|
 |
Walk to Dafnoudi Beach and WW2 Gun
Emplacements
|
|
|
This walk
starts at the "To Pefko" taverna in Antipata and will
take you to Dafnoudi beach and the German gun
emplacements from WW2. Allow around half an hour to get
to the gun emplacements and add another 30 minutes if
you wish to stop at the beach.
If you wish to start this walk from Fiscardo, you need
to start with the
Deserted Village walk and then continue as above. |
|
 |
Take the the road that runs from the
main road, directly past the "To Pefko" Restaurant.
Follow the road restaurant, this meanders past a few
small houses and descends into the valley below. |
| After around
ten minutes there is a sharp bend to the right and on
your right, a large dilapidated but magnificent house.
To imagine the former glory of this house, take a peek
at the walled gardens, vine shaded sun terraces and
imposing entrance gates. This was once the largest house
in the area and commandeered by the occupying German
troops as a command residence. |
 |
|
 |
Now continue
along the road for a further ten minutes. You need to
look carefully amongst the trees and bushes to your
right. You should soon see a steep track leading to your
right. This is sometimes marked by a crude sign in a
tree and the beginning of the track is now white gravel.
This descends quite steeply and is relatively rough
underfoot so sturdy shoes are advised. The scramble up
and down will take about ten minutes each way. |
|
|
After your
visit to the beach just rejoin the tarmac road and
continue downwards. After around 500 metres the tarmac
comes to an abrupt end. Just in case you hadn't noticed,
there is a sign "End of Road" to bring this to your
attention! There is now a track leading to your left.
Take this track and continue along looking to your right
as you go. After around 5 minutes, on a terrace below
the track you should see what appears to be a large
circle of concrete. On closer inspection you will notice
that threaded studs protrude from the concrete. These
are the mountings for the large German cannons that were
used to guard the entrance to the shipping channels
between Lefkas, Ithaca and Kefalonia. |
 |
| |
 |
Walk down and
take a look around. Behind the mountings, in the rock
face you will witness what was, an amazing feat of
engineering. There are two steep tunnels carved deep
into the rock. These lead to a series of chambers, all
man made, that comprised the ammunition stores and
billets for the gun crews. It was a considerable
achievement if you remember this was constructed by
German army engineers using local labour. The locals
were paid for the efforts in special issue military
currency. |
| |
A word of warning - although you
may be tempted to explore the tunnels, beware! There
could well be remnants of unexploded ammunition in
addition to snakes and scorpions resident here. |
| |
|
|
|
|
