Cape Doukato (Sappho's Leap)

The southwesternmost point of Lefkada — a stark white limestone cliff dropping 70 m to a tossing sea, with a modern lighthouse and the bare remains of a temple of Apollo. The cape is associated in classical legend with the death of the poet Sappho, and gave the island its name: Lefkada meaning "white" in Greek.

The road out is rough but driveable. There is no shade and not much shelter; bring water and avoid the middle of the day in summer.

things to do sight
A story
According to the ancient Greek tradition, the poet Sappho leapt to her death from this cliff after being rejected by the ferryman Phaon. The cape became a kind of ritual suicide spot in classical antiquity; the priests of the nearby temple of Apollo Leukatas would even throw condemned criminals from the cliff, sometimes with feathers attached to break their fall.

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