Corfu, Greece

Countess Flamburiari said that Corfu Town, the island’s capital, was: “Venice and Naples, a touch of France and more than a dash of England, apart of course from being Greek.” Driving through the town, it is the architecture that shows you what she meant.

The Doge of Venice ruled this island for decades and some of the people still speak Italian (Venetian dialect). The New Fort was built by the Venetians which is obvious with the Lion of St. Mark displayed on the walls.



Venetian buildings, featuring airy balconies with wrought-iron railings and window grilles, abound. Many are in need of repair.



The British landmark in town is the Georgian style Palace of St. Michael and St. George (1824) which was the Governor’s Official Residence. The British also brought cricket and ginger beer which are still around today.



The French influence is seen in arched buildings of the Liston on the southern side of Spinada Square, the town center, which were copied from Paris’ Rue de Rivoli.

Our drive through Corfu Town also passed the central market. These women buying the vegetables look different than those I photographed in Spain, don’t they? Notice the older woman on the left in the black clothing.



The Island of Corfu is the seventh largest and western-most of the 3,000 Greek Islands. It is just off the coast of Albania and Greece. At its closest point, it is only 1.5 miles from Albania.

It does not have the traditional white houses with blue trim or churches with blue domes as is characteristic of most Greek islands, but it does have beautiful beaches and coastlines. Unfortunately, it was very overcast this morning when we made our way up one of the mountains, going through little villages with just inches to spare on each side of the bus, to get this view of Paleokastritsa.



This close-up of one of the bays gives a hint of how beautiful the water color could be a la scenes from Mama Mia. The pink flowering trees are Judas Trees.



As we scraped by the buildings, I saw this sign in one of the small mountain villages which I captured for all of my technology-loving friends just in case you need to know how to say or read “computer-multimedia” in Greek.



The main industry in Corfu is the production of olive oil. There are over four million olive trees on the island, many of them 300 to 400 years old. Here they rarely prune them, so they are taller and wider than olive trees elsewhere in Greece. They use the Italian method of collecting the olives. They simply put nets under the trees and gather the olives as they fall.



As we were leaving Corfu in the afternoon, the sun came out briefly, so I got this shot of the Old Town of Corfu where you can see the Old Fort and the red bell tower of St. Spyridon Church.