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Kefalonia

The unbroken contact maintained by the Kefalonians with West, the trade, the exchange of cultural goods, and the study of well-to-do young students at Western schools all contributed to the cultivation of a western-style liberal thought, and provided an impetus to civilization.

Thus, in a period in which the mainland of Greece had fallen into a cultural dream as a result of the oppressive Turkish domination, Kefalonia underwent a unique spiritual development.

"Karstic" formations are created by the presence of limestone on the island. The term "karstic" is derived from the name of the plateau "Karso" on the Adriatic coast. Over the centuries, the underground waters have eroded the limestone rock formations, resulting in passages and cavities on the earth's surface, as well as underground. Due to many earthquakes, most of the island's caves are bottomless.

The phenomenon of Katavothres in Argostoli was known for many centuries and became a subject for scientific study. Going against the laws of nature, the sea water flows into small deep holes in the entrance of Argostoli's natural port. There had been several theories about this phenomenon, yet the "mystery" remained unsolved.

The underground lake of Melissani was known to it's surrounding inhabitants since ancient times. The ancient Greeks had climbed into the cave using a rope. According to a myth, thousands of years ago there wasn't any water in the cave and the only contact with the earth's surface was through an underground passage. Swarms of bees lived in the cave. Huge honeycombs in the shape of stalactites dripped honey. This is perhaps the explanation for the name of the cave "Melissani". "Melissa" in Greek means bee. After several earthquakes, however, cracks opened in the rock formation. Consequently, the passage to the earth's surface was flooded and disappeared.

THE CAVE:
This bottomless cave is located in the Northeastern part of Kefalonia, 500m from the village of Karavomylos and approximately 30m above sea level. The cave's maximum length is 163m and its width is 25m at the height of the tunnel, and slightly larger in its northern part.

Walking down the tunnel, that was opened in 1963, one is faced by one of the most impressive sites in existence. One part of the cave's ceiling has collapsed into the lake, which resulted in an opening of 50m long and 30m wide.

This opening is surrounded by dense bushes, oaks, and olive trees. The opening is approximately 16m from the lake's surface. It is amazing that the sun's rays, depending on the time of day (mainly from 10.30 a.m. to 13.00 p.m.), change the colour of the lake's waters. This, in turn, gives different light effects on the walls of the cave.

Small boats await each visitor for a tour of the lake. The boatmen give a humorous guided tour of the lake and compare the various shapes of the stalactites and stalactites to different animal forms. The lake's water is a mixture of fresh and sea water. The ratio of fresh water to sea water is 5:1.

The water's hardness is 77.1 fresh degrees and it contains 5.3% chlorine. When the temperature outside is 23 C, the temperature of the lake's water is 14 C (readings by J. Petrochelos, September of 1951). After a drought in the summer of 1992, the lake's water was comparable to sea water. Due to its composition it is unsuitable for any kind of use. Fish cannot live in this environment. Only some spices of eel and mullet can survive and enter the lake through underwater channels from the sea. There is no sign of micro-organisms in the water.

Bats and wild pigeons have made nests in the ceiling's cavities which, over thousands of years, has resulted in a layer of manure on the small island and mainly on the eastern side of the island.

Findings in the cave originated from different eras, some from the Post-Classical period (the beginning of the 3rd century B.C.) and others from the early Hellenistic era (end of the 4th century B.C.). The absence of offerings originated from other eras is explained by the natural difficulties, which existed for the ancient believers to travel, in order to worship Pan and the Nymphs (in particular Nymph Melissani). All the findings are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Argostoli.
 

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