One kilometer before Kioni, the road passes Mavrounas Bay. The landscape is full of trees reaching down to the beautiful clean beaches which are ideal for swimming and fishing.

A dirt road and paths lead down to the bay where a battle took place between the inhabitants and pirates in 1650's. After their victory over the pirates, out of gratitude the people decided to establish at this site the monastery of Agios Nicholaos, which functioned until the end of the last century.

The buildings were destroyed by the earthquakes of 1953 but fortunately the church was left standing. An interesting and unusual object in this church is a an ancient column set at the alter which was probably from an ancient temple that stood in this area.

Between Mavrounas and Kioni Bays, the inhabitation of Rachi, belonging to the community of Kioni, sits on the hill. The view from this point is infinite not only of both the bays, but of the islands and land east of Ithaca. In Rachi the church of Panagia Evangelestria is interesting to visit, also are the several traditional houses which resisted the earthquakes.

From Rachi there are two ways down to Kioni, winding its way down through the houses, or the other descending into a glen full of olive trees, which belong to the people of the village. Both ways have a scenic view of the village which extends around the seashore of the bay and up the slopes of the hills coming into the bay.

Kioni means a small column. According to tradition a column was set down in the beach during the Middle Ages for pirates and some fishermen to secure their boats.

The inhabitation was established at the end of the 16th century by people from the mountain village of Anoghi, first settling around Argalios, at the lower slope of Neritos mountain and later they extended to the other areas.

During the 19th century there were over 1,000 people living in the village. The number of businesses were very successful, because the surrounding areas were cultivated and many of the people had a variety of skills. From the beginning of this century the population started to slowly decrease until 1950, when it declined abruptly. Today the permanent residents are less than 200 people.

In Kioni, like all the other villages of Ithaca the amount of people multiplies in the summer months. A large percentage of the residents who immigrated elsewhere and sailors, come back to visit at this time of the year. Also the number of tourist visitors on the island is steadily increasing and dozens of yachts stop daily at the picturesque village.

The central church of the village Agios Ioanis, was destroyed by time and rebuilt, and a second time by earthquakes, where fortunately the reredos and icons were not harmed and are in the Agios Ioanis which exists today. Very few houses survived the earthquakes, of which the two story buildings on the wharf, are the more interesting, having renaissance characteristics. The three semi-ruined mills standing at the bay's entrance operated when Ithaca had a large production in wheat, until beginning of this century.

Two large festivities with live music and dance take place in Kioni, the 24th of June is for Agios Ioanis and the 20th of July for Agios Elias, which is a small church, at a distance of one mile from the three mills, built on the rocks by the sea. On the 20th of July, the people of Kioni reach the small church with their fishing boats to attend the holy service.

There are many rooms to rent in hostels and houses at the village, also taverns and coffee shops where backgammon can by played, stores for food, beaches and boat rentals. There are four bays for swimming and fishing. A bus coming from Vathy offers public transportation two or three times daily via Stavros and Platrithias.

During the summer a boat is also a means of transportation to Vathy, which by sea is only 6 miles away.