Holidays in Ionian Islands

The Ionian Islands (Greek: Ιόνια νησιά, Ionia nisia. Ancient Greek: Ἰόνιοι Νῆσοι, Ionioi Nēsoi. Italian: Isole Ionie) are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e. "the Seven Islands" (Greek: Ἑπτάνησα, Heptanesa, or Ἑπτάνησος, Heptanesos. Italian: Eptaneso), but the group includes many smaller islands as well as the seven principal ones. The seven are, from north to south:
Kerkyra (Κέρκυρα) usually known as Corfu in English
Ithaki (Ιθάκη) usually known as Ithaca in English
Kefalonia (Κεφαλλονιά) often known as Cephalonia and Kefallinia in English
Kythira (Κύθηρα) sometimes known as Cerigo in English
Lefkada (Λευκάδα) also known as Lefkas in English
Paxoi (Παξοί) also known as Paxos in English
Zakynthos (Ζάκυνθος) sometimes known as Zante in English
The six northern islands are off the west coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea. The seventh island, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, the southern part of the Greek mainland. Kythira is not part of the periphery of the Ionian Islands, as it is included in the periphery of Attica.
Latin transliteration, as well as Modern Greek pronunciation, may suggest that the Ionian Sea and Islands are somehow related to Ionia, an Anatolian region. In fact the Ionian Sea and Ionian Islands are spelled in Greek with an omicron (Ιόνια), whereas Ionia has an omega (Ιωνία). In Modern Greek this is purely a spelling distinction, but the different pronunciations in Ancient Greek would have eliminated the risk of confusion between the two areas. Furthermore, Ionian is accented on the antepenult. Also the proper adjective for Ionia is Ionic, not Ionian.
The islands themselves are known by a rather confusing variety of names. During the centuries of rule by Venice, they acquired Venetian names, by which some of them are still known in English (and in Italian). Kerkyra was known as Corfù, Ithaca as Val di Compare, Kythera as Cerigo, Lefkada as Santa Maura and Zakynthos as Zante.
A variety of spellings are used for the Greek names of the islands, particularly in historical writing. Kefalonia is often spelled as Cephallenia or Cephalonia, Ithaki as Ithaca, Kerkyra as Corcyra, Kythera as Cythera, Lefkada as Leucas or Leucada and Zakynthos as Zacynthus or Zante. Older or variant Greek forms are sometimes also used: Kefallinia for Kefallonia and Paxi or Paxos for Paxoi.