Essential Corfu

1 City Sightseeing Corfu 2 Lord Travel 3 Tolis Motors Rent a Car 4 Corfu City Tours 5 Corfu City Bus 6 Corfu Taxi 7 Corfu Sightseeing Train 8 Solea Wine & Tapas Bar 9 Café Spathis 10 Aktaion Café & Restaurant 11 Rex restaurant 12 McDonald’s™ 13 Corfu Sailing Club Restaurant 14 Veranda Restaurant 15 En Plo Café-Restaurant 16 Imabari Lounge Bar & Resto

INDEX

17 Naok-Azur Café, Bar & Restaurant 18 Venetian Well Wine Restaurant

BLUE BUS (CITY) STOP TAXI STATION

SIGHTSEEING BUS STOP

SIGHTSEEING TRAIN

MUSEUMS & SITES OF INTEREST

PARKING

1 MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART - PALACE OF SS MICHAEL AND GEORGE

POLICE

3 MUNICIPAL GALLERY Periodic Exhibition

POST OFFICE

4 CORFU READING SOCIETY

BEACH

6 SOLOMOS MUSEUM

20 Mouses Greek Designers Store

7 MUSEUM OF BANKNOTES

21 Katerina’s Greek Sandals

8 MUSIC MUSEUM “MANTZAROS”

22 Swarovski

9 SERBIAN MUSEUM

23 Εx Oriente Lux

2 MUNICIPAL GALLERY Permanent Exhibition

5 BYZANTINE MUSEUM

PORT / ANCHORAGE PLAYGROUND

10 OLD FORTRESS ΕΝTRANCE

INFO CENTER

11 NEW FORTRESS ΕΝTRANCE 12 CORFU ART GALLERY

CHURCH

13 MUNICIPAL THEATRE 0

100 m

200 m

14 ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

24 MiΝiΜi, re-Glass your life 26 United Colors of Benetton 27 Chronos Vintage Watch Shop 28 Triantafyllos Jewellery 29 Papagiorgis Pastry shop 30 Mavromatis Distillery 31 Patounis Olive Soap

© Corfu Port Authority SA

Lorandou Editions Texts by: Aliki Katsarou Fileni Lorandou Translated by: Demetris P. Dallas Proofreading by: Laurence Pilfold Photographs by: Yiannis Dimitras Yiannis Gasteratos, Tasos Diavatis Stamatis Katapodis, Markos Kyprianos Shutterstock Graphic design by: Fileni Lorandou All rights reserved.

No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission of Corfu Port Authority SA and Lorandou Editions.

Maps © 2017, Lorandou Editions

NEW PORT 491 00 CORFU Τ.: 2661 045551, 039824 F.: 2661 037173 www.corfuport.gr

CONTENTS

3 4

INTRODUCTION ESSENTIAL INFO

6 A BRIEF HISTORY 10 INSPIRATIONAL CORFU

12 GETTING AROUND

22 CULTURE 23 THE ARTS 24 ARCHITECTURE 26 MUSIC

28 29 32 33

ST SPYRIDON EASTER IN CORFU FESTIVALS & DANCES GASTRONOMY

34 EATING & DRINKING

48 SHOPPING 60 LOCAL PRODUCTS

74 CHURCHES 66 SIGHTSEEING: THE TOWN 75 MUSEUMS 68 STROLL THROUGH TOWN 77 SWIMMING SPOTS 70 ATTRACTIONS 78 KANONI & PALAEOPOLIS

80 82 89 90

SIGHTSEEING: OUT OF TOWN BEACHES ATTRACTIONS MUSEUMS

92 INDEX

A HOSPITABLE PORT SINCE THE TIME OF ULYSSES The strategic location of Corfu Port in the Mediterranean currently allows direct flights to all European countries and the coastal shipping connection with a number of ports in Italy.

• Terminal 3,600 m2 • Information desk • Free Wi-Fi • Wheelchair access ramps • First Aid station • Express bus service to the Corfu Town • Shuttle bus station • Taxi station A PORT ATTRACTIVE TO TOURIST INDUSTRY More than 400 calls of Cruise Ships per year More than 600.000 cruise passengers Ferry connections - domestic & foreign lines: 1,5 m passengers – 500,000 vehicles A SAFE PORT IN THE CENTER OF MEDITERRANEAN • ISPS Security Code: full compliance • Port Police Station • Custom Station • Updated Contingency Plan • Fire Fighting Facilities Shuttle bus service is provided between the dock and the passenger terminal, or, for passengers participating in organized excursions, security cleared buses park near the vessel’s disembarkation ladder.

The terminal is equipped with walk through and hand held metal detectors for screening embarking passengers.

INTRODUCTION Corfu Port Authority wishes to welcome you to the island with the gift of this short guide.

We hope, in these pages, to help you discover the best that Corfu has to offer, so that your stay here, even if a brief one, will linger in your memory.

It is not easy to pack into such a small number of pages all that we have to say; this island must have more enchanted corners that even its inhabitant could get to know in a lifetime.

We have tried to describe to you the Old Town of Corfu, to show something of the villages, the sights and the beaches not far from the port, and to note a few stores, restaurants and other services. It is important to us that Corfu should not be just one more stop on your cruise, but stay with you as a place full of memories that will invite you to visit again.

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ESSENTIAL INFO Population: 102,071 Area: 610.9 km2 Highest elevation: 906 m (Mt Pantokrator) Curency: Euro Local Time: GMT+2 hours Daylight saving time (summer time): GMT+3 hours Climate:

J F M A M J J A S O N D

AVERAGE TEMPERATURE (OC)

Mediterranean with mild, rainy winters and sunny summers Average temperature in January: 9.5°C & in August: 25°C

Telephone codes Greece: 0030 Corfu: 2661 Shopping Hours

08:00 to 14:00 and then 17:00 to 20:00 Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays 08:00 to 14:30 Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays Tourist shops are usually open all day until late

Banking Hours

08:00 to 14:30 Mondays to Thursdays 08:00 to 14:00 Fridays

Museum Information

Public museums are closed on Mondays Special ticket package valid for: Antivouniotissa Byzantine Museum, Archaeological Museum of Corfu, Archaeological Museum of Palaeopolis, Museum of Asian Art, Old Fortress of Corfu

J F M A M J J A S O N D

AVERAGE SEA TEMPERATURE (OC)

Corfu Public Holidays and Celebrations New Year’s Day - 1/1 Epiphany - 6/1 The first Sunday in Lent - February Greek Independence Day - 25/3 Good Friday & Easter Sunday - April/May Labour Day - 1/5 Ionian Union Day - 21/5 Feast of the Assumption - 15/8 Ochi Day - 28/10 St Spyridon’s Day - 12/12 Christmas Day - 25/12 St Stephen’s Day - 26/12

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ALBANIA DIAPONTIA ISLANDS

CORFU

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CORFU TOWN ΙGOUMENITSA

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PAXOS ANTIPAXOS

LEFKAS

ITHACA CEPHALONIA

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CORFU & THE IONIAN ISLANDS

PATRAS

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S ian ea

GREECE

ATHENS

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CORFU

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THESSALONIKI

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A BRIEF HISTORY Corfu’s history stretches far back in time: from prehistory and mythical times to archaic and classical Greece; the Hellenistic period, then Rome and the Byzantium; the West and the East, Venice, France and Russia, Great Britain and modern Greece. All these elements have played a part—here, where the Adriatic meets the Mediterranean—in making up the unique mosaic that is Corfu.

We know Corfu was already inhabited by the Palaeolithic (or Old Stone Age), when the island was still attached to the mainland. Human presence here has also been ascertained during the Neolithic and Bronze ages.

We also know that in historical times the island was first settled by Euboeans and later by Corinthians. In the seventh century bc Chersoupolis (later to be called Palaeopolis) was a highly organized Greek town with a marketplace (agora), a port, various workshops, small ceramic industries, many temples, and its own coinage.

The Roman invasion of Greece in the second century bc brought the island under Roman rule. As the Roman Empire disintegrated in the west five hundred years later, Corfu reverted to the Eastern Roman Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire.

Over the centuries the island has been attacked and raided numerous times. In the sixth century, for example, Palaeopolis was razed to the ground by the Goths, prompting its remaining inhabitants to seek a safer place for their homes. That was how they gradually resettled on a high promontory between two great natural rocks. This gradually emerged as a fortress, the town’s present Old Fortress. As the new capital of the Corfiots, the town was initially a territory of Byzantium. After the beginning of Venetian rule in 1386, fortification work was continued by the Serenissima Republic.

By this time the town had started to spread outside the walls of the Fort– ress and was becoming a more substantial settlement. The Fortress now had to be prepared urgently for defensive purposes against a new enemy, the Ottoman Turks, who were desirous of taking the island over from the Venetians, in order to sever their trade routes to Crete and the east. The obvious need for more effectual defensive works led the Venetians (who had already lost considerable ground to the Ottomans in the Mediterranean) to build the New Fortress on St Mark’s Hill, to construct walls on the perimeter of the expanded city, and to erect smaller peripheral fortresses.

7

HISTORY

The terrifying Gorgon Medusa, central figure in the pediment from the Temple of Artemis, c. 600-575 bc. Archaeoligical Museum of Corfu.

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The greatest military engineers and architects of the time worked on these fortifications, applying the latest technological advances in their designs. The result was a city impregnable, immune to siege, and one of the most important fortified port cities in the Mediterranean.

Armies comprising Venetians and Corfiots threw back four Ottoman sieges. As we may understand, the Ottomans sought to dominate Corfu as a stepping stone on their projected forced passage to the west. In this way Corfu played its role in the development of European history.

It must be noted that the island has never at any time lost its Greek identity. It always retained the language, the morals and the Eastern Ortho– dox faith that made it a beacon for many of those Greeks who were subjects of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, it followed closely on the footsteps of Western Europe, the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Following Venetian rule, the island became a French dominion, governed by French Republicans under Napoleon between 1797 and 1799. Their defeat by Russians and Turks brought Russian rule for seven years. In Corfu and the

The winged Lion of St Mark, the emblem of Venice, on the wall of the New Fortress.

9

HISTORY

other Ionian islands a new political entity, the Ionian State, came into being in this period.

By 1807, when France briefly re-established possession of the island, Napoleon had declared himself Emperor, and wished that grand and attractive buildings should be erected throughout his empire to remind everyone of his rule, on the model of the new buildings of Paris. This was the idea that led to the creation of the Liston complex in Corfu Town.

It wasn’t long before the all-powerful British Empire took over the Ionian islands. The greatest and most interesting testimony to the British presence on Corfu is the Palace of Saints Michael and George, a typically neoclassical building of the middle nineteenth century.

The handing-over of the Ionian islands to Greece in 1864 reunited Corfu with the motherland after centuries of forced estrangement.

The Corfiot soul has always remained Greek in its core, but has also been able to absorb creatively various western influences. The ensuing blend has a singular cultural character, obvious even today, in all manner of expression, from the local linguistic idiom to architecture.

The black veil of twentieth-century wars also cast a dark shadow on Corfu’s history. The First World War brought here the government of Serbia and some 150,000 Serbian soldiers and citizens, to whom the Corfiots offered solidarity and shelter. In the Second World War Corfu Town was mercilessly bombed, with German incendiaries burning many architecturally distinguished buildings to the ground. At the same time the island’s Jewish community, an integral part of Corfiot society for long centuries, was almost extinguished.

By 1950 Greece had been tending the deep wounds of the Second World War and the Civil War that followed it. It was then that the island started on its first awkward steps into the new era by turning to advantage its natural environment and long history. By the middle 1950s the tourism industry had been slowly growing, in part as a continuation of the travels described

by European authors from the 18th century onwards: some of them would mention in private letters and journals that here they had found Paradise.

Tourist development in the ensuing decades has made Corfu one of the world’s best-known travel destinations.

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INSPIRATIONAL CORFU From mythical Ulysses, who was shipwrecked here in the Homer’s Odyssey, the oldest travelogue of all, to Roman Emperor Nero, who sang here before the altar of Zeus; from European travellers and writers of the early Renaissance to package tourists of the 21st century, Corfu has always been a reference point of travel chronicles.

Greek mythology holds that Arete, Queen of the Phaeacians, presided over the marriage of Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, with Medea in a Corfiot cave.

Rich Romans would build sumptuous villas within large estates across the island. During Medieval times Corfu was the first port of call for pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land through the Adriatic Sea. Giacomo Casanova joined a Venetian regiment at Corfu in 1744. In Histoire de ma vie he recounted his relationship with Madame F, a great figure of the Venetian society in Corfu Town.

Travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries mused in their letters and journals on the natural beauty, the mild Mediterranean climate, the azure of the sea, the hospitable inhabitants and the quality of Greek light. Others tried to capture these qualities in paintings and engravings.

The painter and poet Edward Lear loved Corfu. He visited the island no fewer than nine times and spent more than three years here in all. In 1866 he wrote in his diary: “Can I give no idea of this Paradise island to others?”

Empress Elizabeth of Austria (better known as Sissi) came to Corfu towards the end of the 19th century, fell in love with the island and built a palace here called the Achilleion. Following her assassination, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany bought the Achilleion Achilleion, where he would stay during his frequent excursions to springtime Corfu.

Oscar Wilde responds to Greece, beginning with his arrival on the island of Corfu, in Santa Decca, a poem titled after the Corfu mountain.

And yet—perchance in this sea-trancèd isle, Chewing the bitter fruit of memory, Some God lies hidden in the asphodel.

The British have loved the island for centuries. After all, the Duke of Edinburgh—Prince Philip, husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth—was born here, at Mon Repos, in 1921.

© Sid Gentle Films Ltd 2016

A scene from The Durrells, an ITV drama series based on an autobiographical novel by Gerald Durrell, naturalist, explorer, writer and conservationist, that recounts the story of his family’s years on Corfu in the 1930s.

11

HISTORY

The British writers Lawrence and Gerald Durrell settled on Corfu with their family in the 1930s. Gerald, the younger, narrated their lives on the island, with a keen eye for nature, manners and morals, in My Family and Other Animals, the first book of The Corfu Trilogy. Lawrence transformed his diary of life on the island before the Second World War to produce Prospero’s Cell.

By 1954 the Club Méditeranée had started to build its reputation, and one of its first “villages” near Ipsos. In later decades direct flights from major cities in Europe, and the construction of a dedicated cruise port would bring travellers from all the world to Corfu. A good many of them were to love this island so much that they would stay for ever and make it their home.

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GETTING AROUND Even someone who knows nothing about Corfu will understand on setting foot here that this is no small island of the kind that can be exhaustively toured in a matter of a few hours. The Old Town, the long coastline that forms beautiful beaches, the hilly evergreen terrain, the traditional villages all invite the traveler to ramble, and to make one promise on leaving: to return and get to know better this multifaceted place.

Corfu Town, the capital, consists of the Old Town (or historic center) and the newer sectors round it. The Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, incorporates a maze of pedestrian streets. It is situated no more than a fifteen- or twenty-minute walk from the port, but this distance may seem considerably longer in the hot summer afternoon. Visitors may alternatively use a “blue” City Bus (No. 16 line), a taxi, or the open-top buses that provide city tours.

There are parking lots on the perimeter of the Old Town for those driving rental cars, but spaces are hard to find during the day. Next to the Old Town is the new town center with many retail stores and offices.

The shortest excursion is the route to Kanoni, no more than 3.5km from the central Sarocco Square. On this peninsula the ancient capital of the island was built. It contains the famous Mon Repos estate, and is peppered with archaeological sites throughout to its tip, at the Vlacheraina monastery, with a postcard view of the Pontikonissi islet (No. 2A City Bus).

The island’s extensive road network (although not always in perfect condition) provides sightseeing options for a great number of traditional villages and exquisite beaches. Drivers must note that these roads are generally narrow and with many hairpin bends. Average speeds therefore are generally lower than may be expected.

The areas listed below are all situated in the central part of the island, near Corfu Town. They may easily be visited even by visitors with only a few hours’ time available. City buses cover the southern and northeastern of these routes, and the “Green” long-distance busses the rest.

Some 8km to the south of Corfu Town one may visit the Achilleion summer palace of Empress Elizabeth (Sissi) of Austria (No. 10 City Bus), and further on the Benitses seaside village with a harbor and tavernas that specialize in seafood (No. 6 City Bus).

Pelekas, to the west (No. 11 City Bus), boasts a justly famous sunset, the

Impressive views are to be found in the secondary road network.

The narrow, winding roads are beautiful, but difficult for the drivers.

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GETTING AROUND

sun seeming to dip into the sea. The village of Kynopiastes (No. 5 City Bus) has the Olive Museum to offer, and Sinarades a Folk Museum. The long, sandy beaches of Glyfada, Myrtiotissa and Kontogialos on the west coast present magical sunsets to those staying there until late.

To the northwest, about 20km from town, lies the famous village of Palaeokastritsa (on a Green bus route) with its centuries-old monastery; and Ermones beach, where, as Homeric legend would have it, Ulysses met Nausicaa, daughter of the Phaeacian king.

Gouvia, to the northeast, is home to a modern yachting marina and an old Venetian shipyard; at Kato Korakiana there is a branch of the National Gallery of Greece; the Capodistrias Museum is near the traditional village of Evropouli (No. 4 bus). The beaches of Alykes (4km from town), Kontokali, Gouvia, Dafnilas, Dassia and Ipsos are all on the No. 7 City Bus route, leaving town at twenty-minute intervals.

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GETTING AROUND

2 map Α&D

16

3 map Α

Tolis Motors, Rent a Car, Scooter, Motorbike & Quad bike With the key of a car or bike in hand, visitors are free to explore the sights, the beaches and the magnificent countryside of Corfu, within minutes of their arrival.

Tolis Motors, a subsidiary of King Travel, a family business with 25 years of experience, is located only 300 meters from the port, on the way to the Old Town. It has more than 200 vehicles, all of which are the latest models, from small motorbikes

(scooters), to quad bikes (ATV’S), and from economy cars starting at 900cc, up to people-carriers with room for 9 persons. The rental process is simple and most vehicles are on site. The company has pick-up points throughout the island and offers free transportation to and from the cruise terminal.

Ethnikis Antistaeos 12A Reservations T.: (+30) 2661 045005 Online bookings: www.rentalcarscorfu.com (cars) www.corfumoto.rentals (motorbikes)

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GETTING AROUND

4 map Α

Corfu City Tours

CCT offers an interesting way of getting to know Corfu town and the Achilleion Palace: touring, while guided in 8 different languages, on comfortable open-top double- or single-decker buses. The starting point is at the exit from the cruise terminal and a comprehensive tour of the Old Town of Corfu, Kanoni and Pontikonisi lasts 60 minutes, while the tour to Achilleion Palace lasts 70 minutes. There are hop on / hop off stops along the city route so that the

visitor can walk the pedestrian streets of the historic center. With the same ticket it is possible to continue touring on the next bus (departures every 30 minutes), visit the Achilleion Palace, or to return to the cruise terminal. Corfu City Tours is a subsidiary of the urban bus transportation company (Blue Buses), and the visitor can combine sightseeing with swimming at the beach at preferential prices. Τ.: (+30) 2661 032158 www.corfucitytours.gr

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CRUISE TERMINAL 5 MAP Α

Tickets from 1,20 € Daily Tickets 5 € Air-Conditioning Free WiFi

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IPSOS BEACH in 40΄

LINE 2A

KANONI in 15΄

SAROKO SQUARE LINE 17

LISTON in 20΄

Frequent itineraries Connection to airport Connection to hop onhop off open-top buses

www.astikoktelkerkyras.gr

ACHILLION in 25΄

GETTING AROUND

LINE 10

Τ.: 266 1031595

LINE 7

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6 map Α

Corfu Taxi & Transportation Services

With a fleet of over 150 premium sedan taxis, Mercedes Vito VIP people carriers (up to 6 persons) and wheelchair accessible taxis, CTTS is available to visitors to take them to any destination safely. It has an office at the Cruise Terminal, and ranks in key locations around the island.

CTTS has designed sightseeing routes of one, two or more hours including visiting attractions (e.g. the Achilleion Palace or

Palaeokastritsa) and traditional villages, sampling local products and swimming at selected beaches. The English speaking, polite and friendly drivers can customize the program based on the client’s wishes.

VIP service is also available. Customers of CTTS can be assured that both honesty in charging for routes and the safety of passengers are guaranteed. Τ.: (+30) 26610 33811 www.corfutaxi.gr

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GETTING AROUND

7 map B

Corfu Sightseeing Train

Listening to the special tour in four languages, passengers can enjoy the magnificent views, see the sights and learn the history of the city.

Stops are made at selected locations: the Byzantine church of Saints Iason and Sosipatros at the entrance of Mon Repos – where the ancient city was located, and at the small beach of Anemomylos.

Passengers may get off at any stop and may continue their journey on the next train.

The train begins its journey every hour from 10.00 am until 11.00 in the evening.

Starting point: Pentofanaro Spianada Square

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CULTURE Showing an unusual ability to digest and assimilate different cultural influences in order to translate them into familiar characteristics, Corfu has managed over a long period to establish its own cultural identity. From the Archaic Age in the 7th century bc until unification with the young Greek republic in 1864, the people of Corfu resisted various powers that tried to impose their cultural rule on the island. The historical circumstances that followed the fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks, and the local dominance by the Counts of Anjou, brought Corfu and the rest of the Ionian islands (also known as the Heptanese) under the protection of the then all-powerful Serenissima Republic of Venice. The four centuries of Venetian rule defined to a large extent the cultural identity of the island, affecting public space, formal ceremonies and religious observance, linguistic idiom, cuisine, and even social conduct.

The Heptanese, under Western rulers and protectors for long centuries, obtained and secured a fruitful dialogue with Renaissance and Enlightenment Europe. The arrival of Cretan artists, following the fall of Crete to the Ottomans (mid 17th century), in parallel with the Italian and European Renaissance, led to a flourishing of art, music, literature and poetry, reaching its height in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This was what ultimately came to be called the Ionian School in the arts and letters.

In 1864 the Ionian islands were reunited with the young Greek state.

They proved a rich source of intellectual material for the new country, and were deeply influenced by the rest of Greece in turn. Indeed, Corfiot culture, with its enduring sense of Greek identity based on a shared language and religion, has always been able to receive elements of other cultures it has met in its long historical progress, and to create its own unified identity, one which continues to develop into the new global age.

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The Arts A short walk in time and space may be enough for a visitor to appreciate some of the most important works of art from the Byzantine period up to the twentieth century found in Corfu Town. decorated the ceiling of St. Spyridon Church (the one displayed at present is an exact copy), and enthusiastically supported the substitution of western painting for the Byzantine style. The growing economic power of the middle class by the 1700s brought about a flowering of portraiture.

Important works by Ionian School artists are on display at the Municipal Gallery, and the Corfu branch of the National Gallery of Greece in the village of Kato Korakiana.

These collections also include oil paintings, watercolours, engravings and sculptures by those working in the tradition of the Ionian School, and famous later artists across Greece. Contemporary art is presented at temporary exhibitions of the Municipal Gallery and the Corfu Art Gallery.

Copy of the original work by the famous painter Panayiotes Doxaras.

Urania of St Spyridon church.

G. Samartzis, Night in Corfu, 1913.

Oil on canvas. Municipal Gallery Collection.

CULTURE

Representative of late Byzantine art, from the 1300s, are the holy icons of the Virgin Demosiana from the Metropolitan Church, and of St Anthony from the church in Spilia dedicated to the same saint. Most churches in town display icons from the post-Byzantine period (after the year 1453). The largest collection is to be found at the Byzantine Museum of Antivouniotissa. Then, starting in the middle 17th century, western elements in painting became more influential and finally prevailed, forming the artistic current later called the Ionian (or Heptanesian) School. The oil painting technique replaced the older Byzantine standard technique of gouache on wood; and the western secular style asserted itself even in religious painting. The famous painter Panayiotes Doxaras

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Architecture While many of the Ionian Islands suffered great damage during the devastating earthquakes of 1953, Corfu was left virtually unscathed. Testament to the fact that the island has managed to retain its architectural tradition can be seen in the recognition of the Old Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the officially protected status of 46 of its traditional villages.

CORFU TOWN The historical role of Corfu until the nineteenth century, as a strong fortress on the one hand, and an important commercial port in the Eastern Mediterranean on the other, decisively shaped the development of its built environment. The various fortification works are the major characteristic of the Old Town, and it was within the limits set by these that the town evolved as a unified whole. Charged with history, the maze of densely erected buildings between the two fortresses exhibits a number of architectural styles, but the total always appears smooth and harmonious.

The oldest and largest quarters of the town

SAN GIACOMO

developed along the morphological limitations of the hills of Campiello, Agioi Pateres and Agios Athanasios, and the major streets followed the same lines. Each small neighborhood has one or more tiny squares, a church, and cisterns, some of them still extant, to ensure the inhabitants’ water supply.

Michail Theotoki square is the largest in the Old Town. Other openings between buildings that may be seen today have been caused by bombing in the Second World War. The old San Giacomo theatre, bearing characteristic baroque reliefs; the long Liston building with its barreled vaults and Parisian airs; the neoclassical Palace of the Saints Michael and George; the buildings designed

LISTON

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CULTURE

by the Corfiot architect Ioannis Chronis; and the continuous frontages with recurring designs compose a singular whole, concentrating elements from all the historical periods the island has experienced.

VILLAGES Villages have been built on hills or high terrain as a rule, for protection from pirates.

Building is dense, with continuous fronts and no passageways between houses. The roofs are sloping, with ochre-colored tiles; curved doorways and gates at ground level lead into cellars; and exterior stone stairways give onto upper-floor covered balconies.

Each village would have an open space as its square and place for social interaction, while the church would have an extensive courtyard. In many cases the largest house by far would be the mansion of the local family of nobles, the greatest landowners in the area.

On their gateways one may still see the family’s coat of arms engraved in stone.

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Music Easy communication with Italy, the expansion of trade, and the opera companies that frequently visited the island were the main factors in the development of Corfu’s intimate relationship with western music. In the 19th century, one of the most important periods for European music in the transition from Classicism to Romanticism, the cornerstone of the local Ionian Music School was laid. Its founder was Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros, who created the music for the National Anthem of the Hellenic Republic.

Other important composers in the same vein were Corfiot students of Mantzaros, such as Spyros Samaras (composer of the Olympic Anthem) and Spyridon Xyndas (author of the first opera based on a Greek-language libretto).

Essential to the advancement of music here have been the philharmonic societies, the so-called philharmonics. There are, nowadays, eighteen of these on the island, continuing a two-century old tradition. Membership has always been free; from their creation the philharmonics accepted everyone as student, young or old, rich or poor, never charging tuition fees. Parade bands form the backbone of the philharmonics, and their time-honoured participation is fundamental in various cultural and religious activities.

Corfu Town, alone, plays host to three: the Corfu Philharmonic Society (or the “Old”); the Mantzaros Philharmonic Society (or the “Blue”); and the Kapodistrias Philharmonic Union.

There are also many choral ensembles, small conservatories, mandolin ensembles, a symphonic orchestra, a secondary-education school specializing in music studies, the Department of Music at the Ionian University, as well as circles of religious chanters for the island’s countless churches.

It comes then as no surprise that Corfiots love and enjoy music. Even when there are no organized events, music envelops the Old Town, issuing from the buildings of rehearsing philharmonics; above everything else, Corfu is the musical island.

OPERA The San Giacomo Theatre started staging opera performances in 1733. In this way Corfu Town attracted many Italian composers, musicians and singers, and in time saw the emergence of the first Greek professional musicians. According to oral tradition, opera performers who were successful at the San Giacomo received the applaudito a Corfú commendation, a sign of the musical appreciation of the town’s demanding audience.

RELIGIOUS CHANTING In the 17th century, as refugees from Crete arrived on the island, the Cretan polyphonic musical idiom was mixed with the Ionian religious form and the folk music of the time to produce a unique tradition in church chanting. It has been attempted in recent years to revive this style in a growing number of churches, as well as in music festivals.

KANTADHA The folk songs of Corfu Town, or kantadhes, feature nostalgic lyrics and moving melodies. They are arranged as four-part harmonies, and are usually accompanied by mandolin bands.

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DEMOTIC MUSIC Demotic music, the folk music of villages rather than urban centres, has been kept alive by the people themselves who sing and participate in circle dances to the songs in various configurations during festivals.

Lyrics focus on specific subjects: weddings, the farming life (especially in the olive grove), love, local history, forced exile, the carnival time. A traditional ensemble usually consists of violin, guitar and accordion.

Polyphonic song, with its roots in Epirus, is impressive and dignified, but rare here. It is sung a capella by village women.

CULTURE

Summer concerts by philharmonic bands are held throughout the Old Town.

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St Spyridon, the patron saint of Corfu In 1456, only three years after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, a monk managed, through long struggle and adventure, to carry from Constantinople to Corfu the holy relics of St Spyridon. The arrival and safe-keeping of the holy relics on the island provided new vigor to the faith of Orthodox Christian inhabitants.

In the next few centuries faith in the saint grew so strongly and rapidly that when Corfiots would mention “the Saint”, they meant (and still say and mean) St Spyridon; they also started christening their children after the Saint, so that nowadays Spyros (for males) and Spyridoula (for females) are the most common names among local people. The presence of the Saint’s Holy Relic in Corfu Town has been connected with four instances of deliverance of the island from imminent catastrophes. The Saint’s miracles are commemorated in processions of His Holy Relic in its silver reliquary through the Old Town, while the faithful fill the streets and pavements in droves. Processions are attended by the entire local clergy, who precede the Holy Relic, and by the local philharmonic bands.

Public prayer during the procession on the deliverance of Corfu from the Ottoman Turks on 11 August.

Easter in Corfu

After Corfiots have thrown and broken old clay pots on Holy Saturday, parade bands play joyous music through the streets.

CULTURE

Easter is the holiest and greatest festival in the calendar of the Greek Orthodox faith. The unique way it is celebrated in Corfu draws masses of people from every part of Greece.

Easter time in Corfu is a complex phenomenon of religious worship, unique in magnificence and popular participation, that has been organized here for at least five hundred years. It is a blend of old Byzantine ritual with influences from the example of Venetian religious practice, which itself had Byzantine influences. These rituals at one time were partly conducted in the form of public ceremonies arranged by the town itself, but nowadays Corfu Easter celebrations are organized through collaboration between the Town Council and the Church.

As time passed, Easter celebrations multiplied. This means that nowadays Corfiots of every age play a significant role in them. People participating in these great civil-cum-religious rituals have a sense of their own particular role. Participation is ensured through local parishes, the marching brass bands of the philharmonic orchestras (a custom initially attached to the mu-

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sical accompaniment of religious processions by military bands that dates at least to the time of Venetian rule), the organized choral ensembles, and the Red Cross, Scouts, Guides, and other associations.

One more defining characteristic of Easter here is that, since the time of Venetian rule, the local Catholic Archdiocese had agreed to celebrate Easter on the same day as the Orthodox Church—a custom still observed today.

Villages throughout the island also celebrate the Passions and Resurrection of Jesus in unique and beautiful fashions amid the splendid greenery of the Corfiot springtime. The people’s dedication to religious tradition is probably deeper here, lacking the secular distractions Easter brings in Corfu Town. Impressive religious processions for the Resurrection usually take place during the week after Easter Sunday. This is an old Byzantine custom that may be connected with the official blessing of fields by the Church in April or May. It is still extant only on the monastic community of Mount Athos, a few Cycladic islands, and among islanders of the Ionian Sea, where the Orient and Occident meet in harmonious coexistence.

The Resurrection icon of Viros village sails to the picturesque islet of Pontikonissi οn Easter Monday.

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RESURRECTION CEREMONY AT SPIANADA

place. This is the oldest procession of the saint’s relic in Corfu Town, in remembrance of the island’s release from food privation, probably in the year 1553. The marching bands of the three philharmonics of Corfu Town participate in the procession. They play arrangements of the funeral march from Franco Faccio’s opera Amleto, the funeral march Calde Lacrimae by Vincenzo de Michelis, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Marcia Funebre, the second movement of his Third Symphony (Eroica).

Following the end of the religious procession, the Resurrection Vespers are chanted at the Metropolis Church. When the Metropolitan reaches the line: “Arise, O God, judge the earth” (Psalm 82), all the church bells in town ring out in joy. Then local people start throwing clay pots, some quite large, from their windows and balconies, which then smash dramatically in the streets below.

This is the “First Resurrection” custom.

Just before midnight thousands of the faithful are gathered at the large Spianada square for the grand Resurrection ceremony. As the Metropolitan starts chanting the hymn “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling upon Death by death” fireworks from the Old Fortress rise into the night sky. The night is lit by the festive torches each person carries, and all Christians kiss one another, exchanging the old phrases, “Christ is risen”, and “The Lord is risen indeed”.

CULTURE

EASTER RITUALS IN CORFU TOWN Easter rituals start on Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday the Procession of the Holy Relic of St Spyridon, patron saint of the island, takes place.

With the participation of marching bands from all the island’s eighteen philharmonic orchestras the procession covers the entire length of the old town wall in remembrance of the population’s miraculous deliverance from plague.

On Good Friday, starting early in the afternoon, all churches in town set forth the procession of their flower-covered Holy Sepulchers (i.e. carved wooden biers that symbolize the Tomb of Christ) in well-tempered order. As time passes, more and more processions crisscross the Old Town, until 10pm, when the procession of the Metropolitan Church starts. Each procession is attended by parishioners, with the participation of marching bands, choral ensembles, altar boys with torches, lanterns and church standards. Marching bands provide appropriate arrangements of music from the western tradition: the Adagio

by Tomaso Albinoni, Marcia Funebre by Giuseppe Verdi, the funeral elegy Sventura by Giuseppe Mariani, and Marche Funebre by Frédéric Chopin.

In the morning of the Holy Saturday a procession of the Holy Relic of St Spyridon and of the Sepulcher of the same church takes

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FESTIVALS & DANCES Folk songs and dances, as a rule the products of oral tradition, are linked to expressions of a public character: Easter Sunday, the carnival weeks, annual religious festivals, weddings and christenings. The usual dance form is that of the open circle, with roots in ancient Greek worship customs at circular threshing floors. Corfiot dances are typically light and airy, in a fast rhythm, with a pronounced lyrical element. Some are circular, others danced in twos and threes, with the dancers holding onto one another with brightly colored kerchiefs. A typical band line-up would be violin, guitar and accordion.

Annual festivals (panygeria), once a major event in the annual calendar of a village, usually take place on the saint’s day to whom the local church is dedicated, and indeed in the churchyard itself on many occasions. Festivities start after Vespers, continue through the night and continue into the next day. Lambs roast on spits, street vendors ply their wares, and people dance into the small hours of the morning in their Sunday best. The greatest festivals, as everywhere in Greece, take place on 15 August, day of the Assumption of the Virgin. Dozens of churches and monasteries dedicated to the Holy Virgin celebrate on that day. It has been suggested that the more distant a church is from urban centers, the more beautiful the celebrations are, usually in the shadow beneath centuries-old olive trees.

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GASTRONOMY Being a Mediterranean island, Corfu traditionally produced considerable quantities of olive oil, wheat and wine from its agriculture; and these, alongside fish and wild greens, were the standard foodstuffs for the population in Byzantine times. The majority of people would only eat meat during religious festivals and on special occasions (such as at weddings).

Imported foodstuffs increased the variety of ingredient available during the four centuries of Venetian rule: cellars and kitchens had by then available potatoes, maize (corn), tomatoes, beans and peppers, as well as luxury items including coffee and chocolate.

Many of the Corfiot dishes are available at local restaurants, so that visitors may easily taste them and meet the gastronomic culture of Corfu.

BIANCO

CULTURE

Corfiots adopted quite a few Venetian culinary habits, copying recipes still used today in unchanged form. Some of the more typical dishes include bianco (fish with potatoes in a garlic and black pepper sauce), bourdetto (fish in tomato sauce with liberal quantities of mild red pepper and cayenne pepper), and sofrito (filleted veal, first lightly fried, then casseroled in wine, vinegar, garlic and parsley), while pasticcio dolce was an elaborate dish dating back to ancient Rome.

Such recipes, which both took a long time and required considerably effort to prepare, were usually to be found at the dinner tables of the nobility and the wealthy middle class only, those who had access to the various spices Venetian trade provided, as well as to meats and game.

The poorer classes in town and the farming families in villages had to use their imagination along with the limited foodstuffs they could produce or gather. Their main dish would be salted cod or dried fish, using a variety of cooking techniques and condiments according to the season; alongside there were wild greens – and bread, which, dipped in olive oil, could well account for breakfast, lunch and dinner too.

Corfu later saw the operation of three pasta factories. In this way the most emblematic Corfiot dish was born, the pastisada: a whole cock or pieces of veal in tomato sauce with red pepper, wine, vinegar, olive oil, and a large variety of spices, served with spaghetti.

SOFRITO

PASTITSADA

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EATING & DRINKING The Corfiots’ way of life has been historically linked with that of Western Europe. On the other hand, locals also retain a unique daily rhythm based on their own understanding of change and progress, in combination with the peculiarities of the local climate and environment. People here are not rushed; they cherish the moment and enjoy life.

Many are more or less familiar with one another. The “good mornings” at the day’s start and small talk before work are commonplace, as much as the exchange of jokes in the street, discussions in sing-song accents, and social expression in public generally.

“Coffee” is a local habit that fills tables in pedestrian streets and squares.

This is not a mere cup of Joe, but coffee-time that may last for hours—people here won’t be rushed, as has been noted. Especially on Sundays and holidays the Liston cafés are full of well-dressed persons who may start with a coffee and end their conversation hours later on an ouzo.

Lunch is the day’s major repast, and is taken at home as a rule. It is followed by the Mediterranean habit of the siesta. Many stores close during the hottest part of the day, to reopen for the evening shift.

Dinner starts and ends late. In summer it is often replaced by mezes (tidbits) to go with beer, wine or ouzo. Most restaurants keep their kitchens working until midnight.

Even when a night out isn’t about dinner, in summer Corfiots—like most Greeks—are to be found outside. People of every age are seated on stone steps and round fountains, on benches and the low walls by seaside streets, at bars, patisseries and cafes. Teenagers meet at the Pentofanaro, near Liston, and stroll about the Spianada (the Esplanade); families will have beer or refreshments at the cafés; and pensioners may hold conversations among themselves, sitting together at park benches. For others the evening may stretch into the small hours at music bars in the Old Town, or at the larger nightclubs located just outside the center.

Life in Corfu is generally relaxed. Even if many locals are over-tired from work in the tourism industry during the season, they’ll always make time to socialize in the sweet summer evening.

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EATING & DRINKING

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Solea Wine & Tapas Bar

Beneath the shade of the imposing New Fortress, stretched out in the large square, lies colorful Solea. Housed in an old building, complete with arches and its own interior well, the colors, lighting and multi-cultural decoration form a relaxing atmosphere where you can enjoy coffee, juices, Greek tapas made with traditional ingredients from all over Greece, or order a full lunch or dinner. Particular mention should be made of the imaginative Greek

and international breakfasts. The fully updated wine list, carefully edited by the sommelier, presents a selection from all parts of Greece, but also some from abroad. The large square in front makes it ideal for families. Open all day, from morning coffee and breakfast until late at night, with full menu available.

Old Port Square, Corfu Town, Τ: (+30) 2661 034059 Solea Wine & Tapas Bar www.soleacorfu.gr

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Café Spathis

Housed in the historic Liston, on the Spianada Square. On the ground floor of the once famous St Georges hotel, it has hosted personalities like the Greek national poet Dionysios Solomos, Lawrence Durrell, and Oscar Wilde. The café started its operation in 1928 and was a hub of social, political and cultural life in the city. Given a new lease of life by the Spathis family in 2015, who, with 30 years of experience in patisserie, daily

prepares its famous homemade fresh ice cream, homemade pancakes, waffles and pastries, freshly baked cookies, a range of coffees, delicious appetizers (meze) to compliment ouzo and beer, as well as salads and other snacks.

The Spathis Café, open from early morning until late at night, part of Corfu’s tradition, is a traditional choice for visitors.

Vas. Georgiou A 24, Liston, T: (+30) 26617 77337, Spathis Cafe-Gelateria www.kefalinongefseis.gr

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EATING & DRINKING

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Aktaion CafĂŠ & Restaurant

A balcony on to the Ionian Sea overlooking the Old Fortress and Garitsa Bay! Built literally upon the sea walls, situated opposite the Upper Square. One time that should not be missed is when the summer full moon rises behind the Old Fortress.

The energy of the place has inspired both local and international guests to visit again and again.

It is open from morning until late evening for breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner or

drinks to the sounds of Greek, foreign and classical music.

The cuisine is based on Mediterranean ingredients, but the imagination of the chef creates sophisticated dishes at comfortably affordable prices.

Agoniston Politechniou 49100 Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 037894 Aktaion Kerkyra www.aktaion.gr

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Rex Restaurant

Since 1932, Rex Restaurant, located in the center of town, just behind the iconic Liston, has been a favorite of both locals and visitors, attracted by the consistent quality, rich portions and excellent service.

The menu includes classic Corfiot dishes such as sofrito, bourdeto and pastitsada, in their most authentic versions, and new creative recipes always prepared with local ingredients, such as salads

or risotto with noumboulo, Corfu fresh cheese and kumquat.

Inside, under the watercolors of Corfiot painter Kentarchos, there is the warmth of a family atmosphere and well-ordered tables with starched tablecloths.

By contrast, at the tables outside, the vitality of Kapodistriou Street prevails, one of the busiest pedestrian thoroughfares in the town.

Kapodistriou 66, T.: (+30) 2661 039649 www. rexrestaurant.gr

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EATING & DRINKING

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McDonald’s™

McDonald’s restaurant is located in the heart of the Old Town, next to the historic Liston with a stunning view of the Old Fortress and the endless Spaniada square.

One of the biggest burger chains in the world invites guests to enjoy a unique tasty experience!

Only at McDonald’s you can taste authentic recipes for delicious burgers, salads,

crispy fries, chicken nuggets and delightful desserts.

Enjoy a McMenu™, the unique combination of your favorite burger with fries and soft drink of your choice!

Kapodistriou 44, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 045311 mcdonalds.restaurants.gr www.mcdonalds.gr

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Corfu Sailing Club Restaurant

Located on the north side of the Old Fortress, in the medieval harbor of the town, Mandraki. Between boats, rigging and sails, dishes inspired by Mediterranean and Greek cuisine are served, made with fresh, exquisite ingredients combined in harmony.

The list of Greek wines is updated every year, always keeping the classic labels of previous years, while the selection of international wines is based on the best years for each producer and variety.

The restaurant is open from the morning and offers coffee and juice to travelers, or to those who want to swim at the cozy adjacent beach. At the entrance of the Fortress a minibus is parked to transport customers to the restaurant at lunchtime and in the evening (lunch and dinner hours).

Mandraki, Old Fortress T.: (+30) 2661 038763, 6932 107971 www.corfu-sailing-restaurant.com

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EATING & DRINKING

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Veranda Restaurant

The restaurant takes the form of a terrace suspended above the sea walls —overlooking the island of Vidos and the mainland opposite. Boats pass, just a stone’s throw away, while the seagulls wait for the patrons to throw them a tidbit.

The sea plays a leading role throughout —from the blue tables to the fresh fish chosen daily by the chef, and available on ice for selection.

Veranda restaurant is a family affair.

With the whole family working together, the traditional and pure way of preparing Corfiot and Mediterranean dishes is guaranteed, using fresh ingredients, cooked only with olive oil.

Open from 11 am until late at night.

Arseniou 19, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 081716 Veranda CorfuRestaurant Yiannis Grammenos

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En Plo Café-Restaurant

Passing through the Venetian St. Nicholas Gate, under the sea walls of the city, and leaving behind the busy Liston, one faces the deep blue sea and the café-restaurant En Plo, which seems to be “sailing” (the meaning of the name “En Plo”) beneath the flying seagulls. The tables are set out at the tip of a small headland, right by the sea.

Here generations of Corfiots have swum,

and still swim, since it is the closest beach to the Old Town.

En Plo is open every day, all day and —to the sounds of lounge music—offers coffee, drinks, ice cream and a magnificent view of the Old Fortress, as well as serving creative Corfiot and Mediterranean cuisine, using high quality ingredients.

St. Nicholas Gate, Faliraki, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 26610 81813 www.enplocorfu.com

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EATING & DRINKING

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Imabari Seaside Lounge Bar & Resto

In the shadow of the Palace of the British Commissioners and today’s Museum of Asian Art, modern and cheerful Imabari offers many options: swimming in the clear waters of the Ionian Sea for those who do not want to get out of town, relaxing on the lounge chairs, coffee, beer, drinks, ouzo, small dishes, homemade sweets, lunch and dinner to the sound of constantly updated musical selections.

Cocktails curated by award-winning bartender Spyros Kerkyras and in the kitchen well-known chef Aristotle Megoulas creating refined tastes with traditional references to the Mediterranean summer, the land and the sea.

Imabari – a modern choice, but one with respect for both place and tradition.

Faliraki, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 26611 00340 & 6940 332100 Imabari Corfu, www.imabaricorfu.gr

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NAOK Azur Café, Bar & Restaurant

A unique venue, next to the Upper Square, overlooking the Old Fortress and the harbor of the Yacht Club, where the mega yachts of the international jet set anchor in the summer. Open from the morning until the early hours, Azur extends across three levels.

On the first, the small beach with sun beds, showers and changing rooms. On the second level, the restaurant with a large balcony for fine dining, an emphasis

on fish and seafood and 250 wines on the list. On the third level, the open-air deck for breakfast, brunch or lunch.

When the sun sets, the DJs start with ambient music, working up – between fabulous cocktails - to solid club rhythms that keep going until dawn.

Leoforos Demokratias Τ.: (+30) 2661 080700 Naok-Azur www.naokazur.com

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EATING & DRINKING

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Venetian Well Bistro & Wine Restaurant

In the heart of the Campello lies the picturesque Kremasti square, an atmospheric backdrop from another era, where the Venetian Well restaurant transports guests in time and taste. The use of excellent ingredients, the artistry that goes into preparing the dishes, the attentive service and the good humor of the owners are the guarantee of a unique gastronomic experience. The chef Yannis Vlachos creates

inspired, creative dishes such as risotto, filet and homemade pasta. The flavors are highlighted by the selection of Greek and international fine wines. In the setting of the Venetian Well, the dining experience unfolds like the acts of a play.

Lili Desila (Kremasti) Square Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 55095, 6944 282123 The Venetian Well www.venetianwell.gr

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THE PLACE TO BE

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BREAKFAST - LUNCH - OUZO & MEZE - DINNER

A n e m o m y l o s , C o r f u To w n , T. : + 3 0 2 6 6 1 0 2 0 0 3 3

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EATING & DRINKING

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SHOPPING Corfu has maintained strong commercial activity for hundreds of years, owing historically to its port, its relations with Venice, once a leading mercantile power, and its position astride the trade routes to the eastern Mediterranean. The emergence of a middle class of merchants and artisans brought such enterprises to the old city centre, which today is still home to a wide range of retail stores.

Commercial activity, ever more vibrant and up-to-date, has spread throughout the new town and near suburbs. Despite the long tourist season and the large numbers of visitors, Corfu retains an old-fashioned allure in retail practice, never having embraced large shopping malls but supporting many small and independent stores. Locals will fill their bicycle baskets with their daily purchases, and many amble through the Old Town trailing their shopping trolleys. Very small enterprises need to make and maintain their name based on the good faith, even the friendship, between sellers and buyers. The same qualities ensure the quality of products and the longevity of many small local stores that have formed a steady customer base among locals, and also among tourists who return here each summer.

The weather and rhythm of life dictate that opening hours are usually broken for the afternoon siesta, although in recent years, during summer months, many stores stay open for sixteen or more hours a day.

Some quarters are distinguished by the concentration of shops and stores in the same line of business: ironmongers and hardware purveyors are to be found in the Evraike (the old Jewish quarter); the open-air market provides fresh vegetables, fruit and fish; certain streets in the Old Town are each the province of leather goods, olive-wood artifacts, or religious icons and faith objects.

Younger people apply their talent and creativity to the introduction of new stores that sell handmade items, and farm and beauty products from sustainable local sources.

Shopping in Corfu, both in the Old Town and the modern quarter, is enjoyable in its variety and ease. Visitors can be assured that Corfiot salespersons have good English at the very least, and many can speak other languages as well, to provide even in this the best possible service.

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SHOPPING

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Mouses* the Greek designers store

Like an art gallery on the subject of Greece, Mouses is located in the center of Corfu town. A vibrant space for new ideas and new designers from all over Greece whose creativity is inspired by Greek culture.

Mouses hosts specially designed clothing lines, jewelry, design items, artwork, reclaimed souvenirs, books, music and more. Each piece is a hymn to Greek

aesthetics, history, tradition, art and nature. Visitors taking such a piece away with them, take a piece of the country and the light that inspired it. *Mouses derives from the Greek word ΜΟΥΣΕΣ, the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology.

Michael Theotoki 22, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 030708 Mouses art things & more www.mousesart.gr

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Katerina’s Greek Sandals

Handmade sandals “Karidis” are made in the Corfu family workshop which has been operating since 1958. The craftsman Stelios Sokratous designs and manufactures all the sandals, combining art with a passion for quality, using top quality leather. In the era of fast, mass production, he insists on a handmade beauty that endures over time.

His creations are inspired by the beauty of ancient Greek designs, yet made in

the light of current needs and anatomical demands, allowing the body to maintain its natural posture.

Katerina’s Greek Sandals, in the heart of the Old Town, offers a full range of sandals, of many designs and colors, as well as bags, belts and leather accessories.

Filarmonikis 30, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 043779 Katerinas Greek Sandals www.greeksandalshop.com

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SHOPPING

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Swarovski

The world leading brand, founded in 1895 in Austria by Daniel Swarovski, keeps its methods of crystal cutting a secret.

At the same time it continues to develop its techniques and designs into the new era, constantly launching new collections of unique jewellery, watches, accessories and objects. Each creation reflects a memory, an event, a feeling. Joy, luck and love are mirrored in the bright light of the

jewels and are part of the memories they carry with them.

In the elegant Swarovski boutique, in the heart of the Old Town of Corfu, the collection is constantly updated and warm service is offered by well experienced personnel.

Agion Panton 41, Corfu Town T.: (+30) 2661 021069 Swarovski Corfu E-shop: www.swar.gr

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Εx Oriente Lux

Passing through Spilia Gate, which once connected the Venetian trading port with the walled city, the visitor discovers Ex Oriente Lux—like a peddler from days gone by offering, in westernised Corfu, magical treasures of the East. Each object is authentic, resembling an exhibit in an art collection, illuminated by the light of the Orient, once brought to the West by ships passing on culture, art and wisdom.

Clothes made of cotton and linen fabrics, and tinted with vegetable dyes. Luxury scarves of silk and wool. Handmade jewelry with semiprecious stones. Famous ceramic dolls by Greek artist Lidaki. Copies of ancient Greek art. Glassware taking its form from human breath.

Solomou 5, Spilia Τ: (+30) 2661 045273, 6946 406516 Ag. Sofias 43A, Τ: (+30) 2661 027368 Corfu Town, www.exorienteluxcorfu.gr

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SHOPPING

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MiΝiΜi, re-Glass your life

In the center of the Old Town, recycled glass is transformed into artwork.

The idea was created by the younger generation from the glass factory “Corfu Glass” when—with ecological consciousness and a creative spirit—they answered the question “what to do with all these pieces of glass that are thrown away?” So they created small works of art such as souvenirs and ornaments, candlesticks, trays, ashtrays, and clocks,

and jewelry like bracelets and rings.

All made of beer and wine bottles or the wastage of the Corfu Glass factory.

Each piece made in Corfu, handmade and unique.

MiNiMi—as colorful and bright as a piece of glass smoothed by the sea and illuminated by the Greek summer sun!

Evgeniou Voulgareos 14 Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 024810 corfuglassminimi

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Μoutsos Greek Souvenirs

The company was founded by Christodoulos Moutsos in 1952, along with the historical beginnings of tourism in Corfu. Through these decades it has provided characteristic objects that adorn the homes of people from different parts of the world, like indelible memories of Greece, for, as he says—and as the company slogan also runs— Souvenirs are Greek!

For this summer the company is launching two new exclusive brands to be found in stores throughout Corfu that are synonymous with quality: Sea Plus Greek and Eva’s Fashion, with feminine jewelry and fashion accessories, beach bags, sarongs, hats with Greek colors and other useful items for the sea and the intense heat of the Greek summer sun.

Achilleion National Road 82 Τ.: (+30) 2661 030855, 039593 www.moutsos.gr

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SHOPPING

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United Colors of Benetton

Benetton Group is one of the most famous fashion companies worldwide. It is present in all the major international markets, with a network of more than 5,000 stores. Benetton Group considers the environment, human dignity and the transformation of society both now and in its future plans.

With its distinctive vision, Benetton creates a world of colors and creativity, combining ethnicity and generations under a brand synonymous with Italian good taste.

Specialized in clothes for the whole family, each season presents a new collection.

The Corfu store is located at the gateway to the historic center, where the commercial activity of the city is concentrated.

Visitors enter an imposing four-storey Venetian building, 300 years old, located in an area with a cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Evgeniou Voulgareos 44, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 037424 United Colors of Benetton Corfu

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SHOPPING

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Chronos Vintage Watch Shop

This cozy little shop next to the historic theater San Giacomo, in the center of the Old Town, is a hymn to Time (Chronos meaning “time”).

The passion of the owner from a small child as a collector of watches has created a unique collection of the finest vintage and modern timepieces. Brand-name

watches, maintained to the highest standards and sold with warranty.

Also available in store: watch valuations and exchanges with absolute discretion.

Evgeniou Voulgareos 30 Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 025956

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SHOPPING

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Triantafyllos Jewellery

Thanks to his expertise in precious stones, the gemologist Spiros Triantafyllos, coming from a family of Corfu jewelers, creates top quality diamond solitaire rings, unique in design. His collection, and the collections of Greek and international designers, are located in two stores, on the busiest shopping street of the Old Town. Charms, bracelets and rings from the authentic Pandora collection, handmade “artworks” by the Italian designer Marco Bicego, the design

perfection of Zancan’s jewelry for men, jewelry by important Greek designer Yannis Sergakis, Huffy Jewels, Poniros Jewelry and watches by Raymond Weil, Maserati, G-Shock, Edifice, Guess and Casio.

For every memorable moment in Corfu, there’s a jewel selected by Spyros Triantafyllos, whose deep knowledge guarantees the quality of each piece.

E. Voulgareos 76, Τ.: (+30) 2661 080400 E. Voulgareos 106, Τ.: (+30) 2661 049507 triantafylloscorfu, www.triantafyllos.eu

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LOCAL PRODUCTS In older times, when different fruit, vegetables and meat had their “season” in the year, and conservation was difficult, people employed various means to process and preserve them for a longer time. Noumboulo (cured meat similar to Parma ham), sykomaida (dried fig paste fortified with ouzo and pepper) and various fruit preserves are still considered delicacies, kept in the pantry or cellar for special occasions.

The kumquat tree, imported from the Far East more than a hundred years ago, has found fertile soil in Corfu, but nowhere else in Greece. Traditional local recipes for its fruit include sugared conserves, marmalade and a liqueur, products which have come to be seen as the “taste” of Corfu.

Traditional patisseries still sell the confectionary products of bygone times: fogazza (brioche bread with mild aromatic ingredients), bianchetta (small almond-paste sweets with citrus-fruit flavouring in icing sugar coating), “bolsheviks” (rounds of almond paste and egg-white), and pasta flora (a buttery pastry with a jam filling). continued on page 62

Noumboulo, the Corfiot prosciutto, is of Venetian origin.

The wild strawberry is the most aromatic fruit of Corfiot springtime.

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SHOPPING

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Papagiorgis Traditional Patisserie

In the main pedestrian street of the town, this historic patisserie, now operated by the third generation of the family which founded it in 1924. A nostalgic recollection for Corfiots no longer living on the island, who visit every time they return, it is also a meeting point for the youth, drawn by its famous homemade ice cream. Papagiorgis is a local landmark.

Visitors journey into a world of quality local products: traditional Greek preserved fruit, kumquat loukoumi and a range of cakes,

sweets and desserts including Corfiot specialties such as mandolato (almond nougat), mandoles (caramelized almonds) and pasteli (sesame and honey cakes). Iconic ice cream is made daily from fresh Corfu milk in an endless variety of flavors, including the “hit” kumquat, the famous Corfiot wild strawberry (only when in season) and the eponymous ice cream Papagiorgis.

Nikiforou Theotoki 32, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 039474 Papagiorgis, www.papagiorgis.gr

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The tiny wild strawberry is possibly the most aromatic fruit of Corfiot springtime. It may be found in late spring or early summer at a few greengrocers in the Old Town, or if one is lucky enough to have a grower as a friend.

The Corfiot tradition in fresh dairy products focuses on the emblematic butter (voutyro Kerkyras), made from cow’s milk, as well as various types of milk, cream, yoghurt and cheese. The savory graviera (a gruyère-type yellow cheese) should not be missed.

Housewives of old knew how to make spetseriko, a special spice mix to flavor a pastitsada (a celebrated local specialty akin to coq-au-vin that may also be prepared with beef). The spetseriko is now also sold in ready-made packages for those who wish to cook this traditional dish for themselves, or to enhance other recipes with it. continued on page 64

The kumquat (kam kwat in Chinese means golden orange) was brought in Corfu by the botanist-agriculturist Sidney Louis Walter Merlin around 1900. Today, it is a P.G.I. (Protected Geographical Indications) product.

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SHOPPING

30 map B&D

Mavromatis Distillery

Which visitor hasn’t left Corfu and taken with him kumquat? Since 1965 the Mavromatis family has been cultivating the “gold orange” in traditional ways in the fertile land of Corfu.

In a completely modern factory, with expertise and great care, liqueurs, sweets and kumquat jam are produced, as well as loukoumi (Turkish delight), mandolato (almond nougat), mandoles (caramelized almonds), pasteli (sesame & honey bites), baklava, cookies, limoncello, ouzo and more. Mavromatis products

travel far and wide, being the largest producer in Greece, producing a million bottles and fifty tons of kumquat in jams and sweets annually.

At the impressive showroom, on the road to Palaeokastritsa, visitors can take a brief tour, are offered free tastings and can purchase products at cost price. The company also has a shop in the center of Corfu Town.

Michael Theotoki 9 Corfu T.: (+30) 6977 153002 16th km Nat. Road of Paleokastritsa Τ.: (+30) 2663 022174, www.kumquat.gr

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The long history of olive growing, now in its fifth century, provides the boldest hue in the Corfiot countryside, and historically the center of gravity for the lives and families of sustenance farmers. The ocean of olive groves totals more than four million trees, mainly of the local variety lianolia (a small olive). Producers who employ sustainable farming methods and cold-crushing techniques produce olive oil of exquisite taste and aroma. Younger farmers have in recent years invested in the production of high-quality, extra-virgin olive oils, which have received prizes at international tastings and exhibitions. Olive oils of lower quality are used as a rule in the manufacture of traditional soap. Dead olive wood is the raw material for making various household or decorative items.

Created as an answer to historical conjunction, weather conditions, foodstuff shortages and needs arising in each time period, Corfiot products have so far resisted the cheapening forces of speed and ease. The people, the producers, insist on quality, natural agriculture and provenance. Their products have therefore been preserved in time as witnesses of a long tradition.

There is significant production of household and decorative items of olive wood in small artisan shops across the island.

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SHOPPING

31 map A

Patounis Olive Soap

The olive soap factory is located at Saroko, the new town’s main square, but as soon as the visitor crosses the threshold, the smell of pure soap transports him to the past. In the preparation room, at the back of the store, the old lights, traditional machinery, tools and stacks of wooden boxes are as they always were, standing in place for over a century. The soap factory is a monument of industrial heritage, designated by the Greek Ministry of Culture.

The process of soap-making has been passed on from father to son for five successive generations, producing handmade soap with the traditional family recipe using only Corfu olive oil.

The production site is open and orga​nizes free guided tours upon request.

Ioannou Theotoki 9, Corfu Town T: (+30) 26610 39806 Ε: info@patounis.gr www.patounis.gr

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SIGHTSEEING: THE TOWN

NEW FORTRESS CRUISE PORT OLD PORT

SPILIA

MANDOUKI SAROCO SQUARE NEW TOWN

ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

GARITSA

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VIDO ISLAND

CAMPIELLO

SPIANADA OLD FORTRESS

St SPYRIDON LISTON

PALACE OF SS MICHAEL & GEORGE

CORFU TOWN

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A stroll through the Old Town Walking from the port to town, one will first notice the New Fortress, a wonder of fortification architecture in its time. Further on there is the Spilia Gate, the main entrance for people and goods to the once-walled town. There is only one other gate surviving of the four original ones, the Gate of St Nicholas in Faliraki, used during ceremonial visits in the years of Venetian rule.

The walls, parts of which are still standing, enclosed the Old Town, built between the Old Fortress and the New Fortress. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007 as an example of a Mediterranean fortified port city, Corfu Old Town is characterized by the density of its Venetian building stock, much of which is in the form high, multi-storey buildings. Indeed, these were the first blocks of flats or apartment complexes in Greece, each being the common property of many owners. These unusual architectural and planning characteristics lend Corfu the allure of an older time.

The maze of backstreets and alleys in the historic centre may baffle casual walkers, who may also forget themselves in the wealth of discoveries to be made at every step: tiny squares, portals with beautiful masonry, dozens of small churches and bell towers, flagstone-paved streets fragrant with the smell of washing hung above—all making up a town at once both humble and noble.

The main urban plan, if there ever was one, from the start of the city’s development in mediaeval times, followed the morphology of the ground.

For that reason the three major districts of the Old Town developed on the hills of Porta Remunda, Agioi Pateres and Campiello. The town’s main streets, dating from the Middle Ages, still radiate from and communicate with the citadel, the defensive cornerstone of the Old Fortress.

The ramparts, deep tunnels, thick walls and artillery emplacements found in the Old Fortress remind us of the great need for effectual defense, mostly against the Ottomans, the great enemies of Venetians. These none the less did not hinder the spirited urban development, considerable cultural output, vibrant social life, and rising agricultural production (outside the walled town) in the later Middle Ages that continued uninterrupted through to the Renaissance, and later into the Age of Enlightenment. The Old Town of Corfu—with eyes turned to the west and deep roots in its Greek character—was able to assimilate admirably the multifarious cultural elements it encountered and translate them into a unique blend of its own.

It is important for the town that its residents have not left it, despite the ease of transportation and modern comforts offered by life in the new suburbs. On the contrary, they have maintained their town as a living monument, full of beautiful houses with character and an array of vibrant stores, restaurants and cafes.

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CORFU TOWN

70

Attractions

University, a local sailing club, and spaces for art exhibitions and cultural activities.

THE OLD FORTRESS A headland jutting out into the waves, where between its two peaks the medieval town of Corypho developed (hence Corfu today), was to be transformed by engineers of the Venetian Republic into a fortress immune to siege. The impregnable walls of the Old Fortress were initially erected by the Byzantines and later reinforced by the Anjous.

But it was the Venetians in the 1500s who turned it into a model of fortification engineering. Some of the best-known military engineers of the time worked on its plans.

Among the first works was the excavation of the water-filled moat and creation of a wooden drawbridge for its communication with the town outside. The construction of towers and ramparts, artillery emplacements and tunnels, barracks, administration buildings, food stores, arsenals and cisterns further consolidated the fortifications.

The British expanded some buildings and added new ones in the 19th century. The Old Fortress is nowadays a monument open to the public. It also houses the local Archaeological Service Ephorate, the General Archives of the Hellenic Republic, the Public Library, the Department of Music of the Ionian

NEW FORTRESS The Venetian authorities planned and built the New Fortress on St Mark’s Hill, to the north-west of town, on the insistent requests of Corfiots for added defenses against the Ottoman Turks. Construction started in 1576. This fortress and its subordinate bastions (together representing a monumental piece of fortification engineering), combined with the Old Fortress, formed the town’s main line of defense against the Ottoman siege of 1716. The Ottomans were defeated and left the island on 11 August of that year. The armies of the Venetians and the Corfiots, under the command of Field Marshall Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, defended not only Corfu, but also western Europe, thwarting the Ottoman plans of using Corfu as a stepping-stone for their expansion to the west.

The British added new buildings in the 19th century. The New Fortress today houses the Hellenic Navy Station of Corfu, and has become a monument open to the public. It provides a beautiful panoramic view of the Old Town. The main gate is decorated with a relief of the winged Lion of St Mark, the symbol of Venice.

OLD FORTRESS

NEW FORTRESS

THE PALACE OF SAINTS MICHAEL AND GEORGE This most representative neoclassical structure in Corfu Town was constructed by the British, then in possession of the Ionian islands, and formally presented to the Lord Governor in 1824. The tufa stone for its building was transported from Malta along

with a large number of Maltese workers. It was designed by the British architect Whitmore as a residence for the British Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Isles, his large entourage, and the seat of the local Senate. The palace was attached to the Order of the Saints Michael and George, founded in England in 1818 to bestow decorations and medals to the inhabitants of the Ionian islands and Malta, and also to British subjects living there who had furthered British interests. It was home to splendid balls, and held other social events that shone within the social life of the upper crust of the era.

The building later served as a summer palace during the stay of the royal family of Greece in Corfu.

The palace nowadays houses the Museum of Asian Art and the Corfu Municipal Gallery.

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THE (OLD) TOWN HALL SQUARE This was the place for state ceremonies, pomp and circumstance, in the time of Venetian rule. The square is enclosed by four symbolic buildings as witnesses to the social and political landscape of bygone days and the significance of the location: the Catholic Cathedral (the Duomo); the domicile of the Catholic Archbishop at the upper part of the square, to remind one and all of religious rule; the domicile of the Bailo,

PALACE OF SAINTS MICHAEL & GEORGE

CORFU TOWN

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SAN GIACOMO

the Venetian governor of the Ionian islands, across from the cathedral (this building does not exist now); and the Loggia (San Giacomo), seat of the local nobility who were members of the Town Council, at the lower end of the square.

SAN GIACOMO The Loggia (today’s San Giacomo) was initially built as a lodge for the assemblies of local nobles. It was transformed into the lyrical theatre of San Giacomo in 1720. Many operas of the European repertory were produced here, many great artists performed; and many premieres of the works of great Greek composers were given here, such as Nikolaos Mantzaros (who composed the National Anthem of the Hellenic Republic) and Spyros Samaras (who composed the Olympic Anthem). In later years, when San Giacomo proved too small for the seating demands of much larger audiences, a new dedicated opera house was built almost at the border between the Old Town and new quarters. San Giacomo was then once more transformed into the new town hall; but by this time it had finished its job towards the cultivation of musical appreciation among Corfiots.

LILI DESILA (KREMASTI) SQUARE This most picturesque little square in town feels like a theatre scene within the densely built Campiello quarter. The cistern at its centre, bearing sculpted stone decorations, was built in 1699 as a donation by a member of the local nobility. The church of Virgin Mary Kremasti and the open space of the square served as a meeting place for neighbors, a little freer from the crush of life within the walled town, not only for their religious duties and needs for water supply, but also towards their entertainment among equals. There are quite a few other small squares in the Old Town that catered more or less to the same social needs, but the Kremasti still retains the most loyal form of times past.

LILI DESILA SQUARE

SPIANADA AND THE LISTON The great square of Corfu Town nowadays owes its name to the Venetian word spianata, a large open space. That was the requirement of Venetian defensive policy: a great level field, long as a musket-shot trajectory,

in front of the Old Fortress. This space was formed into a square in the short years of French rule. It was then that the foundations were set for the long Liston building, so much a reminder of the Rue de Rivoli in Paris; but the building was erected with the purpose of providing a little Parisian air to Corfu Town. It is a place where many Corfiots arrange to meet nowadays.

Following French rule, the entire square was further improved by the British, who applied their famous landscape architecture techniques, and also turned the space to the east of the Liston into a cricket pitch. New decorative architectural elements included the Maitland peristyle round the main water cistern for locals – the rotunda that still

hosts music concerts and other events – and the small garden of the Boschetto. The construction of the Palace of the Saints Michael and George on its northern end, built between 1819 and 1823, added a pleasantly neoclassical tone to the architecture of the square.

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THE IONIAN ACADEMY The great building of the Venetian barracks housed the Ionian Academy from 1840 onwards. This was the first university in modern Greece, founded by Lord Frederick North, Earl of Guilford. It was destroyed by German bombing in 1943. It has lately been restored to function as the administration building of the Ionian University.

CORFU TOWN

LISTON

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Churches THE CHURCH OF ST SPYRIDON The Holy Relic of St Spyridon, patron saint of Corfu, reposes in a 19th-century wrought-silver reliquary, set in a side chapel to the right of the Sanctuary. The church, erected in 1589, is in itself one of the town’s most important post-Byzantine monuments, and possesses priceless treasures and votive offerings. Christian Orthodox faithful from all continents arrive here to pay honor to the Saint’s relic, which is believed to have saved Corfu from famine, plague and siege, and to have performed a great number of miracles.

The Boulgaris family, founders of the church, were its owners until the middle of the twentieth century.

dedicated as the Metropolitan Church in 1841. The Byzantine Empress St Theodora was responsible for the restoration of icons and the return of internal peace in Byzantium following the long and turbulent period of struggles over the use of icons (known as the Iconomachy). Her Holy Relic reposes in a silver reliquary. Decorative art includes icons and frescoes by distinguished artists.

THE CHURCH OF SAINTS IASON AND SOSIPATROS Dating roughly from the year 1000, this is one of the oldest surviving monuments of the middle Byzantine period on the island, and the only one built in the cross-shaped, inscribed, domed style. The church is dedicated to Jason and Sosipater, two disciples of St Paul who introduced the Christian faith to Corfu. Their graves, with pieces of their THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH Holy Relics, are in the church itself. Extant The triple-aisled basilica of St Theodora tiled ornaments may still be seen. was built in 1577 at the expense of local nobles and other wealthy citizens, and was THE CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL The Catholic Cathedral, better known to locals as the Duomo, is dedicated to Saints Giacomo and Cristoforo. It was built in the 1400s on the Town Hall Square, and dedicated as a cathedral in 1633. It has not ceased since then to provide spiritual aid to Corfiot Catholics, and any Catholic visitors to the island. In 1658 the church was drastically renovated, almost rebuilt, and since then the Holy Relic of St Arsenios has reposed there.

A single-aisled building with six side-chapels, it was destroyed internally by bombing in the Second World War. Restoration work lasted until 1970; by 1980 a church organ had been transported and installed from the historic church of St Francis, where the peaceful accord for the placement of Corfu under Venetian protection was signed.

THE METROPOLITAN CHURCH

THE SYNAGOGUE AND THE ANGLICAN CHURCH The wealth and variety of cultures of the people who have lived and still live on this island have left in Corfu Town the imprints of its past and present inhabitants. The Synagogue in the old Jewish Quarter (the Evraiki), bombed by German incendiaries in the Second World War, and the Anglican Church in the Porta Remunda district, still keep their doors open to all the faithful, both residents and visitors.

Museums THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM* The exhibits here offer proof of local civilization from the Palaeolithic Age to later antiquity. The impressive Archaic-Age (590-580 bc) stone pediment of Artemis Gorgo comes from the west side of the goddess’s great temple at Palaeopolis. Tombstone monuments such as the lion of Menekrates (6th c. bc), funeral gifts, emblematic Archaic-Age statues of young men and women (kouroi and korae respectively), epigraphic art, the Dionysus pediment (a lively scene of a Dionysian symposium), ceramic utensils, coins and Roman-era statuary are expressions of ancient Greek art in its various guises. *The Museum is temporarily closed due to renovation work.

(or Septinsular, or Ionian) style at the top of an impressive flight of steps with views out to the sea, is one of the oldest and most well-endowed ecclesiastical monuments on the island. Its collection includes icons and other works both by well-known and anonymous artists in the Byzantine tradition, but with western influences, representing an output of faith that covers five centuries, from the 1400s to the 1800s.

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THE CORFU MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART Housed at the Palace of SS Michael and George, it is the only museum in Greece exclusively dedicated to the art of Central Asia, the Far East and India. It boasts some 15,000 artifacts gathered from donations by private collectors, although its core was formed by the collection of Gregorios Manos (1850-1928). The following collections are on permanent display: the Chinese THE ANTIVOUNIOTISSA MUSEUM Section, which includes about 3,500 items The magic is there in the setting. The church (pottery, porcelain, statuary, lacquered and of Antivouniotissa, built in the Heptanesian ivory objects, coins et al.); the Southeast

CORFU TOWN

Pediment with Dionysus made of limestone.

Archaic period. Archaeologial Museum.

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THE DIONYSIOS SOLOMOS MUSEUM AND THE CORFIOT STUDIES SOCIETY This is the house where the great national poet Dionysios Solomos (born on Zante) lived for most of his life, and where he died.

The building nowadays doubles as a museum dedicated to the poet, including books from his library and other personal items, and as the seat of the Corfiot Studies Society, a cultural foundation that organizes conTHE MUNICIPAL GALLERY OF CORFU ferences, lectures and other events on Greek The permanent collection of the Municipal letters, and also acts as a publishing house.

Gallery is housed at the Palace of SS Michael and George, just beyond the People’s THE “NIKOLAOS HALIKIOPOULOS Gardens (once called the Royal Gardens). MANTZAROS” MUSIC MUSEUM Its valuable collection includes works, pre- This is the museum of the Corfu Philhardominantly by Ionian painters, that have monic Society, and the only one of its kind in defined the evolution of Greek art from the Greece. Exhibits trace the 200-year history 1600s onwards. Temporary exhibitions are and development of the Society, including displayed at the Peristyle and the Garden items such as old instruments, paintings, old Rooms. student lists, photographs, original music scores, and sound recordings.

Asia Section, which exhibits works from India, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and Tibet; the Japanese Section, which boasts 6,200 objects from all periods of Japanese civilization; and the Central Asian Section, with hand-made rugs and kilims of the Baluch nomads, ikat silk clothing, jewellery, Suzani silk fabrics, etc. The museum periodically hosts exhibitions on various thematic subjects.

THE SERBIAN MUSEUM This museum displays material that sheds light on the tragedy of the Serbian army in the First World War. Following the disintegration of their front against Austrian and German forces in the autumn of 1915, the ragged remnants of the army, some 150,000 people, found refuge on Corfu.

THE BANKNOTE MUSEUM It is housed in a neoclassical building designed by the Corfiot architect Ioannis Chronis, where the Ionian Bank, the first bank in Greece, started its operation. It displays an impressive collection of rare banknotes, printing matrices, photographs, original models etc.

Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806).

Deeply Hidden Love, coloured woodblock. Museum of Asian Art.

THE READING SOCIETY OF CORFU The Reading Society is one of the oldest cultural institutions in modern Greece, founded by young university alumni in 1836 on the model of the Geneva society of the same name. Its membership has included many distinguished personalities in letters, arts, sciences and politics. The society has gradually collected a substantial library, mainly of Ionian interest, that is open to visitors. It organizes various activities focusing mostly on the preservation and promotion of the culture of the Ionian islands.

Swimming Spots in Town

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The inhabitants of Corfu Town love the sea. They are drawn to the nearest beaches in town during the spring, and many don’t stop swimming until November brings heavy rains and strong south-westerly winds. Each person usually has a favorite swimming spot, and as small groups of swimmers form each one considers the other a friend. Those who continue swimming into the winter share even stronger bonds of friendship.

Faliraki is where Corfiots have traditionally taken their “baths” from old, a place better known among them as “Aleko’s baths”. One must walk from town through the St Nicholas gate (which allowed access to the sea in Venetian times). Swimmers sit on the short quay or lie on recliners provided by the bars nearby. Stone steps lead into the water.

The Corfu Nautical Club (NAOK) operates in buildings below the sea wall of the Spianada. Its cove has been a favorite swimming spot for generations of Corfiots, with a view of the club’s sailing boats and rowing boats crewed and in training. The club’s café provides changing and showering rooms.

Beyond the Windmill (Anemomylos) metal ladders are installed in a concrete jetty for entering the water safely. Swimmers have

views of the Old Fortress to the north and the open Ionian Sea to the south. The seafloor is alive with extensive growth of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica, home to dozens of species of fish.

On the eastern side of Mon Repos there is a protected cove with a stone jetty locals call “the Queen’s bridge”. The old spring, the long-abandoned guard-post, and the grey herons (genus Ardea cinerea) that make their nests in the taller tree branches make for a unique landscape. From here south to Messonghi the sea is zoned and protected as part of the Natura 2000 network for its Posidonia oceanica meadows, which provide an ideal bed for many species of marine life.

The old municipal beach at the northern end of the Mon Repos grounds, near Anemomylos, is closed for renovation of its amenities.

ANEMOMYLOS

CORFU TOWN

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Kanoni & Palaeopolis The ancient city of Corfu was built to the south of the present Corfu Town, between the harbor of Alcinous (now Garitsa Bay) and the Hyllaic harbor (now the Halikiopoulos Lagoon next to the airport). The area is nowadays called Palaeopolis (old or ancient city). Archaeological excavations have brought to light parts of the streets and buildings of the city, elements of the port facilities, ceramic workshops, clay statuettes, and the ancient cemetery to its north.

PALAEOPOLIS BASILICA

KARDAKI TEMPLE

The ancient temple of Artemis, one of the earliest Doric temples of antiquity, is the primary monument in Palaeopolis. Its stone pediment is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Corfu. Near it stands the tower of Nerantzicha, part of the ancient walls on which the church of Virgin Mary Nerantzicha was incorporated.

The Palaeopolis basilica stands across the road from the entrance to the Mon Repos estate. The church was built in the fifth century by the Metropolitan Jovian on the ruins of a Roman-era odeum.

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MONASTERY OF VLACHERNA

the Archaeological Museum of Palaeopolis that exhibits items from the excavations of this area.

In the estate there are still extant the ruins of an ancient temple of Hera, as well as the Kardaki temple, the best preserved of ancient temples in Corfu. The latter is a small building in the Doric style, dating to the latter Archaic Age (510 bc). It received its present name from the nearby Kardaki spring.

The southern tip of the peninsula is called Kanoni. As legend has it, it took its name from the establishment of two French artillery pieces there in 1798. Just below Kanoni the Monastery of Vlacherna dates from the 1600s. Small boats sail from the quay to the Pontikonisi islet with its picturesque Chapel of Pantocrator, built in the 1200s and one of the oldest Byzantine monuments on the island.

CORFU TOWN

The Roman baths of Palaeopolis are also situated near the entrance to Mon Repos. It is a small, axially arranged complex of public baths, of which ten main and three secondary rooms survive. In the first room a polychrome mosaic depicts the face of Oceanus or Bythos (the Deep).

The Mon Repos estate is a rare botanical garden that exhibits some 2,000 species of plant from parts of the nineteenth-century British Empire. It includes the Mon Repos mansion, an architecturally interesting building in neoclassical form, constructed on the orders of Lord High Commissioner Sir Frederick Adam.

It was initially utilized as the summer residence for the Lord High Commissioner, and later as a summer residence for the royal family of Greece, until the abolition of monarchy in 1974. The mansion operates as a

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SIGHTSEEING: OUT OF TOWN This island is shaped like a sickle: wide and mountainous in the north (where the peak of the Pantocrator reaches 906 meters above sea level), thinning to the south, where low hills slope smoothly to the sea. It is densely populated, with more than one hundred villages, forty-six of which are officially listed and protected as traditional settlements of outstanding architectural value.

The extensive road network consists predominantly of narrow roads winding between olive groves and cypresses with the sea as backdrop, an exquisite combination of green and blue. The impressive vegetation isn’t only a product of the climate, but the result of human intervention as well. The Venetian administration once subsidized olive growing, so that nowadays the island seems to be covered by forests (millions indeed) of centuries-old olive trees.

The beauty of this landscape has inspired countless artists and drawn tourists from the four corners of the world. One may remember that

Centuries-old olive trees mark the Corfiot landscape.

81 twenty-eight sites on Corfu—built and natural ones—and noted for their aesthetic value have been have designated Landscapes of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The wealth of the Corfiot environment is manifested in extensive biodiversity. In the Lefkimmi wetland at Alykes more than 180 bird species have been recorded; the Korission Lagoon borders a juniper wood unique for the area. In the spring, across the island bloom thousands of wildflower species, 36 species of spontaneous-growth orchid, and dozens of species of aromatic and medicinal plants. April, May and June are ideal months for walking and trekking the widespread footpath network, as though in a never-ending garden.

The island enjoys a coastline more than 200 kilometers long. The narrow seas between Corfu and the mainland are usually calm. The eastern beaches are level and semicircular as a rule, forming open bays and small coves. On the western side the open and wilder Ionian Sea causes considerable erosion, to create impressive beaches with fine sand under high cliffs, and carve fine rock formations.

OUT OF TOWN

Flock of flamingos in Alykes wetland, Lefkimmi.

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Beaches AGIA AIKATERINI (4.5 kilometres from Corfu Town; No.7 City Bus) The municipal beach of Agia Aikaterini is sandy and very shallow. Recliners and sun umbrellas are free, and there are amenities available for persons with disabilities; a bar-restaurant is open, and a number of basketball and volleyball courts are free to use. The beach is popular with Corfiots of every age.

GOUVIA (7.2 km from Corfu Town; No. 7 City Bus) Gouvia is a small, sandy beach, protected from heavy weather inside the large Bay of Gouvia. It is organized, and provides amenities for persons with disabilities. The Gouvia yachting marina and the impressive ruins of the old Venetian shipyards are nearby. The village itself has a developed tourism infrastructure, with many restaurants, bars and cafes. There is an attractive view from the seaside towards the islet in the bay on which stands the beautiful Ypapanti chapel.

KONTOKALI (6.5 km from Corfu Town; No.7 City Bus; a ten-minute walk from the bus stop) This is a small, sandy and shallow beach, usually chosen by families with children. Part of it is operated by a resort nearby. A canteen provides drinks and snacks.

The views towards the Lazaretto islet, and the town and Old Fort in the background are beautiful.

DAFNILAS (9 km from Corfu Town; No. 7 City Bus; about one kilometre from the bus stop, but the roads leading to the water may be confusing) This is a quiet, sandy beach with shallow waters. Olive-, cypress- and palm-trees almost reach the sea. There are recliners, umbrellas and a water-sports center. The facilities are operated by a resort with a restaurant just by the beach.

YPAPANTI CHAPEL, GOUVIA

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32 MAP D

Corfu Ski Club, Watersports & Jet ski Rentals

OUT OF TOWN

Located 9 km from Corfu Town, on the sandy beach of Dafnilas, the club is a small paradise hidden under the shade of palm trees and ancient olive trees that reach down to the blue sea. It has been operating since 1974, providing summer fun and thrilling the clients from 4 to 84 years old.

The owner is a former water ski champion and under his expert leadership, a wide range of water sports are responsibly

offered. Activities include parasailing, water skiing, wake boarding, various inflatable rides including “flyfish” and everyone’s favourite – jet skis! The latest SeaDoo & Yamaha waverunners are available for rent. The bar-restaurant of the luxurious Grecotel hotel is found alongside the club.

Transfer service is available upon request.

Dafnilas beach Τ.: (+30) 6942 852188 www.corfuskiclub.com

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DASSIA 12 km from Corfu Town; No. 7 City bus; 200 meters from the main road Dassia is one of the most popular beaches on the island. It forms a long strip of sand and fine pebbles, with shallow waters. Infrastructure exists for persons with disabilities. Water-sports facilities are extensive, and the area nearby is fully developed for tourism, with a large variety of stores and restaurants.

About two kilometers from the beach, at the village of Kato Korakiana, one may visit the very interesting Corfu Annex of the National Gallery of Greece.

mostly for younger people. The lushly green hills above enclose the village of Agios Markos, with old churches and mansions engulfed in ivy.

ΙPSOS 14 km from Corfu Town; No. 7 City bus The open bay forms a long, sand-and-pebble beach that provides amenities for persons with disabilities. Water-sports establishments and a diving school operate here.

A small harbor on the south end provides boats for rent.

Ipsos boasts a large number of bars and restaurants, and a fully-fledged nightlife

LIAPADES 21 km from Corfu Town; Green bus route About one kilometer from the picturesque village of Liapades, there is a small pebbled cove with crystal-clear waters that deepen abruptly. There are organized conveniences available, as well as a few restaurants and cafes nearby.

Boats are rented for visits to the beautiful coves of Rovinia and Chomi.

ΒΑRΒΑΤΙ BEACH

BARBATI 18 km from Corfu Town; Green bus route This is a long pebbly beach with waters that deepen abruptly. The steep cliff-faces of the foothills of Mount Pantocrator rise impressively above the beach.

The area has undergone intense tourism development; many beach bars by the water cater to the tastes of younger locals and tourists.

85

PALAEOKASTRITSA

OUT OF TOWN

CHOMI BEACH

86

PALAEOKASTRITSA 23 km from Corfu town; Green bus route Palaeokastritsa, already known from the writings of foreign travelers in the nineteenth century who came here to draw inspiration from its peerless natural beauty, must be the most famous resort on the island.

Trees seem to be suspended from sheer crags that hang above the green-and-blue waters. Wild-looking rock formations drop into the sea to open into domed grottoes, a magnificent exploration site for divers who come here from every corner of the globe.

The shore of Palaeokastritsa, on the east coast of the island, is carved into six coves and beaches with deep, crystalline, cold waters. The central one is Agios Spyridon, with a beautiful and protected sandy beach.

It is organized and provides amenities for persons with disabilities.

The beach of Alypa next door features a small harbor. Small boats and caiques take tourists on short trips along the coastline.

One must see the idyllic white pebbled cove of Chomi with its crystal-clear waters, accessible only from the sea. The Monastery of the Virgin of Palaeokastritsa lies on

MYRTIOTISSA

the northern promontory of Ayios Spyridon.

Above the sea, at a distance of 6 kilometers by road, lies the traditional village of Lakones, built on the hillside and famous for the view of one of the most breathtaking sunsets in Corfu. About three kilometers beyond, near the beautiful village of Krini, one may visit the ruins of the Byzantine Angelokastro castle.

ERMONES 15 km from Corfu Town; Green bus route This is a relatively quiet beach with a combination of sand and pebble. It is surrounded by cliffs, and there’s a small river flowing to the sea at its middle. This is where, according to one interpretation of the Homeric myth, Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous of the Phaeacians, happened on the shipwrecked Ulysses. Conveniences are provided, and a few restaurants are nearby.

The only golf course on the island is just a short distance away.

MYRTIOTISSA 16 km from Corfu Town; the beach is far from the main road, and a car is needed to get there; motorists, however, are advised to leave their cars a kilometer or so from the beach, as the road is very narrow, and there is very little room for maneuver if two automobiles meet.

Despite the difficult access, the beauty of Myrtiotissa (or Myrtidiotissa) beach is worth the trouble taken to reach it. Sheer, high cliffs rise round the beach, and they are full of trees and greenery, thanks to the rills flowing through them to the sea. Myrtiotissa is sandy, with many large rocks embedded on the sea floor. This is an unofficial nudist beach. There are recliners and umbrellas, and a small canteen. A few minutes’ walk is the monastery of the Virgin Myrtidiotissa.

GLYFADA 15 km from Corfu Town; Green bus route Glyfada is a large beach with fine sand that lends a characteristic blue-green hue to the water. It is fully organized, with umbrellas, recliners, showers, water-sports and a beach volleyball court. The southern end is relatively secluded. This is the most cosmopolitan beach on Corfu, with a large hotel and many villas, apartments and bungalows in the vicontinued on page 88

87

33 MAP D

Vrachos Seaside Restaurant

OUT OF TOWN

Certainly one of the most photographed spots in Corfu. Located at the base of the Palaeokastritsa rock (Vrachos meaning “rock�), on the road leading up to the historic monastery, dips its toes into the crystal blue waters of the bay on which it sits. Open from early morning for breakfast, lunch or brunch, for those who want to combine refreshments with a swim or a boat ride to the sea caves.

Vrachos restaurant has invested in award-winning cuisine and discreet, but also friendly service since 1965. It combines creative Mediterranean cuisine with dishes from Corfu, with particular emphasis on fresh fish and seafood. It is no coincidence that it also provides high quality catering services.

Palaeokastritsa, T.: (+30) 2663 041233 Vrachos Palaeokastritsa www.vrachosp.gr

88

GLYFADA

cinity, and especially popular with the young crowd. This is where the first beach bars on the island opened, and that trait is still alive.

The pine-tree covered vertical cliffs above the beach compose a beautiful landscape.

os Gordis), is united with attendant smaller coves to form a 2.5-kilometre almost continuous “golden strand”.

Sheer crags rise behind the beach, and the characteristic Ortholithi (the Upright Cliff) sticks up from the sea. The village of Ai Gordis is a well-known resort, and the beach is fully organized.

On the hills above, the traditional village of Kato Garounas, built on the mountainside, dominates the landscape; Aerostato (Hotair balloon) Hill beyond the village it is very popular with hang-gliding enthusiasts, who take off from its top to land on the beach.

KONTOGIALOS 15 km from Corfu Town This hippies’ beach of the 1970s has been transformed into a busy resort, as restaurants, hotels and rooms for rent are surrounding it. Kontogialos is long, with fine sand, and a smoothly sloping shelf; fully organized and providing umbrellas, recliners and water-sports. On the southern end there is a small fishing harbor, and “small Kontogi- BENITSES alos”, a small and relatively quiet cove.

20 km from Corfu Town; No6 City bus The once famed fishing village is now a GIALISKARI well-known resort – but its fish and seafood 15 km from Corfu Town tavernas are still acclaimed. The small strip This is a sandy cove with shallow waters, of sandy beach next to the marina is organprotected from wind and well hidden. Pine- ized and provides amenities for persons with tree groves reach to the shore. Umbrellas disabilities. and recliners are available, and a restaurant A small distance to the north of the village a operates here as well. larger finely-pebbled beach is a good swimming alternative.

AI GORDIS One may visit the Achilleion Palace, only 20 km from Corfu Town; Green bus route three kilometers distant, or walk the many A long and sandy beach (also known as Agi- footpaths on the green hills round the village.

89

Αttractions THE MONASTERY OF THE HOLY VIRGIN AT PALAEOKASTRITSA According to an inscription by its gate, the monastery was built in 1228. Historical research, however, indicates it was founded in the middle fifteenth century thanks to the collaboration of 39 villages in its wider area. Old icons from the 1400s to the 1700s are on display, painted predominantly in the Cretan style. There is also a small museum maintained by the monastery.

Annual feast days are on 15 August and on the Friday after Easter. The views out to the Ionian Sea are breathtaking; this is a beautiful spot from which to watch the sunset.

THE ANGELOKASTRO This is a Byzantine-era castle built on a sheer cliff 300 metres above the sea on the west coast, near Palaeokastritsa. It was the westernmost defensive outpost of the Byzantine Empire, and later of the Despotate of Epirus, to which Corfu belonged until 1267.

It was erected in the early 12th century, when the old castle (now the Monastery of Palaeokastritsa) had to be transferred to a safer defensive position.

The trek to its top may be tiring, but the view will make up for the toil.

MONASTERY OF PALAEOKASTRITSA

KAISER’S THRONE This vantage point lies at the top of Pelekas Hill, 270 m above sea level. Kaiser Wilhelm II often visited this rock when he was on the island, to admire the 360Ο view, hence the name. The sunset here is impressive.

OUT OF TOWN

ANGELOKASTRO

90

Museums THE NATIONAL GALLERY AND ALEXANDROS SOUTZOS MUSEUM: CORFU ANNEX The historical building of the Castellino houses some of the most probing examples of the themes and styles that set the tone of Greek art in the last few centuries. The collection includes about 150 items (paintings and sculptures) from the Hellenic National Gallery collections, many of which are on display for the first time here, providing the visitor a relatively easy and understandable guide to the development of various artistic genres in the country.

Starting with “The Crucifixion”, possibly painted by Domenicos Theotocopoulos (El Greco), the collection forms a clear pathway for the viewer through the movements that have historically defined Greek art: the Ionian School, the “Munich” School, modernism, the generation of the 1930s, abstraction, the experimentalism of the 1970s, and the “return to painting” from the 1980s onwards.

THE CAPODISTRIAS MUSEUM This museum, dedicated to the Corfiot Count Ioannes Capodistrias, first governor of the modern Greek state, is situated at Koukouritsa, near the village of Evropouloi. Capodistrias excelled as a diplomat and later Foreign Minister of Russia in the early nineteenth century. He was born and spent the years of his youth in Corfu; this four-acre lot was a summer home for him and his family. The building is a typical Corfiot villa; the cool early evenings in summer, the flagged footpaths, and the unique view to the east,

NATIONAL GALLERY

towards the sea, the mountains of Epirus and Corfu Town, can transform each visit into an event.

THE ACHILLEION The Achilleion summer palace was built in the late 19th century on a lush green hill near the village of Gastouri, nine kilometers south of Corfu Town. It was commissioned

by Empress Elizabeth of Austria (better known as Sissi), to be built in the neoclassical style on plans by the architects Raffaele Caritto and Antonio Landy.

The building stands majestic and imposing amid extensive gardens. It is home to a large number of sculptures that depict personages from Greek mythology. Interior walls were painted with exquisite frescoes by famous artists of the time. One of the most impressive sculptures in the garden is that of “Achilles Dying”, a work of the German sculptor Herter. The largest piece is the eight-meter high bronze “Achilles Victorious”, commissioned later by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. The grounds take up more than twenty acres, gently sloping to the seashore. The Achilleion is now a museum, and also hosts cultural events in summer.

THE “DONATOS PAIPETIS” OLIVE MUSEUM The “Donatos Paipetis” Olive Museum is located at the village of Kynopiastes, eight kilometers to the west of Corfu Town. From the nineteenth century until 1970 it was a traditional olive press owned by the Paipetis family. Visitors may see now the large collection of tools and machinery used in the extraction of olive oil, as well as photographs of village life in the early twentieth

CAPODISTRIAS MUSEUM

91

century. Kynopiastes is an officially recognized traditional village with mansions dating to the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The local Church of the Virgin Mary Eleousa (the Merciful) has a five-century history and holy icons by Ionian School painters.

THE “NIKOS PAKTITES�

FOLK MUSEUM OF SINARADES This museum is housed in a traditional twofloor building in Sinarades. Each item has been collected by the educator and researcher Nikos Paktites, who dedicated his life to

the protection and rescue of folk tradition.

Items on display include the recreation of an old village bedroom, collections of farming implements, traditional Corfiot garments, kitchen utensils, church items, shadow theatre figurines, pottery objects, and works of art. Sinarades is an officially protected traditional village with flagstone alleys, and building elements typical of Corfiot folk architecture: vaulted arches, curved doorways at street level, gateways with beautifully carved marble pilasters, and exterior stone stairways giving on to upper-floor roofed balconies.

OUT OF TOWN

OLIVE MUSEUM

FOLK MUSEUM OF SINARADES

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INDEX

GETTING AROUND

USEFUL NUMBERS (+30)

Corfu City Bus……pages 18-19 (No5, map A) Τ.: (+30) 266 1031595 www.astikoktelkerkyras.gr

CORFU POLICE AUTHORITY Emergency T.: 100 Central Police Station Τ.: 2661 038661 Airport Police Station Τ.: 2661 020824 Traffic Police Τ.: 2661 029163, 029165 FIRE SERVICE Emergency Τ.: 199 CORFU PORT AUTHORITY SA Cruise Terminal, New Port Τ.: 2661 045551, 039824 www.corfuport.gr MEDICAL SERVICES GENERAL HOSPITAL Kontokali. T.: 26613 61100 Ε.Κ.Α.V. (Ambulance Service) T.: 166 CORFU SURGERY (Minor Ailments): Scaramanga Sq. 4, T.: 2661 039615 POST OFFICE Leoforos Alexandras 26 T.: 2661 025544, 2661 027861

City sightseeing Corfu……backcover (No1, map A) Ethn. Antistaseos 16B, New Port Τ.: (+30) 26610 86000 www.city-sightseeing.com

Corfu City Tours……page 17 (No4, map A) Τ.: (+30) 2661 032158 www.corfucitytours.gr Corfu Sightseeing Train……page 21 (No7, map B) Starting point: Pentofanaro Spianada Square Corfu Taxi & Transportation Services……page 20 (No6, map A) Τ.: (+30) 26610 33811 www.corfutaxi.gr Ferry Schedules Τ.: (+30) 2661 365200 Lord Travel……pages 14-15 (No2, maps A&D) L. Alexandras 25, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 049000 E. Palaeokastritsas, Kontokali Τ.: (+30) 2661 091890 www. lordtravel.gr

Directory Enquiries T.: 11880

Regional & National Bus (KTEL - GREEN BUSES) Τ.: (+30) 2661 028900

SPORTS

Tolis Motors, Rent a Car & Motorbike……page 16 (No3, map A) E. Antistaeos 12A T.: (+30) 2661 045005 www.rentalcarscorfu.com (cars) w.corfumoto.rentals (bikes)

Corfu Ski Club, Watersports & Jet ski Rentals……page 83 (No32, map D) Dafnilas beach Τ.: (+30) 6942 852188 www.corfuskiclub.com

EATING & DRINKING Aktaion Café & Restaurant……page 37 (No10, map B) Agoniston Politechniou, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 037894 Aktaion Kerkyra www.aktaion.gr Café Spathis……page 36 (No9, map B) Vas. Georgiou A’ 24, Liston, T: (+30) 26617 77337 Spathis Cafe-Gelateria www.kefalinongefseis.gr Corfu Sailing Club Restaurant……page 40 (No13, map A) Mandraki, Old Fortress T.: (+30) 2661 038763 (+30) 6932 107971 www.corfu-sailing-restaurant.com En Plo Café & Restaurant……page 42 (No15, map A) St. Nicholas’ Gate, Faliraki Τ: (+30) 26610 81813 www.enplocorfu.com Imabari Seaside Lounge Bar & Resto……page 43 (No16, map A) St. Nicholas’ Gate, Faliraki Τ: (+30) 26611 00340 (+30) 6940 332100 Imabari Corfu www.imabaricorfu.gr

93

Nautilus Café & Restaurant……pages 46-47 (No19, map C) Anemomylos, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 020033 Nautilus Cafe Rex Restaurant……page 38 (No11, map B) Kapodistriou 66 T.: (+30) 2661 039649 www. rexrestaurant.gr Solea Wine & Tapas Bar……page 35 (No8, map A) Old Port Square, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 034059 Solea Wine & Tapas Bar www.soleacorfu.gr Venetian Well bistro & wine restaurant……page 45 (No18, map B) Lili Desila Square, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 55095 (+30) 6944 282123 The Venetian Well www.venetianwell.gr Veranda Restaurant……page 41 (No14, map B) Arseniou 19, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 081716 Veranda CorfuRestaurant Yiannis Grammenos Vrachos Seaside Restaurant……page 87 (No33, map D) Palaeokastritsa T.: (+30) 2663 041233 Vrachos Palaiokastritsa ww.vrachosp.gr

INDEX

McDonald’s™……page 39 (No12, map B) Kapidistriou 44, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 045311 mcdonalds.restaurants.gr www.mcdonalds.gr

Naok-Azur Café, Bar & Restaurant……page 44 (No17, map B) Leoforos Demokratias Τ.: (+30) 2661 080700 Naok-Azur www.naokazur.com

94

SHOPPING Chronos Vintage Watch Shop……page 58 (No27, map B) Evg. Voulgareos 30, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 025956 Corfu Jewellers Association……pages 56-57 Εx Oriente Lux……page 52 (No23, map B) Solomou 5, Spilia, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 045273, (+30) 6946 406516 Ag. Sofias 43A, , Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 027368 www.exorienteluxcorfu.gr Katerina’s Greek Sandals……page 50 (No21, map B) Filarmonikis 30, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 043779 Katerinas Greek Sandals www.greeksandalshop.com Mavromatis Distillery……page 63 (No30, map B&D) Mich. Theotoki 9, Corfu Town T.: (+30) 6977 153002 16th km Nat. Road of Palaeokastritsa Τ.: (+30) 2663 022174 www.kumquat.gr MiΝiΜi……page 53 (No24, map B) Evg. Voulgareos 14, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 024810 corfuglassminimi Mouses Greek Designers Store……page 49 (No20, map B) Mich. Theotoki 22, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 030708 Mouses art things & more www.mousesart.gr

Μoutsos Greek Souvenirs……page 54 (No25, map D) Achilleion National Road 82 Τ.: (+30) 2661 030855 (+30) 2661 039593 www.moutsos.gr Papagiorgis Traditional Patisserie……page 61 (No29, map B) Nikiforou Theotoki 32, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 039474 Papagiorgis, www.papagiorgis.gr Patounis Olive Soap……page 65 (No31, map A) T: (+30) 26610 39806 Ε: info@patounis.gr www.patounis.gr Swarovski……page 51 (No22, map B) Ag. Panton 41, Corfu Town T.: (+30) 2661 021069 Swarovski Corfu E-shop: www.swar.gr Triantafyllos Jewellery……page 59 (No28, map B) Evg. Voulgareos 76, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 080400 Evg. Voulgareos 106, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 049507 triantafylloscorfu www.triantafyllos.eu United Colors of Benetton……page 55 (No26, map B) Evg. Voulgareos 44, Corfu Town Τ: (+30) 2661 037424 United Colors of Benetton Corfu

MUSEUMS & SITES OF INTEREST Old Fortress……page 70 Τ.: (+30) 2661 027935 (+30) 2661 048310 New Fortress……page 70 Τ.: (+30) 2661 044444 Τhe Achilleion……page 90 Gastouri Τ.: (+30) 2661 056245 www.achillion-corfu.gr Archaeological Museum……page 75 Vraila Armeni 1, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 030680 Archaeological museum of Palaeopolis……page 79 Mon Repos Estate Τ.: (+30) 2661 020980 Banknote Museum……page 76 Plateia Heroon, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 041552 Byzantine Museum of Antivouniotissa……page 75 Arseniou St., Mouragia Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 038313 www.antivouniotissamuseum.gr Capodistrias Museum……page 90 Center of Capodistrian Studies Europouli, Corfu Τ.: (+30) 2661 032440 www.capodistriasmuseum.com

Corfu Municipal Gallery……page 76 Palace of SS Michael and George Τ.: (+30) 2661 048690 www.artcorfu.com

95

Corfu Reading Society……page 76 Kapodistriou 120 Τ.: (+30) 2661 039528 www.anagnostikicorfu.com Dionysios Solomos Museum……page 76 (Society for Corfiot Studies) Arseniou St., Mouragia Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 030674 Folk Museum of Sinarades……page 91 Τ.: (+30) 2661 054962 www.laografikomouseiosinaradon. blogspot.gr National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum- Corfu Annex……page 90 Castellino, Kato Korakiana Τ.: (+30) 2661 093333 www.nationalgallery.gr “Mantzaros” Music Museum……page 76 Nik. Theotoki 10, Corfu Town Τ.: (+30) 2661 039289 www.fek.gr Olive Museum “Donatos Paipetis”……page 91 Kynopiastes Τ.: (+30) 2661 049301 Anglican Church……page 74 Τ.: (+30) 2661 031467 Catholic Cathedral (Duomo)……page 74 Τ.: (+30) 2661 030271 Church of Saints Iason and Sosipatros……page 74 Τ.: (+30) 2661 027894 Church of St Spyridon……page 74 Τ.: (+30) 2661 039779 Metropolitan Church……page 74 Τ.: (+30) 2661 037008

INDEX

Corfu Art Gallery Ioan. Theotoki 77 49100 Corfu Τ.: (+30) 2661 041085-8 www.corfuartgallery.com

Corfu Museum of Asian Art……page 75 Palace of SS Michael and George Τ.: (+30) 2661 030443 www.matk.gr

96

FOREIGN CONSULATES Austria: Consulate Moustoxidou 78, Corfu Town T.: 2661 043573, 027184 Email: oekonsulatkorfu@yahoo.gr

Netherlands: Consulate Aristotelous 4, Corfu Town T.: 2661 039900 Email: vassilimouhas@yahoo.com Norway: Consulate Agion Pateron 23, Corfu Town T.: 2661 041528 Email: a.koulouris@rncc.gr

Belgium: Consulate Nik. Theotoki 36, Corfu Town T.: T.: 2661 023861, 6947 202 98 Email: agistriotis@gmail.com

Portugal: Consulate S. Padova 28-30, Corfu Town T.: 2661 056557

Denmark: Consulate Iakovou Polyla 9, Corfu Town T.: 2661 039209 Email: ergontek@hol.gr

Romania: Consulate Agiou Spiridonos 55, Corfu Town T.: 2661 040044 Email: al.gardikiotis@gmail.com

France: Consular Agency Moustoxidou 15, Corfu Town T.: 2661 042980 Email: rkaramoutsou@yahoo.fr

Serbia: Consulate Moustoxidi 19, Corfu Town T.: 2661 026724, 6945 402430 Email: smastoras@yahoo.com

Germany: Consulate Kapodistriou 23, Corfu Town T.: 2661 036816 Email: korfu@hk-diplo.de

Spain: Consulate Ilia Politi 2, Corfu Town T.: 2661 030457 Email: politis@dflti.ionio.gr

Italy: Consulate Vraila 17, Corfu Town T.: 2661 037351 Email: consolatoncorfu@yahoo.it

Sweden: Consulate Mantzarou 12 & Samara T.: 2661 023523, 036241 Email: vkontos@corfuholidays.com

Malta: Consulate A. Panagouli 11, Corfu Town T.: 2661 039357 Email: maltaconsul.corfu@gov.mt

Switzerland: Consulate Dimocratias Ave 3, Corfu Town T.: 2661 036500 Email: korfu@honrep.ch United Kingdom: Vice Consulate 1st floor, Mantzarou 18 T.: 2661 023457, 030055 Email: corfu@fco.gov.uk

Greek: the basics Hello: γειά [geiá] Good day: καλημέρα [kaliméra] Good afternoon: καλησπέρα [kalispéra] Good night: καληνύχτα [kalinýhta] Yes: ναι [ne] No: όχι [óchi] Thank you: ευχαριστώ [efharistó] Please: παρακαλώ [parakalo] Excuse me: συγγνώμη [syngnómi] Do you speak English?: μιλάτε Αγγλικά; [miláte Angliká?]

Where is the...: πού είναι το...; [pou eínai to...]

Corfu: Κέρκυρα [Kérkyra] Old Town of Corfu: Παλιά Πόλη της Κέρκυρας [Paliá Póli tis Kérkyras] Where is the bus stop?: Πού είναι η στάση του λεωφορείου; [Pou eínai i stási tou leoforeíou?]

Where can I get a taxi?: Πού μπορώ να βρω ταξί; [Pou boró na vro taxí?]

Where can I buy a ticket? Πού μπορώ να αγοράσω εισιτήριο; [Pou boró na agoráso eisitírio?]

Water: νερό [neró] Food: φαγητό [fagitó] How much?: πόσο κάνει; [póso kánei?] Τhe cheque/bill please: Τον λογαριασμό παρακαλώ [Ton logariasmó parakaló] Where is the toilet?: Πού είναι η τουαλέτα; [Pou eínai i toualéta?]

Pharmacy: φαρμακείο [farmakeío] Ηοspital: νοσοκομείο [nosokomeío] Bank: τράπεζα [trápeza]

97

SIDARI ACHARAVI

RODA

PERITHIA

PAGI

AG. IOANNIS

HOSPITAL 1

2

DAFNILAS

5 THE ACHILLEION

4 FOLK MUSEUM OF SINARADES

3 OLIVE MUSEUM

25

KANONI

CORFU

KALAMI

SINIES

AG. DEKA

CHALIKOUNAS

CHLOMOS

AG. GEORGIOS

ISSOS

LAGOON KORISSIΟΝ

PERIVOLI

GARDENOS

MALTAS

MARATHIAS

ARGYRADES

PETRITI

BOUKARI

MESONGHI

GARDIKI CHLOMOTIANA

AG. MATHEOS

PARAMONAS

A. PAVLIANA

BENITSES STAVROS K. PAVLIANA

K. GAROUNA

A. GAROUNA PENTATI

AG. GORDIOS

5 GASTOURI

ACHILLION

SINARADES 3 4 KASTELLANI

VARYPATADES GLYFADA PONTIKONISI KALAFATIONES KONTOGYALOS KYNOPIASTES

KOMBITSI VIROS

AFRA

POTAMOS

GOUVIA YACHT MARINA KONTOKALI

NISSAKI

2 NATIONAL GALLERY - ALEXANDROS SOUTZOS MUSEUM

1 CAPODISTRIAS MUSEUM

32

IPSOS

PELEKAS

TEMPLONI

MUSEUMS & SITES OF INTEREST

33 Vrachos Seaside Restaurant

30 Mavromatis Distillery

25 Μoutsos Greek Souvenirs

2 Lord Travel

BEACH

2

BARBATI

SPARTYLAS

K. KORAKIANA DASSIA

ERMONES

GIANNADES

LIAPADES

DOUKADES

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

AIRPORT

PORT

CASTLE

33

PALAEOKASTRITSA

SOKRAKI

SGOURADES

A. KORAKIANA

SKRIPERO 30

CHOREPISKOPI

KASTELLANI

AG. GEORGIOS

AGROS

LAKONES ANGELOKASTRO

AFIONAS

DAFNI

KLIMATIA

AG. STEFANOS

KASSIOPI

KAROUSADES AVLIOTES EPISKEPSI PLATONAS MAGOULADES AG. STEFANOS VELONADES KRATORAS Mt NTO NYMFES KAVADES PA AG. DOULI 906m ARILLAS STRINYLAS

PEROULADES

ANTINIOTIS LAGOON

SPARTERA

KRITIKA PALEOCHORI

CAVOS

LEFKIMMI

ALYKES

MAP D

99

19 Anemomylos Café & Restaurant

SITES OF INTEREST 1 CHURCH OF SAINTS IASON AND SOSIPATROS 2 ANCIENT TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS 3 PALAEOPOLIS BASILICA 4 ROMAN BATHS 5 ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF PALAEOPOLIS 6 ANCIENT TEMPLE OF KARDAKI 7 MONASTERY OF VLACHERNA

100

1 map Α