Corfu, Greece
Today we sailed north through the Ionian Sea with Corfu with our final destination. In the morning the sails where put up once again, it is so nice to watch the whole procedure! After this was done a small surprise was waiting for us we were given a ride with the Zodiac around the Sea Cloud so that we could take photos of it in full sail…they think of everything! This was followed by a very interesting lecture by National Geographic Chairman Emeritus Gil Grosvenor about the foundation of National Geographic.
We sailed in to Corfu after lunch and already were taken by the beauty of it from sea, with its impressive fortresses. We drove to the Achilleon Palace built by Empress Elisabeth of Austria who came to visit the island and fell in love with the place! It was completed in 1891 by Italian architects, and it stands at a very imposing position with great views of the island. We visited the museum where her living quarters used to be and then walked through the gardens that where decorated with many statues of gods inspired by ancient Greek Mythology.
We drove down windy roads covered with olive trees…finishing somewhere by the sea and the beaches that we drove past. We stopped for a great photo at Kanoni where we saw the famous Mouse Island and a whitewashed nunnery of the 17th century, one of the most photographed points on the island.
Corfu town was really stunning with its unique architecture having such an Italian style, after the entire island was under the rule of the Venetian for 400 years! The French followed with their occupation, then the French, the Russians and finally the British before they were joined with the rest of Greece in 1864.
It was fun to see so many people just sitting and enjoying life with friends at the Liston, the meeting place of the town, the building itself was very impressive with its arcades. Narrow alleys everywhere we looked, a labyrinth of them. The town was included a few years ago in the UNESCO monuments exactly because of this beauty of the houses and the castles. The town was full of life, little tavernas everywhere, a great atmosphere. A lot of us were just drawn to it….
