Corfu - Sunday 8 July 2012

Corfu is a beautiful Greek island, located in the Ionian Sea.  The subtle gray-green of the olive tree is everywhere, making olive oil a principal export.  Among many of the foreign influences here are British, French and especially Venetian.  By position, Corfu was an ideal highway between Greece and the West, and prosperity came along quickly.  Corfu has had a stormy history, marked by constant changes of ownership and a serious threat from pirates. 

The most important cathedral is the Church of St Spyridon, the island’s patron.  The 16^th century church, with its tall bell tower, houses the silver coffin of the saint, an early martyr-bishop from Cyprus.  Nearly half the boys born on Corfu are named Spyridon, after the patron.

Outside of Corfu City, there are many beautiful places to visit.  The villa of Mon Repos was built near the ancient necropolis.  Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was born here in 1921. 

Our ship docked in Corfu.  We walked approximately 2 miles into town.  It was Sunday morning so most of the shops were closed and streets desserted except for the ‘camp dogs’ as we call them (the strays which live on the streets) and the odd cat.  We were ‘herded’ into a coffee shop by an exhuberant owner, who was madly waving at us from across the street.  Had a dearly needed coffee, wi-fi and restroom stop.  The gentleman sent us off in the right direction toward the older part of town where the tourist shops and restaurants were open and all of the people were.

Corfu is a very old town and showing signs of recent economic unrest in Greece.  To put it simply, Corfu could do with ‘some love’ and ‘a facelift’.  It became a very hot day!  We enjoyed making our own tour around the narrow and windy streets of Old Town.  Even more, we enjoyed returning to the comfort of our air conditioned ship for lunch!  A swim in the afternoon and cool drink preceded our sail-away party.  Choppy seas - waves to 2 metres, the highest we've seen! 


The evening’s dress code was formal; we took the opportunity to have some photos taken.  David and I enjoyed a glass of red at the ‘Wine and Tapas’ bar before dinner; a Rumba dance lesson; the ‘Balloon Drop Party’ in the Piazza before returning to the top deck for champagne under the stars (pity we couldn’t recognise any of them) – and not because our eyesight was in any way 'blurred'!!!!