Anne Ju/Cornell Chronicle

Gail Holst-Warhaft, director of the Institute for European Studies' Mediterranean Initiative and leader of the delegation to Greece, peers into a storefront window in Vathi, capital of Ithaca, on Oct. 7. View a slide show of the trip to Ithaca.

ITHACA, GREECE -- Cornell's hometown is named for it, creating an unending link between two very different places. The Greek island of Ithaca is mountainous, remote and sparsely populated, particularly during the tourism off season.

But when a cold wind whipped as a glass-bottom boat full of Ithacans from New York sped toward the island, some remarked merrily that the temperature felt like home.

The Ionian island of Ithaca ('Ithaki' in Greek; pronounced Ith-AH-ki) is located west of Greece's mainland. The Oct. 7 day trip was one of several activities led by Greek hosts of a Cornell and Ithaca delegation spending about a week in Greece.

The delegation is being supported by a "Getting to Know Europe" grant awarded earlier this year to Cornell's Institute for European Studies (IES) by the European Union Commission. The grant allows Ithaca, N.Y., to "twin" with the municipality of Elios Proni, Greece, located on the southern end of the Greek Ionian island of Cephalonia. IES officials and the seven-member delegation are spending Oct. 3-11 in Elios Proni to both tour the island and engage Cephalonian counterparts in sharing ideas and resources.

Accompanied by Elios Proni Mayor Makis Metaxas and wine estate owners Yangos and Martine Metaxas and their daughter (no relation), the group boated for about an hour to the original Ithaca.

Anchoring first in Ithaca's capital, Vathi, the group took in the sights of a sleepy but picturesque off-season town. Boating next to Kioni, a town on the northeastern coast where the group stopped for lunch, they gazed at a house built famously120 years ago by a British woman, Elizabeth Hamilton, and her Ithacan sea captain husband.

Docking again near a small island called Pera Pigadi off Ithaca's southeastern coast, some of the braver members of the group took to the clear, blue Ionian waters for a swim.

The group is engaging in a string of activities and meetings throughout the Cephalonia trip, including meetings with government officials, visits to schools and tours of other parts of the island.