Kefaloniá: Lixoúri & Palikí Peninsula

Ferries trundle regularly across the bay from Argostóli to the westerly Palikí peninsula and Lixoúri, Kefaloniá’s second city, all new houses on wide streets.

Lixoúri is known for its sense of humour, and in its central Plateía Petrítsi the town has put up a dapper statue of Andréas Laskarátos. Born into the island aristocracy, Laskarátos (1811–1901) was a poet and satirist who directed most of his broadsides at the Orthodox Church; he heckled the clergy so much that they finally excommunicated him – in Greek, aforismós, meaning that the body will not decompose after death. Laskarátos responded by collecting his innumerable children’s shoes and returned to the priest, asking him to please excommunicate the footwear, too.