Homer was not the only who rhapsodized Ithaki. At all times of history the island was the muse for many poets and men of letters.
One of the masterpieces of our great poet Constantine Kavafis (1863 – 1933) is titled: ITHACA. It is one of his most famous poems, which narrates in a unique way, the journey of life, inviting all people to seek for their own Ithaca.
Odysseus’ adventures symbolize the difficulties of life, Ithaca is every man’s destination, what he cherishes most in his life. And the journey personifies the route to knowledge, the philosophy of wisdom, which is completed only when he reaches up his Ithaca.

Ithaca (1911)
As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:
you' ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind -
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaca always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

K.Kavafis