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| View from our hotel room balcony |
The Greek island of Corfu sits in the Adriatic Sea on the
Italian side of Greece, across from the heal of Italy. Unlike the dramatic starkness of Aegean islands like
Santorini, et al, Corfu is lush and green with an Italian feel to it. Which is not
surprising since Corfu was occupied by the Venetians for more than 400 years.
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| The Venetian Lion |
Like many of these small islands, Corfu has been invaded
over and over: by the Greeks, Romans, Sicilians, Venetians, French, and
British. However, the Venetians left the most lasting impression, and the
Venetian lion, symbol of the Republic, is carved on buildings throughout the
capitol city of Corfu Town.
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One of the gorgeous flowers
on this lush island |
Our reason for coming here is to slow down and relax --
something a bit different for us. Visiting Corfu is all about balmy weather, sandy beaches, and swaying palm trees. We rented a car and each day set out to
explore a different part of the island. We were here in the off season (which
still seemed pretty busy to us), but we lucked out with the weather, arriving
during what one Corfiot shopkeeper called “a little summer, a miracle in
October.” Yes, the "Corfu-ian" people call themselves the "Corfiot".
Our one big disappointment was that we were unable to do a
planned day trip to Albania. We had booked an excursion thru our hotel expecting
to visit nearby Albania, a place we have never seen. This is not a country with lines
of tourists trying to enter, so we would probably never get there any other
way other than by happenstance. The jaunt from Corfu for one day
would have been perfect, but the evening before our trip, the front desk called
us and told us that our trip was cancelled.
What? Nasty storms were predicted
for the day of our travel, and the tour company would not cross the channel with
their Mickey Mouse ferries during a storm.
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Nasty sea on the day we were scheduled to
ferry over to Albania |
We had to agree with them, as we weren’t anxious to meet our demise
somewhere in an unknown waterway between Corfu and Albania. Of course, the day turned out to be beautifully
sunny. Ironically, the stormy weather that caused our tour to be cancelled, was initially a non-event; thus, we had a real live SNAFU on CORFU!! Heh, heh. But wait: we have
to come clean and admit that the weather degraded as the day progressed, and we did get rain and
extremely high winds on the day our tour would have gone. So it really was for
the best.
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| Corfu Town with the New Fortress in the background |
Corfu Town
Corfu Town is situated on the sea between two mighty
fortresses simple known as The Old Fortress and the The New Fortress (relatively
speaking as in 17th c.).
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| Former palace in Corfu Town |
This is definitely Anne’s kind of town. Lots of fun shopping, and buildings with the crumbling, faded elegance look she likes so well. The ambiance is definitely Italian, and we could easily imagine we were in Venice or Sicily.
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| Saint Spyridon church |
A major sight in Corfu Town is the Saint Spyridon church,
honoring the patron saint of Corfu. Saint Spyridon is quite venerated, and
inside the church, there is always a line to see him. Anne joined the queue and
noticed that as people walked up to view the casket, they leaned way over and
seemed to be kissing it -- once at the bottom of the casket and once at the
top. When she got closer, she saw that two sections of the casket were exposed
beneath a sheet of clear glass. The lower section offered a view of the Saint’s
little feet all donned up in fancy brightly-colored shoes. The upper section
exposed the black, rotting face of the corpse with two gleaming teeth still hanging
in his gaping mouth. It was all Anne could do not to gasp in horror. What she
remembers are those teeth and the smudged glass where all those kisses were
deposited.
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| Piperitsa pizzeria on Saint Spyridon Square |
To celebrate the Italian side of this island, we ate lunch
at a pizzeria called Piperitsa. The café was located on a sparkling square
behind San Spyridon church. The food was great, and as we sat under the outdoor
umbrellas, a choir of young people made some heavenly music, singing
"a cappella" in
the square taking advantage of the fine acoustics provided by the towering
stone buildings. One of those very special travel moments.
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| Bright orange kumquat liqueurs |
We had another special moment when we met Aphrodite, a vendor
with a shop where kumquats were sold. Kumquats are very popular on Corfu and
eaten as snacks, as part of local dishes, and are even found in a bright,
orange kumquat liqueur.
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| Candied kumquats |
Aphrodite was so friendly and a good salesperson too -
we bought two containers of candied kumquats, one for now and one to take home
for later. The kumquats are a delicious blend of sweet and sour, and the first
bite is the best when the inner juices explode in your mouth. Unfortunately, kumquats are quite sour on the
vine and only edible when saturated with a sugary syrup. They are scrumptious,
but not exactly a health food!
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| Sweet Aphrodite |
The next day, we happened to eat dinner across the street
from Aphrodite’s shop. We exchanged greetings with her, and then a few minutes
later, she came back to give us a container of chocolate-covered kumquats! We
couldn’t believe it and were very touched by her kindness. You’ve heard the
sayings about “Greeks bearing gifts.” Well it is absolutely true, all
throughout Greece. And Aphrodite’s unexpected gift to us is a good example.
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| The Old Fortress of Corfu Town |
Old Fortress
Corfu Town’s Old Fortress stands overlooking the sea across
a small bay from our hotel. The craggy fortress looks almost like a ship moored
along the seaside. In the pictures, you can see the clock tower about half-way
up and the cross-shaped antenna at the very top.
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| Climbing the Old Fortress |
The hike up looked quite daunting, but we decided to enter
the site just to hike up to the first level.
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| Clock Tower in the Old Fortress |
Well once we got to the clock
tower, we wanted to keep going all the way to the top.
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| Made it to the top of the Old Fortress! |
The views at the top
were fabulous with panoramic views of the town and across the sea to the Greek
mainland and even north to Albania.
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| Achilleon Palace |
Achilleon Palace
The first day we had a car, we headed south of Corfu Town to
visit Achilleon Palace, the Corfu residence of Empress Elizabeth of Austria
(aka "Sissy").
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| Sissy with her tiny 19-inch waist |
"Sissy" was renowned for her beauty (particularly her 19-inch
waist), and she was so popular, that much like Princess Diana, she was hounded
by the press.
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| Statue of the lovely Sissy |
Sissy hated the rigid life at the Austrian court, and she liked
to travel by herself whenever she could. In one instance, she arrived in a new
town, and the local officials wanted to give her a royal welcome. Sissy sent
her hairdresser masquerading as the Empress herself. Meanwhile the real Sissy watched
the proceedings from a nearby café where she ate ice cream incognito.
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Frank admires one of the many Greek
statues on the terrace at Achilleon Palace |
On one of her travels, she came to Corfu and was captivated
by the island, Greek mythology, and the peaceful lifestyle. Her Palace reflects
her unique style and her love of all things Greek. She had the Palace of Achillion built as one of her travel respites, and named it after Homer's Greek hero "Achilles"; she loved his beauty and his strength. Sadly, Sissy was murdered by
an anarchist in Geneva when she was 60 years old.
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| At Paleokastritsa Beach |
Paleokastritsa
Paleokastritsa is one of the most beautiful beaches on Corfu.
The relatively small beach is surrounded by rugged cliffs and unusual rock
formations. One thing we have noticed is that beaches on Corfu tend to be quite
small and narrow, but it doesn’t seem to matter because people spend all their
time in the gorgeous blue-green water.
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| Stunning view from the Paleokitstrikia Monastery |
We drove up a steep and winding road to the Monastery of
Paleokastritsa where we had even more dramatic views of the surroundings. Seems
that most people who come to Corfu hole up in one of the many beach towns and spend
their time enjoying the sea.
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| Beautiful little inlet at Kassiopi |
Kassiopi
Kassiopi is a lively beach town in the stunning northeast
part of the island. We followed the sea all along the eastern seaboard taking
in fantastic scenery the whole way. Kassiopi is a lot like beach towns all over
the world with plenty of shops selling chintzy souvenirs and flip-flops, but we
loved the vibe here. And the small inlets along the northern shore looked so
inviting, we wanted to dive in.
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| Inches count when driving on Corfu! |
Local Life of the
Corfiots
We had a car on Corfu for 4 days, but we never saw a police
officer on the roads, not once. We did
see two cops down in Corfu Town giving out parking citations, but there were
none around to issue moving violations. Seems like the cops here are glorified
meter maids. Speaking of parking, we were told that you can park anywhere you
can find a space, although we did see two cops deservedly giving a ticket to a
car that was blatantly blocking somebody’s driveway. But seriously, parking around Corfu Town is
the biggest hodge-podge we’ve ever seen.
You can park in almost any place you can slide your vehicle into; the
smaller your car, the better! A
motorcycle is certainly ideal.
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| Corfu's alluring scenery can be a distraction on the roads |
The rules for drivers on Corfu seem to be non-existent too; you
basically do what you want. Yes, the
basics are there. You drive on the right,
you stop at stop signs, you obey traffic lights (if they are working!), and
please don’t run any of the multitude of pedestrians down. If the traffic lights worked, we could
probably obey them, but in many cases, the lights weren’t operating at all! Very disconcerting. It was a free-for-all at many 4-way intersections with the boldest drivers getting thru first, while the timid remained
stuck with a slew of pissed off horn-honking drivers behind them.
Another issue is the one-way streets. Many times they are not marked at all – how
would you know? We found out the hard way when a waiter at an outdoor café blocked our passage and waved us off as we started to enter an unmarked one-wayer. Even when they are
marked, they may not be truly one way. You will be driving down a one-way
street with the road entirely to yourself, and here comes Joe the ass right at you. Now, the street was marked one way for a
reason – because two vehicles are unable to fit. But Joe the ass is here now, and you gotta deal
with that. You need to navigate around him, unless of course you know fluent
Greek, and are able to get out and chew him out for his less that acceptable driving skills. But you can’t even do that, because next time
you might be Joe the ass who took a wrong turn up a one-way street, and now you
are the one on the hot seat for the same faux pas.
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| Cemetery along the winding coastal road to Kassiopi |
Driving outside of the city was tricky too. The plethora of mountain
switchbacks along the coastal highways were sometimes treacherous and made for slow-going. We wondered how many over-zealous drivers
have plunged over the cliffs there. We had many impatient local drivers glue themselves to our bumper in an intimidating style, and then pass us on blind turns, or whenever
the tiniest opportunity presented itself. But also, the scenery is so beautifully
seducing, if you are not careful, you can find yourself drifting into an on-coming lane or towards the cliff side of the road.
We also enjoyed lots of live music. Our hotel, the Mon Repos
Palace, put on a live show of great music every night. Wow, the assortment of
eclectic singers was excellent and kept us entertained for the duration of our
stay. One gal that goes by the name of Ionna, sang a
variety of traditional Greek songs on several evenings. She was a big draw for
us, the other hotel stayers, and for local folks as well. We met a couple from
Scotland named John and Mary who were celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary, and we got together nightly to sit out on the
large veranda and share in the music.
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