Lefkada is impressive even as it first greets visitors, as they cross the narrow strip of dry land and the 50-metre long floating bridge from the coast of Aitoloakarnania. The bridge turns around on itself allowing small boats to pass through the canal of Lefkada.
Gyra is one of Lefkada’s most important natural beauties. This narrow strip of white sand embraces the lagoon on the north of the island and makes the landscape quite special. Gyra begins from the point almost behind the Kastro, creating Ammoglossa (sand tongue) and reaching as far as the other side, beyond the town.
Inside the lagoon is the ‘ivari,’ where fish are bred in special, traditional wicker baskets and which grow within natural conditions. Lefkada also has a large lake that welcomes large masses of fowl and fauna every year. You will be able to admire herons, Kalimanes, swans, wild geese and ducks.
You may also be interested in checking out the Folklore museum which has many fine hand woven materials and examples of traditional clothing, among other interesting exhibits. There is an archeological museum that has ceramics and other Greek exhibits from excavations in Nudri and also sculptures, vessels and a collection of icons. The demotic library includes a collection of icons of Byzantine art from the Ionian college of the 17th, 18th and 19th century.
The library also houses old, rare books and manuscripts. The Photograhy Museum, meanwhile, has many interesting photographs and souvenirs of romantic Lefkada.
Lefkada’s sights
Lefkada’s sights include:
• Its churches (basilicas) with their unusual architecture influenced by the Venetians and their Ionian Island (post – Cretan school) wall paintings and delightful wooden carved iconostases, some of which are covered in gold leaf.
• The Archaeological Museum of Lefkada, whose collection includes finds from Early and Mid-Bronze Age graves at Nydhri, the necropolis of the ancient city of Leucas and from various other areas on the island.
• The lagoon includes one of the most remarkable wetlands in the Ionian region which is protected under the Ramsar Convention as an internationally important wetland, with an age-old fish farm. It is also home to a large number of charming bird species such as gulls, herons, swans, wild ducks, wild geese, etc.
• The Gramophone Museum is a small private museum with gramophones, records, rare everyday objects, and decorative items. It was put together by a local dedicated collector.
• The Municipal Library is housed in a neo-classical building. It has a large number of books and houses a rich collection of post-Byzantine icons primarily in the Ionian School by artists such as the Ionian Island hagiographers Doxaras, Patsaras, Roussos, etc.
• The Santa Maura castle which protected the island capital from the first decade of the 14th century to 1684 as a defense against both pirates and other enemies.
• The four windmills at Gyra (the only ones left of the orginal twelve which once stood here). Most bear Russian names such as Orloff, Metzikoff, Moscovas and up until the beginning of the 20th century ground large quantities of wheat, much of which came from Russia.
• The Haramoglios Special Lefkadiaki Library houses a collection of books and other documents either written by residents of the island or referring to issues directly related to Lefkada. This collection has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records.
• The Church of Panaghia ton Vlachernon lies amid an ash green forest of olive trees. On the last Sunday of the Orthodox Carnival, 1821, the chieftains and dignitaries of the Greek Mainland gathered there on the initiative of Ioannis Zambelios (eminent member of the ‘Filiki Etaireia’ in Lefkada). It was there that they confirmed they would participate in the national struggle for liberation and would immediately declare revolution in their areas by taking an oath on a copy of the Holy Gospel, which has survived to this day.
• Kouzubey is home to two traditional coffee shops which have survived in the shade of the centuries old olive trees, towering plane trees, and poplars. These coffee shops serve up traditional Greek fruit preserves, delicious fried potatoes, a vanilla flavoured dessert and soumada. Amid the quiet reigning over the olive grove, time comes to a standstill at these coffee shops; the pace slows down as ad hoc backgammon tournaments are organized on the small metal tables to the sound of interminable conversations.
• Faneromeni Monastery: on the lovely hill which crowns Lefkada town, lies the Monastery of Panaghia Faneromeni, the island’s patron. It is built on the site of the ancient temple of Artemis. The miraculous icon of the virgin which is housed by the monastery was made by the Athonite monk Benjamin Kontrakis in 1876 on Mount Athos.
