Corfu

Pictures do not do justice!

Coming into Corfu must be one of the most brilliantly beautiful sights to see from a boat.

The "new" Venetian fortress

Smooth blue ocean with the island of Corfu on the left side and the mainland of Greece and Albania on the right side. Green forests and sturdy looking Venetian citadels. A cheerful looking town perched between two massive forts with brightly coloured houses spilling bougainvillea and geraniums down their sides. Sheltered bays on one side of the island and pristine beaches on the other. Could you ask for anything more in a holiday destination?
And sailboats a plenty sail these waters with merry makers from all nationality types. Just as ships and sailors have been travelling through here since the dawn of human history.

I've never been here, and it's been thirty years since Randy was here, so this is new territory for the family. We are only stopping for a few hours, but it's the perfect place to have an afternoon stroll, eat some food and say goodbye to classical Greece and prepare for medieval history. Although it seems like we did that yesterday when we left Athens as Corfu is distinctly Venetian!

walking through the old streets

The Venetians ruled the Adriatic for hundreds of years and Corfu was one of their beautiful cities that sprang up along the coastline. The fortresses are Venetian, as is the layout of the town, but Corfu does have a history that spills back to ancient times. This was the island that Poseidon brought his new bride, Kerkyra, the daughter of a river god, and as a wedding present named the island after her. The beautiful nymph Kerkyra (which became Corfu over the millennium) left her name as Poseidon's gift of immortality to their love.

Checking out some of the old Venetian canons

And now it's our turn for a taste of Nymphs, Venetian forts and gyros if I'm lucky.

Inside the walls of the old fort

Midway through the day we disembark in the main town of Corfu, also named Corfu. It's a good thirty minute walk from where we are docked up into the UNESCO heritage old town. It's not hard to navigate through the old streets, just follow the simple rule of keeping the top of the (new) Venetian fortress in line of sight. Then once you pass the "new fortress" (started in the late 1500's) you wind your way through the streets toward the "old fortress"(built after the town was destroyed in the late 6th century AD).... Both are imposing structures and the town grew up between the two, safe from pirate attack and worse. The streets are winding and somewhat torturous, especially for pushing a stroller in, the first and last time I would use it on the trip! Poor Juliet, she was humiliated that I pushed her around all day in it. But now I know that my baby is no longer a baby and can hike with the best of us, it's time to leave it behind. Gee, where does the time go?

yum, yum, Gyros!

After suitable meandering through the town we end up at the old fortress and cross over onto the little island that it sits on. The kids are all on lookout for Venetian Lions, something that we have prepped them for. The Lion was the symbol of Venice and depending on what the circumstances were when the Lion was erected the meaning would be different. But, more to come on that subject when we reach Venice itself. Needless to say we identified quite a few, statues and plaques on the walls to identify the Venetian buildings.

The fortress hosts a number of ancient cannons and Liam would probably still be there today inspecting the mechanisms that made them work if the girls hadn't unanimously bullied him out of the fort and into the main town for lunch.

It's our last chance for Gyros! So of course we stop for the most extravagant helpings of gyros (and coffee for me) before walking back to the ship, or should I say waddling after all that food?

We leave Corfu after such a short amount of time, but as Randall and I stand on deck watching us depart the Ionian waters, we make a promise to return, when we have the time to do justice to this destination, and get to know it a bit better.

As the sun starts to sink we watch the shoreline of the mainland go by. Somewhere along the shore is the border between Greece and Albania. What a difficult time this shoreline has had in the past hundred years. What would it have been like for the Albanians living in abject poverty to watch the sun set behind Corfu with its abundance of Western holiday makers? Or was it really as simple as they hopped on a boat and got work as cabana boys without need of a Greek passport. I am ignorant of the ways of the Eastern block in this region and its hard to know the truth of those times with all the cold war propaganda from both sides. But when you are in this area and you see how close it all it, you would be blind not to sit back and wonder just a little bit what makes people so closely related geographically have such different fates.

And speaking of fates, Croatia is next, another brief stopover, but a taste of this world none the less....

One last Greek sunset

If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God.

G.K.Chesterson