We arrived at the picturesque island of Corfu early Wednesday morning. Throughout this vacation we have visited ancient ruins. With Corfu, we moved forward though the centuries to the Renaissance and more modern eras. Corfu saw settlement by Roman, Venetians, Turks, French, British, Austrian, and German overlords who influenced its culture and transformed this Ionian Greek island into a vacation paradise. This island is prime real estate, not only for it’s beauty, but also for it’s strategic value. Napolean stationed troops on the island. They were replaced by the British who returned the island to Greece as a gift when the first king of Greece was crowned in the 1800’s. Prince Philip of England was born on Corfu; he is a member of the Greek royal family that was deposed in the 20th century. Corfu’s strong Venetian influence shows up especially in the architecture of buildings near the fortress that guards the harbor entrance. There are many restaurants and shops surrounding the British contribution to the island, administrative buildings and a fine cricket pitch.
The hills are dotted with olive groves, oranges, kumquats, grapes, and various nut trees. Much of our day was spent in the countryside. Olive trees live for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. Corfu boasts massive ancient olive trees that twist and stretch out of rocky hillsides. The terrain is mountainous and green. There were times when we could look west to Greece, east to Albania (which was 2 miles from Corfu across the Ionian Sea), and down sheer cliffs to our likely descent into the ocean. The streets are impossible to believe, narrow, winding, frightening, “two-way” roads not wide enough for a goat much less the huge buses that carry tourists! Our bus driver must have been half mountain goat, half magician.
Our tour from the port took us to the Achilleion Palace built between 1889 and 1892 for the Empress of Austria (and Queen of Hungry) Elizabeth wife of Franz Joseph. Corfu was her favorite place to escape in the summers, and she had a passionate interest in Greek History and Art. Elizabeth was particularly drawn to the stories of Achilles and named her home away from home for him. She was smart, accomplished, elegant, beautiful, fiercely independent and would have fit right in with our daughters!
Atop one mountain, commanding the heights over a beautiful bay, was a converted fort that is now an Orthodox Monastery of the Virgin Mary. We visited the ancient basilica with its glorius icons and then a small museum that helps support the monks. Charles bought several small copies of famous icons for use with his students. Despite the many tourists, this was a place of prayer and reflection for the monks. The gardens and cells of the monks were guarded by cats, cats, and more cats. Charles now has the sniffles; he’s blaming the cats that seemed to be everywhere!
The view from Paleokastrista, the “rock fortress” along the high, mountainous ridge of the island’s backbone was magnificent. The height of these mountains is perhaps equal to the Smokey Mountains, but the rocky inclines and winding paths rival some of Colorado’s best.
We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking Old Corfu before descending back towards the old town for a little shopping. Olive wood products, local wine and olive oil, and some nice leather goods can be found among the usual tourist souvenirs. I now have one suitcase filled with gifts & souvenirs!
No comments:
Post a Comment