Corfu Island
Today our port of call was in a different country; we were visiting Greece and sailing from the north. We stopped at the first of the Greek islands, Corfu.
As we sailed into Corfu it was striking to see how green and lush the island is. By the harbor in the distance we could see the old Venetian town built between its two fortresses. We spent a morning on the island and visited some of its well known highlights. Some of us went on a longer tour with which we visited the Achillion palace and the others concentrated on the visit of Corfu Town.
The Achillion palace is one of the three palaces of the island! This was built by the Austrian Hungarian Empress Elisabeth who was also known by the people as Sissy. She visited Corfu for the first time in the 1860s and was taken by the untouched beauty of the island. She only decided to return here and build a palace when her life disappointed her in many aspects. The death of her son was what really devastated her, so trying to recover from this she bought land by the village of Gastouri in Corfu and built a large palace that was completed by 1891. It stands at a very beautiful location with great views overlooking the island. On the ground floor of the museum we saw in the various rooms some of the furniture ofElisabeth and the later owner of the Achillion, Kaiser William the second of Germany.
Sissy really admired the Greek civilization and this can be seen through the many statues of the Greek gods that decorate the palace and the large gardens. A windy road full of very tall and beautifully shaped olive trees took us along the coastal way that lead into Corfu town. One beach succeeding the other gave us a taste of the beautiful landmarks.
We soon reached Corfu town with its striking fortresses and Venetian city. Once upon a time the city had developed just within the boundaries of the old fortress but as the city grew houses were also built directly outside it. When the Ottomans tried to take the island from the Venetians in 1537 they fortified themselves in the houses and the city nearly fell. The Venetians, under which Corfu and the Ionian islands were for 400 years, demolished over 2000 houses in order to create an open space that could be used as a battle field. For this reason Corfu enjoys one of the largest squares of Greece and the Balkans! As we walked around we admired buildings that were built by the French and the British that also occupied the island for a number of years.
Corfu town was declared an UNESCO heritage monument two years ago, exactly because of the unique architecture. As there was no space for city to be built horizontally, the houses expanded upwards creating amazing structures! The town was full of life, but also had small pictures squares that stood untouched from time.
We left Corfu with beautiful impressions and another great view of it as we started sailing through the rest of Greece.
Hope you enjoyed this small taste of my island!!
