One Week in the Ionian Islands: Day 5 – Ithaca

Did the end of summer catch up with anyone else like it did for us?! Now with fall just around the corner, we’re jumping back in with the recaps of our weeklong sailing trip around the Greek Ionian Islands. In the last post, we shared our full day on the island of Zakynthos. Today, we’re sharing about our day on the beautiful –and surprisingly lively– island of Ithaca (or Ithaki).

A Week in the Ionian Islands: Day 5 – Ithaca

Morning on the Aegeotissa II Sailing to Ithaca

The night before were up quite late (or really early morning) experiencing the famous clubs of Zakynthos’ Laganas strip. So, needless to say when the Aegeotissa II got going in the morning, we were still sleeping! It worked out, though, because this was one of the longer sailing distances of the week (though not nearly as long as our sail to Kefalonia).

Around 11:30 am, the captain docked in a quaint inlet for our daily swim stop and lunch break: our cue to get out of bed!

The water was perfectly calm so we also got out the paddleboards to explore the cove.

Cooled off from the refreshing swim, we headed up to the boat deck to snap some photos (and check out our mega yacht neighbors).

WC also popped into the Captain’s bridge for a quick photo opp. (Yes, the boat was safely docked at the time. LOL!)

After another delicious Greek lunch, several of us went back to the boat deck to enjoy the scenery on the way into port. I think this may have been the first morning I actually fit in some reading time as well. It was definitely one of the more leisurely mornings we had on the trip!

We got a stellar view arriving into the Vathi port on Ithaca island. I think it’s the prettiest harbor we docked at in the Ionian Islands with colorful homes decorating the hills around the waterfront.

Afternoon in Ithaca

Around 3:30 pm, we were docked in Ithaca’s Vathi (or Vathy) port and ready to explore! Vathi is the largest town of Ithaca as well as the capital, but still one of the quieter ports we visited. If you’re trying to decide whether to include Ithaca on your Greece trip, don’t let the seclusion deter you. It’s a stunning island with lots of history and natural attractions. I wish we’d had more time to explore!

Walking along the harbor, you’ll pass a bunch of restaurants with tables set up right along the waterfront. Most seemed to be open during the day but as mentioned it was pretty quiet at this time.

Just past the strip of marina restaurants, you’ll reach the main Vathi square. In the middle of this hot June day it was pretty deserted but there were a handful of shops open for business.

Other than the beautiful views, probably the other most “iconic” shots of Ithaca are the statues. Of course, we had to take a funny photo of WC posing with Homer. An Ithaca figure, Homer authored the Odyssey, an epic poem about Greek hero Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca after the Trojan War. I actually had no idea the Odyssey was a poem and not a “book” until this visit.

And that brings us to the other iconic statue in Vathi’s square: Odysseus. It’s a two-sided statue with Odysseus looking out at the sea on one side and struggling to paddle back to Ithaca on the other side.

After wandering the port in the heat, we were ready for a break. We stopped at Sõddis, a coffee and cocktail shop with a great view of the Aegeotissa II docked in the distance. We started with a round of drinks and then moved on to second-wind afternoon affogatos.

By this time, it was late afternoon and we headed back to the boat to start getting ready for the evening. On the agenda: a white party and Captain’s dinner to celebrate our friend Mike’s 70th birthday!

Evening in Ithaca

We thought Ithaca would be one of our quietest evenings, but boy were we wrong! After showers and changing into our white attire, we gathered on the boat deck for some group photos. With 23 of us on this trip, a full group photo was hard to come by! Here we’re pictured with Aegeotissa II captain Demetrius (taking the selfie) and crew member Stavros (sitting in the front).

Mike’s 70th birthday party was such a memorable evening! After dinner, the crew brought out a cake for Mike and we all sang.

And then to make it even more special, Stefi, the owner of the boat (also chef), gave Mike a souvenir stone she painted! We were all almost in tears when she presented it to him. Also, doesn’t Mike look fabulous and nowhere near 70?!

After dinner, we cranked up the tunes and had our own little dance party (glow sticks and all) on the boat deck for a couple hours.

We also finally broke out the polaroid cameras we brought with us and there are lots of fun pics looking back — most of them from our white party night in Ithaca!

Then we looked across the water and saw what appeared to be some happening bar spots with bright lights and music so, naturally, we had to trek around the harbor to check it out! Once we made it to the other side of the Vathi harbour, we found a handful of bars all packed inside and out. Since we had a big group, we found the one that was the least crowded and basically took over. I wish we could remember the name (couldn’t even find it looking on a map), but it definitely had great tunes + tasty cocktails!

It was a surprisingly happening evening on Ithaca compared to how quiet it was during the daytime. Everyone must have been on siesta preparing for the night out!

And that’s how we finished off our visit to Ithaca!

Going to bed that night was a little bittersweet as we knew the next morning would be our final day of sailing to Lefkada, the last stop on our Ionian Islands trip. In our next post we’ll share the highlights and how we wrapped up our week in Greece.

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