Ithaca is one of the Greek islands that you should visit. It is located in the Ionian Sea and has some of the most beautiful beaches!
So let’s dig into some more trivia and facts about this greek island!
- Ithaca, Ithaki or Ithaka is a Greek island located in the Ionian Sea
- Off the northeast coast of Kefalonia
- And to the west of continental Greece
- Ithaca’s main island has an area of 96 square kilometres (37 sq mi)
- And had a population in 2011 of 3,231
- It is the second-smallest of seven main Ionian Islands, after Paxi
- Ithaca is a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region
- And the only municipality of the regional unit
- The capital is Vathy (or Vathi)
- Modern Ithaca is generally identified with Homer’s Ithaca
- The home of Odysseus
- Whose delayed return to the island is the plot of the classical Greek tale the Odyssey
- Although the name Ithaca has remained unchanged since ancient times, written documents of different periods also refer to the island by other names
- These are Val di Compare (Valley of the Bestman), Piccola (Small) Cephallonia, Anticephallonia (Middle Ages until the beginning of the Venetian period), Ithaki nisos (Greek for island), Thrakoniso, Thakou, Thiakou (Byzantine period), Thiaki (Byzantine and before the Venetian period), Teaki (Venetian period), Fiaki (Ottoman period)
- The island has been inhabited since the 2nd millennium BC
- It may have been the capital of Cephalonia during the Mycenaean period
- And the capital-state of the small kingdom ruled by Odysseus
- The Romans occupied the island in the 2nd century BC
- And later it became part of the Byzantine Empire
- The Normans ruled Ithaca in the 13th century
- After a short Turkish rule it fell into Venetian hands
- Ithaca was subsequently occupied by France
- Under the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio
- It was liberated by a joint Russo-Turkish force commanded by admirals Fyodor Ushakov and Kadir Bey in 1798
- And subsequently became a part of the Septinsular Republic
- Which was originally established as a protectorate of the Russian Empire and Ottoman Empire
- It became a French possession again in 1807
- Until it was taken over by the United Kingdom in 1809
- Under the 1815 Treaty of Paris, Ithaca became a state of the United States of the Ionian Islands
- A protectorate of the British Empire
- In 1830 the local community requested to join with the rest of the newly restored nation-state of Greece
- Under the 1864 Treaty of London, Ithaca, along with the remaining six Ionian islands, were ceded to Greece as a gesture of diplomatic friendship to Greece’s new Anglophile king, George I
- The United Kingdom kept its privileged use of the harbour at Corfu
- The origins of the first people to inhabit the island, which occurred during the last years of the Neolithic period (4000–3000 BC), are not clear
- The traces of buildings, walls and a road from this time period prove that life existed and continued to do so during the Early Hellenic era (3000–2000 BC)
- In the years (2000–1500 BC) some of the population migrated to part of the island
- The buildings and walls that were excavated showed the lifestyle of this period had remained primitive
- Ithaca lies east of the northwest coast of Cephalonia
- From which it is separated by the Strait of Ithaca
- The regional unit covers an area of 117.812 square kilometres (45.5 sq mi)
- And has approximately 100 kilometres (62 miles) of coastline
- The main island stretches in the north-south direction
- In length of 23 km (14 miles)
- And maximum width of 6 km (4 miles)
- It consists of two parts, of about equal size, connected by the narrow isthmus of Aetos (Eagle)
- Just 600 metres (1,969 feet) wide
- The two parts enclose the bay of Molos
- Whose southern branch is the harbor of Vathy, the capital and largest settlement of the island
- The second largest village is Stavros in the northern part
- Lazaretto Islet (or Island of The Saviour) guards the harbor
- The church of The Saviour and the remains of an old gaol are located on the islet
- The capes in the island include Exogi, the westernmost, Melissa to the north, Mavronos, Agios Ilias, Schinous, Sarakiniko and Agios Ioannis, to the east, and Agiou Andreou, to the south
- Bays include Afales Bay to the northwest, Frikes and Kioni Bays to the northeast, Molos Gulf to the east, and Ormos Gulf and Sarakiniko Bay to the southeast
- The tallest mountain is Nirito in the northern part (806 m)
- Followed by Merovigli (669 m) in the south
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