Editor’s Note

We arrived in 2006 at the island of Lefkada, which few in our country had heard of.

The main feeling I remember is amazement that returns again and again from the nature and beauty that strikes you repeatedly on this magical island as we traveled and visited from beach to beach and bay to bay.

I, an experienced traveler who has traveled to many different places in the world, from Central, North and South America, around the Mediterranean, through classical Europe to Asia and the Far East; after thinking I had encountered beautiful and unusual beaches, I was surprised to discover that there is an island right under our noses whose regions and shores are among the most beautiful in the world.

The landscape of the east coast of Lefkada island is very reminiscent of Italy and the Tuscany region, the island is full of giant olive trees combined with giant trees surrounded by streams and flowing water in an evergreen forest. Also, landscapes reminiscent of Costa Rica can be found up the mountain as you delve deeper into the high mountains passing through a jungle of large trees.

The first settlers on Lefkada island arrived from the Bronze Age. There are museums throughout the island where you can see archaeology from this period.

Afterwards, the Italians ruled the island and with their arrival around 1940, they planted hundreds of thousands of olive trees that can be encountered in every corner of the island. Special and old giant trees with large, branched and sculpted trunk diameters.

Lefkada island was originally a very poor island, the locals were characterized as friendly and welcoming, and to this day are known for their warm hospitality. Its main breakthrough into Greek and world consciousness was when Onassis, the great shipping magnate, bought the island of “Scorpios” (Greek for scorpion), if you look at it from above and/or from a bird’s eye view, its shape resembles a scorpion.

Onassis, who later married Jacqueline Kennedy after JFK’s assassination, is a legend among the people of Lefkada island. They say he moved around the island like a god. Even today, if you catch a conversation with a local and ask them about Onassis, you can see their admiring reaction. By the way, until recently it was possible to swim on the shores of the island with the family’s permission; one could arrive by boat and simply swim on the beautiful shores of the island. Later, and just in the last year, Onassis’s daughter sold the island to a Russian billionaire. The island’s residents were quite angry about this act because the claim is that Onassis wrote in his will that after his death and after 99 years of ownership of the island “Scorpios”, the family would return the island to the local residents. Apparently, his daughter had completely different plans.

Another island that is part of the Ionian island group is Meganisi island. You can also reach Meganisi island by a very short sailing from Lefkada island (about 10-15 minutes), a beautiful and special island. The Rothschild family plans to build a settlement there including villas and golf courses. This island was also owned by the Onassis family.

When I arrived at Porto Katsiki beach, the rocky coasts of Mexico came to my memory. A powerful and strong beach, azure waters, pleasant sand that doesn’t stick to the body on one hand and doesn’t hurt the feet on the other.

The beach at the fishermen’s bay in Vasiliki. A pebble beach in a bay bounded by green mountain ranges to the west and east, and to the south you can see the nearby island group “Ithaca” and on days with good visibility from Lefkada island, the island of “Zakynthos”.

Special hotels are located on the beach, for example Portofico Hotel, a small hotel with 30 rooms, some facing the sea and some facing the mountains; a brilliant and orderly hotel, every year the owner, who is from Lefkada island, and his wife, originally Australian, renovate it. Spacious and pleasant rooms. A light and nutritious breakfast and just walking distance from everything in the Vasiliki town area.

In Vasiliki, the third largest city on Lefkada island, you can find everything; in the village there are several excellent windsurfing clubs because wind from the valley rises precisely every day and treats the surfers to wonderful wind. A diving club, where you can enjoy both diving courses and dives at interesting sites such as beautiful caves and crevices.

The underwater wildlife on the island is spectacular.

In our first year staying on Lefkada island, after being amazed by the beauty of the island, I was very curious about what was happening underwater.

So I bought fishing and snorkeling equipment in the island’s shops: mask, snorkel, fins, weights, float, speargun and even a wetsuit, and set out in search of the ideal place to dive on the island.

I went from place to place to understand where the best places to fish were. After a lot of ouzo with my acquaintances, they agreed to reveal to me the best places. On the way to the lighthouse in the southern part of the island and on the eastern side of the island, there are tiny dreamy coves that I managed to reach with a 4×4 vehicle early in the morning.

The moment I lowered my head below the water surface, I discovered clear water with visibility at a distance of 20-30 meters.

A huge starfish population that simply took over the entire reef. Starfish can be encountered underwater only when the water is clear, clean, and unpolluted. Starfish are the best indication of clean water. The seabed drops to an immense depth after just a few meters. Just as there are high mountains on land, so there are under water.

I remember one special dive after a storm that hit the island. The storm and waves brought into the bays of Lefkada an amount of fish I had never seen in my life. When I dived deep, I saw more fish than water and of all types and colors. A rare sight.

Lefkada island can be circled in 3 and a half hours. And crossed from north to south in 45 minutes. However, the surface area of Lefkada island is 480 square kilometers.

There are very high mountains on the island that reach heights of over 1000 meters. I highly recommend on one of the days to start climbing up especially from the eastern part towards the west. After the late afternoon, the sun’s rays penetrate through the trees and between the leaves and create a rare sight. As you climb up the mountain, you will reach small and special villages, where you will meet the real Greece.

Look for the village of “Karya”. This village is known and recognized because the village girls weave at a high level. Most of the works are handmade or works with a large loom like hundreds of years ago.

There is a museum in the village of “Karya” that explains and tells the history and evolution of weaving in the place.

The fishing town of Vasiliki, made up of simple fishermen’s houses descending to the sea with their small boats every morning in order to supply the great demand of the island’s tourists to taste the fresh fish.

The boats tied to the dock in the small marina and the Ionian Sea in deep blue colors combined with green, draw you to eat at a wooden table and chairs by the water’s edge. The restaurants that are passed down from generation to generation in the family offer an abundance of fresh fish and seafood. The tavernas bring out to the front on a tray full of ice the fish of the day and you can choose your dish from this tray.

A small tip – always, but always, ask to enter the kitchen to see how your dish is prepared or to peek, chat and smile with the kitchen staff who are honored to let you enjoy their handiwork wrapped in love.

I want to recommend 2 main restaurants to you, Vagelaras Taverna, a restaurant that has existed for over 100 years. I recommend looking at the pictures on the restaurant walls to understand how this small village on Lefkada island looked.

And the Dolphin restaurant, also a fish and local dishes restaurant. In both, you can eat both fresh seafood and excellent Greek dishes such as moussaka, cheeses, grape leaves, and everything the Greek cuisine has to offer.

The local reception revealed in us feelings of complete love for the place.

Our arrival at Lefkada island was by chance, as we had not heard of the island before. After years of working in a business I had in England and a mother who had been an employee for over 20 years.

My mother and her partner, Hani Arbel, decided to build a house – a place for people to recover. A place that would return a person’s soul to its right place, to where it should be.

And so it was, my mother and her partner stood on a magical piece of land to which they connected, with a dreamy view in the west of the island towards the Ionian Sea. And they started with the statement “here it will be and will be built”

And so, with the help of a local contractor, engineer, and architect. We built Serenity Boutique Hotel. A hotel with only 6 suites! And gives a warm and loving feeling to those who enter its gates.

And indeed, the place does its job. The hotel guests leave happy and satisfied, claiming that this is the best vacation they have ever had. Simply perfect.

When we opened Serenity Boutique Hotel. After a year and a half of planning and construction. All the people of our village “Atanio” (Atanio) made a pilgrimage to honor the opening event of the hotel.

The old widows from the village walked to the hotel holding flowers in their hands. They sat in the hotel lobby in perfect silence with a deep connection and appreciation for nature. All the hotel visitors came full of gifts to bless and wish luck to the new place. Fotoni’s family from the small grocery store, the young people of the village with their smiling faces, and all the oldest families in the village pushed checks and cash into our pockets as if we were at a circumcision ceremony celebrating the birth of a place that would bring goodness and light to the world.

As time went on and into the night, and slowly after considerable amounts of alcohol, the sounds of laughter grew louder, the locals began to dance their traditional Greek dance. I remember one woman, a dominant woman, mother of 2 children from a local family from the village, standing in the middle of the circle and dancing. Her dance amazed all the people around, so powerful, strong, and dominant it was that it penetrated my soul. They say that the traditional Greek dance is danced from the soul. It has no rules. Only the soul will determine what dance the body will yield.

As we walked down the picturesque street of the town of Agios Nikitas in the northwestern part of Lefkada island, we enjoyed the colorful tavernas hidden within flowery plant pots and trees.

I remember a woman who asked me if I thought there were fish in this sea and if the locals fished. As soon as she finished her sentence, a boat arrived and unloaded a huge swordfish of 40-50 kg. Within minutes, one of the taverna owners cleaned the fish and sliced it into huge steaks that were immediately on the plates of the village visitors.

Beer and mezze are consumed on the shoreline with a wonderful view of the open sea. Shepherds arrived with their hands loaded with cheeses they produced in our neighboring sheepfold.

From the first moment our feet stepped on Lefkada island, we felt we had come home. Not in many places in the world do you feel at home. Lefkada you don’t want to leave and moreover you want to live and die in it.

Everything is better, the cleanest air possible can be breathed freely especially between the endless green forests that kiss the blue sea waters.

The website www.lefkada.co.il, the first site went live in 2008, we built after much investment.

The purpose of the site is to share with you the great enjoyment of this island, what it gives. The nature, the people, the beaches, the sea, the restaurants, tavernas, bars, and magical villages.

To guide you to the small and hidden corners. The special beaches that took us years to discover. The tastiest restaurants at the best price on the island. We will send you to specific people on the island who will receive you with a huge smile and pamper you with all the good things the island has to offer.
In addition, we will direct you to the best accommodation places.

Accommodation places that did not meet the standards we set for our customer base will not appear on our site.

However, there are magical and especially cheap accommodation places that we will know to send you exactly to them. The site will guide you travelers and vacationers to the best and highest quality places. Central tourist places and places that only locals know in order to experience the real, traditional, and authentic Greece.

Lefkada/Lefkas in Greek means white, most of the island is composed of limestone. Which dissolves into the “Ionian” sea, on every beach you can find different shades and hues of blue. And the reason is limestone grains in different sizes. Which give different clarity to the water. The most beautiful colors can be experienced and seen in the western part of Lefkada island.

Best regards,

Idan Seroussi