Corfu

Well we all know why Corfu is called Corfu, cos when you step off the plane you exclaim 'Cor, phew' at the blistering heat that assaults you as you descend the aircraft steps. That was not my experience however as I landed on the island courtesy of Easyjet gone 11pm at night, when the alluring lights of the indented coastal settlement peeped up out of the darkness at the plane as it coasted into land at Corfu airport. After a smooth landing I caught a taxi to my destination, the City Marina Hotel overlooking the Old and New Ports and the New Fort, a hulking stone monstrosity sitting on a mound opposite the hotel windows. The airport is tucked right into the town, up its bottom you might say, to the south of the urban sprawl. So the taxi fare shouldn't be much for a mere three kilometres. However, it is late, and I am charged fifteen euro, which apparently is the norm. The taxi driver gives me a potted tourist guide to the town as we traverse the short distance to the hotel.

When I arrive at the hotel I am afforded a fairly low key reception from a seriously non smiley lady who might have been mistaken for a no nonsense hospital matron about to stick a syringe in your backside. Room 204 I am told is my destination. My friend has already arrived, a day and a half earlier, and is ready to meet me, regaling me with an account of his activities. He has already christened our receptionist 'the old bat' and it will stick. Fortunately she is not the only receptionist.

We're right on the seafront, and daybreak reveals a great view from the hotel over the New Fort, harbour and twisting coastline, and we're facing west, so a plum evening view from the balcony of sunsets over a can of beer beckons. The first day is spent in town, getting the bearings and visiting the New Venetian Fortress in the morning. It is seriously hot, and climbing tracks to exposed fortresses is not the easiest holiday activity. My friend is sweating alarmingly and the sun lotion does not seem to have quite taken. Perhaps it was not rubbed in enough. There is nothing much to see in the New Fort, no guides or plaques to read. So we just admire the views of Corfu Town dominated by the surrounding sea and the two sister Old and New Forts. Good photo snapping opportunity!

You can get a ticket to cover four attractions for 14 euro, the Old Fort, Asian art museum, Byzantine museum and Mon Repos are all included in the ticket so it makes sense to buy it. The Old Fort is far more interesting and has lots more to see than the New Fort, the Asian art museum has Japanese samurai artefacts amongst other not incredibly interesting exhibits, and the Byzantine museum is all about icons and Greek Orthodox symbolism. We spent a good while on the New Fort, which sprawls like icing on top of a cake over the mound that sits at the eastern end of Corfu Town. It is separated from the main part of the island by a bridge which joins the harbour walls to the Fort ramparts. You can follow the trail right up to the top past various on site buildings including a church building and barrack like blocks lower down. It's a fair walk to the top, where you are rewarded by great views from the fortification ramparts through 360 degrees over the town with the cricket pitch in the foreground, the harbour and out across the straights to Albania. On descent we found a great cafe at the yacht club which sits snug against the harbour walls below the New Fort and where you can sit all afternoon and watch the Mandraki harbour scene, full of bobbing boats on the gentle swell.

One day we visited Vidos, a small island just off the coast of Corfu Town to the north. You can get there for two euro return on a boat trip that lasts about ten minutes. Vidos has an important historical association  as it provided quarantine for a large number of Serbian troops during the First World War who succumbed to typhus and cholera. Sadly, many of them died and were buried locally at sea. A memorial and large mausoleum honours their memory. Many Serbians come to visit this spot and a  young Serbian helped us translate the memorial inscriptions, written at least partly in French.

The island is easy to walk over in a half day, and has a restaurant, cafe and bar just up from the boat mooring. There are numerous camp grounds, and one in the middle of the island was hosting youngster's activities. There are also a few small beaches with forlorn infrastructure which has seen better days. Talking to the lady at the bar, it seems the austerity measures of recent years have taken their toll on the tourist industry. We wound up at a beach on the north end of the isle with a smattering of people arriving and departing, but worn out and abandoned beach furniture was a sad feature again. A couple of guys had fishing rods whilst children swam and a tiny number sunbathed. Unusually, darting pheasants and rabbits shared the beachfront with us, and the odd bit of apple enabled a pheasant 'close up' shot. The weather was not so good today, with thunder and rain at times sharing our airspace. The beach was pleasant but not warm or sunny enough for me to venture into the sea. In the north western quadrant of the island is a Martello tower, but not of the type that decks the south coast of England. This was a somewhat larger fortification with significant ramparts, topped with woodland and standing sentinel over the sea below.

For me the best day was spent at Paleokastrista on the other side of the island, although a mere sixteen miles away across the neck of the island. Our attention had been drawn to this spot by a waitress on the Liston, the elegant colonnaded thoroughfare on the Corfu town seafront that borders the famous cricket pitch described by David Gower as the best pitch he had ever played on. The waitress persuaded us that Paleo as we called it was a plum destination, and so we set our minds to it. We hired a car for the day, and a short ride across the island reveals a wilder more craggy coastline with rocky headlands and promontories plunging into the sea along a wildly serpentine coastline, seemingly randomly thrown together by Providence but making a glorious whole. 'Paleo' as I shall call it, itself nestles at the foot of one section of this riotous shoreline, commanding a position over two bays, each with its own beach. The weather had somewhat improved since the previous day, and now the beach was filling up nicely with sunbathers. A monastery perches on top of the promontory just beyond Paleo, being reached either by foot up the winding road ascent or by vehicle. The monastery itself is flush with tourists visiting the oil mill and little church, while the museum harbours the bones of some gargantuan ancient creature, probably a whale. An old Greek Orthodox priest waxes lyrical to groups of the faithful in the gardens adjoining the monastery. The gardens are a real haven from the midday heat, on the one side of the monastery almost splicing onto the ragged cliffs, on the other surrounding a well decorated with mosaic and filled with coins. We eye the grapes hanging from a trellis and a vibrant splash of bougainvillea adds a welter of colour.

The bay proves to be a winner for snorkelers, pinched on either side by a couple of jutting headlands and bounded by steep rocky slopes. I venture out a couple of times, on the second occasion swimming right out beyond the headland into crystal water in every shade of blue poured over a rock strewn seabed and into secret caves and grottoes etched into the rock face. Here a simple rock formation soars out of the water to create a natural chair upon which one can sit out of the water to admire the view and to remove one's snorkel to shake out the mask. Here multitudinous craft forage to and fro, dodging the swimmers, including pedalos, one shaped like a Volkswagen VW. Fish are a bit more numerous here, the highlight being a blue beauty amongst all the rather plain beige and fawn coloured relatives.

The hired car takes us later up to the 'Bella Vista,' a restaurant hanging for dear life onto the cliff edge but yielding a magnificent view down over the said coastline. Here we met a couple froml northeast England who were here for ten days, who had actually come out on the same flight as my accomplice. They were motorbiking round the island and sang the praises of the north end of the island, an experience we would miss. This is a great spot for a snack or meal as the views are unbeatable. Having said that, later on we drove south-east to the 'Kaisers Throne' at Pelekas not far from the west coast. You drive off the main road up through the village, twisting and turning along tiny streets, still up and up until you arrive at a car park with adjoining perfectly situated hotel at the top of the hill. A viewpoint provides an almost 360 degree view of Corfu, over to Corfu Town and Albania across the straits, down to the south, and up to the north where sits a 917m mountain, quite a biggie for a Greek island. This viewpoint tells you that Corfu is a very green island, lush in every direction, much more so than the barren, dusty islands of the Aegean Sea.

Later on that day, after traversing a rather flat inner part of the island, we meandered up over the coastal hills by twisting roads to arrive at Benitses back on the east coast, a coastal resort and port just a few kilometres south of Corfu Town. Here we parked up by the main road and strolled up the seafront. Then we followed signs to the old village, but the signs petered out, so we had to wander what presumably was the old village. I asked one or two guys seated outside where the square was, and they replied with the amazingly specific answer of 'around.' After looking at the Roman bathhouse and being knocked out by it (not really) we decided to return to Corfu Town for dinner. We deposited the hired car near the rental office after a desperate attempt to park it by reversing against the flow of traffic which had no intention of giving way. Infuriating for my driving friend who threw out a few expletives at their intransigence.

Our last day was spent renting a cycle from near the port and biking a few kilometres to Mon Repos and Kanoni at the end of a spit of land adjacent to Corfu airport runway. Mon Repos, I found a bit more interesting than the Asian art museum and Byzantine museum, with a photographic exhibition of black and white nineteenth century scenes taken by a British officer who served in Corfu. There are also rooms set out in Regency style, an exhibition of watercolours, and various items from assorted archeological digs. This is not to forget that Mon Repos is the birthplace of our very own national treasure, the Duke of Edinburgh, who was born here in 1921 as the house was used by the Greek royal family. You approach the house by a long winding drive that heists upwards through pine woodland until you virtually reach the bluff above the craggy cliffs. The grounds of the house have various ancient ruins including a temple sitting and again overlooking the tumbling sea below. It proved to be an elusive site to find as the signposts to said temple peter out leaving you to work out for yourself which track leads to the 'pot at the end of the rainbow.'

Mon Repos

Further on we reach Kanoni. Here there is a classic picture postcard scene with a 'marooned' little white church reached by a tiny causeway and a few hundred yards out to sea the appropriately named 'Mouse Island,' with the hint of a building peeping up from the trees. You can survey the scene at an excellent cafe located in just the right spot, even more so because aircraft fly very close across your line of vision as they land or take off, an opportunity for some exhilarating sights and sounds. Meanwhile another bigger causeway runs across the channel dividing the sea from a calm lagoon. It runs right under the flight path. You can bike across this but beware the poor surface and pedestrians which make the possibility of flying off into the sea from the seriously narrow path rather more imminent. However the locals show us how it's done by expertly steering their motor scooters across, one with a little dog perched on the footrest.

Later we visited the Moni Viacherapa beach just east of the cafe to catch a last bit of sun before tomorrow's flight home. The beach is a sheltered lagoon and is well populated with bathers. Not great for snorkelers however. The heat of the afternoon was bizarrely interrupted by a rainstorm which swept in as I snorkelled through the shallow waters. Never before have I experienced rain pummelling down on my back whilst swimming in the Mediterranean! Meanwhile towels and accompaniments on the beach received a thorough soaking.

This outing is an easy day out, not too strenuous a bike ride from Corfu Town with a bit of up and down through the urban sprawl. Towards the south it's a one way system, you can hurtle down towards Kanoni, and climb back up the hill on your return by a different route. But the trip is well within the capabilities of any reasonably fit .person .

The flight home was indirect via Athens to Heathrow to save a bit of money, by Aegean airlines. A chance to look down thousands of feet at the Greek archipelago on its west coast, islands glittering temptingly in the azure ocean, as the plane forged east to Athens. Cabin service on the flight to London" was pucker, with sweets being given out first, followed by five rounds of drinks on the flight distributed around a very tasty airline meal. I'm impressed!