Lefkada

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Lefkada Prefecture Νομός Λευκάδας
Periphery	Ionian Islands
Capital	Lefkada (city)
Population	22,879 (2005)Ranked 54th
Area	355.936 km² Ranked 54th
Population density	64.3/km²Ranked 18th
Number of municipalities	6
Number of communities	2
Postal codes	31x xx
Area codes	26450
Licence plate code	ΕΥ
ISO 3166-2 code	GR-26
Website	www.lefkada.gr

Lefkada, or Leucas (Greek: Λευκάδα, IPA: [le̞fˈkaða]; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Λευκάς, Leukás; Italian: Santa Maura) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to the mainland by a long causeway and floating bridge, as well as the island's capital city. The city of Lefkada, is at the north of the island, approximately 20 minutes by automobile away from Aktion National Airport. The Prefecture of Lefkada comprises Lefkada island plus the smaller nearby islands of Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos, Madouri, Skorpios, and Sparti. It is the smallest prefecture of Greece in both land area and population (2001 census).

Lefkada Town (population: 6,903), has a pedestrianised main street, a marina, and bus access to Athens.

The east coast section of the island has small resorts of Lefkada, Nikiana and Perigiali, all north of the largest resort on the island—Nidri. It is set in a sheltered location with views across to Skorpios—owned by Aristotle Onassis, Meganissi and other small islands, as well as the Greek mainland. The main coastal road from Lefkada to Vasiliki runs through the town, although a bypass is being built. There are regular car ferries to Kefalonia, Ithaca and Meganissi.

20km south of Nidri is the resort of Vasiliki—a windsurfing center. There are ferries here to Kefalonia and Ithaca.

South of Vasiliki is Cape Lefkada, where renowned Greek female poet Sappho allegedly leapt to her death from the 100 foot (30m) high cliffs. There are spectacular views across to Ithaca and Kefalonia, however the 16km (10 mile) unpaved road is enough to put off all but the most determined.

Indeed, the myth about Sappho's suicide at Cape Lefkada is related to other myths linking the island to the ancient Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and to Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Odyssey. The German archaeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld, having performed excavations at various locations of Lefkada, was able to obtain funding to do work on the island by suggesting that Lefkada was Homer's Ithaca, and the palace of Odysseus was located west of Nidri off the south coast of Lefkada. There have been suggestions by local tourism officials that several passages in the Odyssey point to Lefkada as a possible model for Homeric Ithaca. The most notable of these passages pushed by the local tourism board describes Ithaca as an island reachable on foot, which was the case for Lefkada since it is not really an island, that it was connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. An attempt to create an account and reconstruction of Homeric Ithaca's geography to help build the myth of Lefkada as Ithaki is found at: [1]. (See also: Emile Mireaux: Daily Life in the Time of Homer. New York: MacMillan, 1959.)

The island of Lefkada (NASA World Wind satellite picture)

Main Square (Platea), Lefkada.

Porto Katsiki beach, Lefkada.

The West coast, facing the great expanse of the Mediterranean, has the famed beach of Porto Katsiki. To the North, there are numerous beaches, with pale golden sand and powerful waves—a sharp contrast to the more popular East Coast.

Lefkada was attached to mainland Greece (see above about Homer's Ithaca being Lefkada). The Corinthians dug a trench in the 7th century BC on its isthmus.^[1]

On August 14, 2003, the island was rocked by a powerful earthquake, measuring 6.4 on the Richter Scale, 30km (20m) off the west coast. There were some reports of minor injuries and damage. Roads were cut off by mudslides, especially the road linking the southern part of Lefkada. About a thousand vehicles left the island. The quake was felt in nearby Corfu, Kefalonia, and as far away as Athens.

[edit] Climate

The island has a typical Mediterranean climate: hot summers and cool winters, especially in the mountains.

[edit] Transport

• Greek National Road 42
• Two other roads

[edit] Municipalities and communities

Note: Meganisi, Kalamos, and Kastos are all on separate islands, whereas the rest of the above are actually on Lefkada Island itself.

See also: List of settlements in the Lefkada prefecture

[edit] Notable persons

(in chronological order)

• Aristotelis Valaoritis (1824-1879), poet
• Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), Irish-Japanese orientalist and writer, named after the island
• Dimitrios Golemis (1874-1941), athlete
• Aggelos Sikelianos (1884-1951), poet and playwright
• Panos Rontoyannis (1911-1996), philologist and historian
• Theodoros Stamos (1922-1997), Greek-American painter
• Apostolos Kaklamanis (1936), politician
• Agnes Baltsa (1944), opera singer
• Elli Stai (1954), journalist and talk show presenter
• Maria Vamvakinou (1959), Greek-Australian politician
• Spyros Vrettos (1960), poet
• Spyros Alexandros Karavias, (b. 1982), a.k.a DJ Baby G - South Beach, Miami, & Beyond
• Evagelia Aravani (1985), fashion model

[edit] Other

The fictional island Malden from the Video Game Operation Flashpoint is based on Lefkada. DJ Baby G (Spyrodinas Alexandros Karavias) considers Lefkada his home.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Lefkada

• Lefkada Prefecture
• Lefkada's island portal
• Information on the Lefkada Prefecture

Coordinates: 38°43′N, 20°39′E