Me and a friend stayed at Elisa apartments in May 2005, the apartment was spacious and kept very clean, it was all you would need for a very pleasant base and cooking for ourselves wasn't impossible but there was only two rings. I would recommend going for a second level up apartment as the balconies aren't as private below. We were in room 12 which had an upstairs double bedroom and downstairs two single beds with a lovely balcony with sea view and views over the gardens. I can agree that Lucia (the owner) is pretty noisy but not overly so, its quite authentic to hear her rattling on but we did have a couple of runins with her, she shouted at me for looking at the chickens and insisted that we had lost a butter knife and made us pay, this was all quite tricky as she doesn't speak English and seems to get agitated if you don't understand her. If it wasn't for her I would say the place is perfect, its only 3-5 minutes walk to the beach and 5-10 mins into the centre of Skala, it is partly uphill but you don't need to be very fit to make it up there with no problems. Skala is really lovely but we discovered Poros while we were there which seemed far more beautiful and Greek, we will stay in Poros next time as Kefalonia is certainly worth a revisit, its gorgeous, hire a car you won't be disapointed.

Had a really good morning ride out from Alisons riding stables at Lourdata/Lourdas, the horses are lovely, very well schooled and the tack and equipment is all safe and in good condition. The ride out doesn't involve galloping about at high speeds as the terrain wouldn't allow for it so I would recommend it for novices and experienced riders. Myself and my friend were both put on large horses one 17.1h and the other 15.2h+ that could easily carry us (as I find it awful when you get put on a tiny pony if you are a normal sized adult). I would recommend to book direct with Alison as both of you will do better out of it that way. I was happy to give my money to Alison, although the stables are a professional setup there was lots of rescued animals that were of no obvious benefit to the place financially (cats and horses alike) and I was glad to think our money would help make that possible. Alison, Jenny and Clemie (her two staff) are lovely people and our ride out was the highlight of our holiday.