
Mandolin or
mention Captain
Corelli's Mandolin
over and over again like a
beacon for search engines to home in on for
thousands or millions of romantic travelers who choose their Greek island destination because they saw it in a movie about World War Two. That was not my style and would certainly taint my
reputation of being an honest writer, wouldn't
it? And how many times could I mention Captain Corelli's Mandolin before readers start thinking that I am only trying to get more hits from google? Mamma Mia!
Had I ever been to Kefalonia the island of Captain Corelli?
Yes, actually once. It was in the eighties and I was coming from Brindisi to Patras
and I happened to be on one of the ferries that
stopped there. No, I did not get off but I could
see that it was beautiful and green and I wanted
to get off or at least return one day. I never did
but I did see the movie (Captain
Corelli's Mandolin). I had also flown over the
island numerous times going to and from the USA and each time I was
reassured that it was still beautiful and green
just like it looks in the movie
Captain Corelli's
Mandolin. So though I had never physically walked the streets of the villages of Kefalonia, or swum in the azure seas, nor climbed its mountains, technically I have been there. And since I have been there more than someone who had never been there on a boat or flown over it or seen the movie, by Tripadvisor standards that made me pretty much of an expert on Kefalonia.
So what right do I have to
make a website for Kefallonia, having only
been in the harbor and flown over at 26,000
feet?
Even my friend and fellow travel writer Elizabeth H. has said that unlike me she would never write about an island she had never visited. Oh yeah? Well, I have a friend from Kefalonia:
Jerry, who used to own the Marathon restaurant
in my home town of Carrboro, NC where I used to work as a pizza delivery guy. He had a
calendar of Kefalonia on the wall of his
restaurant with a different town or beach on
every page and I can tell you for a fact there
are at least as many beautiful places on Kefalonia as there are months in a year. I looked at that calendar every day for at least 6 months. So I guess that makes me pretty much of an authority on Kefalonia miss smarty-pants travel writer.
Anyway, Jerry sold Marathon and took all his money and the calendar and moved
back to Kefalonia only to discover that
things had gotten a little more expensive
(even before the movie came out) and he had to
come back and start another restaurant, this
time in Kinston, North Carolina. The other day
I ran into his friend Sotos at BestBuy and he
told me Jerry was going to move back to
Kefallonia again. Probably to meet Nicholas
Gage (star of Captain Corelli's
Mandolin).
Important Kefalonian
Fact: Saint
Gerasimos is the patron saint of the island so
many people are named Jerry. So if you meet
someone named Jerry from Kefallonia that does
not mean he is my friend unless you meet him in Kingston, North Carolina. That is not my only
contact with the Island of Captain Corelli.
One day I received a postcard from my friend
Larry's sister Olivia, from Kefallonia (as it
was called before the movie). The picture was
of a beautiful cave with a lake in it and a
shaft of light coming through a hole in the
roof making the water an unbelievable
turquoise color that looked like the photo was
touched up. There couldn't be places with
colors like that could there be? Later (much
later) Larry moved to Kefallonia and once he
called me from his house where he was watching
the sunset to where I was in Lesvos watching
the sunset and it was sort of a neat
connection. (I was reading Corelli's
Mandolin too!).
How about this: I got drunk with Louis de Benieres, the
author of
Corelli's
Mandolin.
I know some of you who are a little
bit cynical may be thinking that I am
just saying this so I can squeeze in
the name of
Corelli's
Mandolin
one more time, or show myself to be even more of an authority on the island of Kefallonia, but
it is true. In fact I was in the
process of reading the book
(Corelli's
Mandolin)
when we were invited out to dinner
with some friends in Athens. "Do you
mind if one of our friends joins us?"
our host asked me. "He is a writer".
Sounded OK to me. Maybe I could give
the young fellow a few tips. Imagine
my surprise when I discovered it
really was Louis de Benieres (the
author of
Corelli's
Mandolin),
and since I happened to be reading the book at the
time it seemed like divine
intervention or something of that
nature. But the girls at the table
were so greedy and they all wanted to
sit next to him and though I knew that
he would much rather be talking about
literature (mine hopefully), than
discussing the desires of middle-aged
women and house cats, I could only
interject occasionally before being
drowned out by the women. In the end
Louis and I said very little to each other and I never
finished his book. (Don't tell
him). That is a picture of me with Louis de Benieres that I give you as proof. That's my nose.
But this fascinating story is not over yet. Not by a longshot. Two
other friends that I met in Athens, Terry and Andy Harris, had
written a book about Kefallonia called
"Captain
Corelli's
Island".
Not to cash in on the novel or
anything, it was just a very beautiful
photo book about the island and they
wanted to make sure that somebody read
it besides the same old people who go
to Kefallonia every year so they named it after the movie instead of the island. There is nothing wrong with that, except of course that the movie bombed. The book was
a collection of excellent photos and
interesting information about the
island. So of course I wanted to jump
on the bandwagon too and make a
website using pictures from the book
in return for promoting it. Not that I
would call it "Captain Corelli's
Island Website" or anything so
blatant. I would just make a simple
old Kefallonia page as if it were any
other island and not one destined to
be the next San Tropez or wherever it
is that Hollywood stars hang out these days. But by
the time I got around to making my
Kefallonia page the photo book was a
best seller on Amazon.com,
Corelli's
Mandolin
had made Louis de
Benieres a zillionaire and the
movie
Captain
Corelli's Island
was showing a
few blocks from my house and even my
friends were sending me e-mails and
asking if I have seen it yet and do I
know what it is about. The rapid flow
of events which Benieres had begun
with his novel had left me behind and
now there I was like anyone else trying
to throw together a website for an
island that within the next few months
everyone in the world would want to go
to.
But I did have a few advantages. The first was my solid reputation as an expert on Greece which meant that anything I wrote about Kefalonia would probably be read which right away gave me an advantage over other lesser known travel writers who have actually visited the island. The second is that I know
how to read and I have lots of books
about Greece and I could create
a website that is more helpful and
entertaining without even going to Kefalonia, than many people can after
spending years there. Look how much I have written so far. I have not even mentioned a single beach, restaurant, hotel or town on the actual island and already I have written more than most guidebooks have on Kefalonia. In fact
I bet that by reading Lonely Planet, Rough Guide
and Frommers I can make a darn good
website and few people will know or
care whether I read the information,
experienced it or made it up. Plus I have read
three-quarters of Corelli's Mandolin
and I plan to see the movie soon.
So this is my website for Captain
Corelli's Island which used to be
called Kefallonia and in fact is still
known by that name.
Click to continue...
You can find many hotels in Kefalonia by location, price, whether or not it has a swimming pool or is on the beach, and see photos, maps and customer reviews by using this link to booking.com.
Excellent
prices and many hotels
you can book and then cancel with no cancellation fee. For those who want to book without using a travel agency this is the best way to do it.
Help Support Matt's Greecetravel.com
Do you enjoy using my site? Have you found it entertaining as well as useful? If so please show your appreciation by booking hotels and homes through the travel agencies and the links found on this page and on my Greek Travel Agency page. The small comission I make on the bookings enable me to keep working and in most cases you won't find them any cheaper by searching elsewhere.
You can find hotels, apartments, rooms and even houses through Booking.com's Kefalonia Pages which also contributes to my website when you book.
Anyway, Jerry sold Marathon and took all his money and the calendar and moved
back to Kefalonia only to discover that
things had gotten a little more expensive
(even before the movie came out) and he had to
come back and start another restaurant, this
time in Kinston, North Carolina. The other day
I ran into his friend Sotos at BestBuy and he
told me Jerry was going to move back to
Kefallonia again. Probably to meet Nicholas
Gage (star of Captain Corelli's
Mandolin).
Important Kefalonian
Fact: Saint
Gerasimos is the patron saint of the island so
many people are named Jerry. So if you meet
someone named Jerry from Kefallonia that does
not mean he is my friend unless you meet him in Kingston, North Carolina. That is not my only
contact with the Island of Captain Corelli.
One day I received a postcard from my friend
Larry's sister Olivia, from Kefallonia (as it
was called before the movie). The picture was
of a beautiful cave with a lake in it and a
shaft of light coming through a hole in the
roof making the water an unbelievable
turquoise color that looked like the photo was
touched up. There couldn't be places with
colors like that could there be? Later (much
later) Larry moved to Kefallonia and once he
called me from his house where he was watching
the sunset to where I was in Lesvos watching
the sunset and it was sort of a neat
connection. (I was reading Corelli's
Mandolin too!).
How about this: I got drunk with Louis de Benieres, the
author of
Corelli's
Mandolin.
I know some of you who are a little
bit cynical may be thinking that I am
just saying this so I can squeeze in
the name of
Corelli's
Mandolin
one more time, or show myself to be even more of an authority on the island of Kefallonia, but
it is true. In fact I was in the
process of reading the book
(Corelli's
Mandolin)
when we were invited out to dinner
with some friends in Athens. "Do you
mind if one of our friends joins us?"
our host asked me. "He is a writer".
Sounded OK to me. Maybe I could give
the young fellow a few tips. Imagine
my surprise when I discovered it
really was Louis de Benieres (the
author of
Corelli's
Mandolin),
and since I happened to be reading the book at the
time it seemed like divine
intervention or something of that
nature. But the girls at the table
were so greedy and they all wanted to
sit next to him and though I knew that
he would much rather be talking about
literature (mine hopefully), than
discussing the desires of middle-aged
women and house cats, I could only
interject occasionally before being
drowned out by the women. In the end
Louis and I said very little to each other and I never
finished his book. (Don't tell
him). That is a picture of me with Louis de Benieres that I give you as proof. That's my nose.
But this fascinating story is not over yet. Not by a longshot. Two
other friends that I met in Athens, Terry and Andy Harris, had
written a book about Kefallonia called
"Captain
Corelli's
Island".
Not to cash in on the novel or
anything, it was just a very beautiful
photo book about the island and they
wanted to make sure that somebody read
it besides the same old people who go
to Kefallonia every year so they named it after the movie instead of the island. There is nothing wrong with that, except of course that the movie bombed. The book was
a collection of excellent photos and
interesting information about the
island. So of course I wanted to jump
on the bandwagon too and make a
website using pictures from the book
in return for promoting it. Not that I
would call it "Captain Corelli's
Island Website" or anything so
blatant. I would just make a simple
old Kefallonia page as if it were any
other island and not one destined to
be the next San Tropez or wherever it
is that Hollywood stars hang out these days. But by
the time I got around to making my
Kefallonia page the photo book was a
best seller on Amazon.com,
Corelli's
Mandolin
had made Louis de
Benieres a zillionaire and the
movie
Captain
Corelli's Island
was showing a
few blocks from my house and even my
friends were sending me e-mails and
asking if I have seen it yet and do I
know what it is about. The rapid flow
of events which Benieres had begun
with his novel had left me behind and
now there I was like anyone else trying
to throw together a website for an
island that within the next few months
everyone in the world would want to go
to. 
But I did have a few advantages. The first was my solid reputation as an expert on Greece which meant that anything I wrote about Kefalonia would probably be read which right away gave me an advantage over other lesser known travel writers who have actually visited the island. The second is that I know
how to read and I have lots of books
about Greece and I could create
a website that is more helpful and
entertaining without even going to Kefalonia, than many people can after
spending years there. Look how much I have written so far. I have not even mentioned a single beach, restaurant, hotel or town on the actual island and already I have written more than most guidebooks have on Kefalonia. In fact
I bet that by reading Lonely Planet, Rough Guide
and Frommers I can make a darn good
website and few people will know or
care whether I read the information,
experienced it or made it up. Plus I have read
three-quarters of Corelli's Mandolin
and I plan to see the movie soon.
