Rock (Kefalonia)

In its present form, the village began to rebuild in 1956, when after a on August 12, 1953, the old city was destroyed, 36 residents were killed and hundreds were injured.

The Ancient Rock was much higher up the hill, 5 kilometers from the coast, due to the Greek tradition of building settlements further from the sea to avoid pirate attacks. The name "Rock" is translated from Greek as "staircase", which may be due to the appearance of the former settlement, which was located on the hillsides, which from a distance resembled a staircase.

Attractions

5 kilometers from the modern village are the ruins of the ancient Rock (destroyed by the 1953 earthquake) with the preserved foundations of the Roman era, religious and household buildings.

7 kilometers from the Rock, in the direction of the city of Poros, are the ruins of the ancient temple of Apollo dating back to the 7th century with well-preserved foundation stones and three Doric columns.

In 1957, the ruins of a Roman villa of the 3rd – 4th centuries with well-preserved floor mosaics were discovered by Greek archaeologists in the new Skala, near the central city core, near the sea coast.

After archaeological excavations and conservation of mosaics, the ruins of the villa were converted into a museum and are now available to visitors in the morning, accompanied by a local guide.

In 1957, the Agios Erasimos Church was built on the central square, built like a basilica and consecrated in honor of the particularly revered local Orthodox saint Gerasim of Kefalonia . The church has an iconostasis by modern Greek masters. On the northwest side, a three-tier bell tower with a clock located in the upper tier adjoins the church.

In the church (it is open to the laity only during divine services) there is an icon of the Mother of God revered by the inhabitants of the city, as well as an icon-painting image of St. Gerasim of Kefalonia with an ark fortified below the icon with part of the relics of a saint who labored on the island in the 16th century .

Current status

Currently, Skala is a resort designed to receive foreign tourists (mostly from the UK) who come from May to October on the sea coast.

The long (more than 3 kilometers) sand and pebble beach in Skala is considered one of the best in Kefalonia and is famous for its close and convenient location in relation to numerous private hotels, restaurants and bars. A fairly steep descent into the water and unsteady soil (a mixture of pebbles with sand) cause certain difficulties when leaving the water. The central part of the beach is equipped with numerous sun umbrellas and sunbeds (the cost of two places is 5-6 euros). Vast parts of the beach are not landscaped.

The city has about 30 private hotels and restaurants, 5 taverns and 10 bars, car rental services, 3 supermarkets, 2 travel agencies and about a dozen souvenir shops.

In summer, in the morning, two public transport buses leave from Skala to the administrative center of the island of Argostoli; In winter, the bus runs once a day. The return bus on the route Argostolion - Skala leaves in the afternoon, as most of the shops in the capital city of the island close at 14:00.

There is a regular bus on the route Skala - Poros.

Before the tourist boom of the 1990s, Skala was primarily a settlement with an agricultural bias. Most residents of the region have their own planting of grapes and olive trees. There are plantings of lemon, oranges, walnuts, almonds and fig trees.

Livestock is limited to raising sheep and goats (there is a small herd of cattle). Beekeeping is famous for its local honey with a touch of thyme.

The Skala community was created in 1912 ( Greek ΦΕΚ 248Α ) ^[4] . The community of Skala includes four settlements. The population of 923 is 2011 census ^[2] . The community area is 15,054 square kilometers ^[1] .