Corfu – constantly reinventing itself

See the heart of Corfu Town (Liston and Spianada) during the day and at night. Enjoy a tsitsibira (ginger beer) at Art Café. Walk in the Cambiello (old town) alleys. Visit the Old Fort and the New Fort in Corfu Town. See the sunset from the western village of Pelekas and swim in the southwestern beach of Halikounas with a 5km stretch of fine sand. Explore the turquoise water bays of northeastern Corfu (Ipsos, Barbati, Agni, Kerasia, Kouloura ) with the small tavernas. Sample the WILD nights at Kavos (if you can brave the place) or dance through the night in the Gouvia and Ipsos bars. Relax in the small villages lacing the sides of Pantokrator mountains and visit the ghost village of old Perithia.

Quick Tips:

Do NOT rent a scooter no matter how cheap or tempting it might be. Do read your Rough Guide book to get a better and more comprehensive view of the island. No matter how good is your resort ,it is worth touring the island. Do NOT miss Corfu Town, as it is a focal point for any visitor. Best month to visit Corfu is June, followed by the first half of July, second half of May ,first half of September, second half of July, first half of May, second half of September, August, and finally, October.

Best Way To Get Around:

It is definitely worth renting a car and tour every corner of the island . You will save a lot of bucks if you shop around as prices vary tremendously from one rental place to the next. The island has a bus service which leaves a lot to be desired and in the peak summer months of July and August you end up like a sardine in a tin. Scooters and motorbikes are to be avoided at all costs as your statistical chance to sample the health services of Corfu rockets when you go on two wheels (the roads are full of potholes, slippery tarmac, careless and aggressive drivers, erratic signs and God knows what else) Hitchhiking if it's two of you is another way to go around, as the island has a (relatively) low crime rate.

Corfu has all sorts of accommodations, from the very basic package holiday apartments to the ultra luxurious villas with a pool overlooking the Med, complete with a cook and domestic help. My favourite and recommended accommodation would be the two Chandris hotels, both located approximately 10km north of Corfu Town at the Dassia resort. They are rated four-star, but the friendly and helpful staff adds a lot more to the rating.

The Chandris hotels have their own sandy beach complete with water sports facilities. They have an indoor and outdoor cinema, tennis and gym facilities, regular night entertainment and a beach taverna and bar. Bookings are usually half board with a huge selection buffet which satisfies even the most demanding palates. Thursday nights are usually Greek Barbeque nights, where 20 euros will buy you a fantastic selection of B-B-Q meats and folkloric dance entertainment. A must for every resident. In addition, Chandris hotels have an open door policy, allowing guests from other hotels and apartments nearby to use its bars, beach, and beach restaurants and even join the barbeque nights.

Obviously, facilities like the gym are free only for residents, but for a small fee, they can be used by non-residents too. If you want to stay in Chandris hotels, your best bet is to book your stay via a British Tour Operator (or German, Belgian, Dutch) who will sell you a package of flight, transport, and accommodation. This works a lot cheaper than a booking from yourself. Although Chandris are middle-class hotels, they offer various options depending on your budget. Apart from the standard rooms, you have the villas (which are comfortable, spacious, stone-built apartments with a personalised service) and the bungalows, which are somewhere in between the standard room and the villas.

Greek holiday resorts have usually only one type of food and restaurants on offer: Greek. But Corfu is cosmopolitan enough to offer a wider variety besides your usual Greek tavernas and kebab places (psistaries). You will not struggle a lot to find authentic Italian cuisine with Italian chefs and owners, Chinese and Indian.

There are several Chinese restaurants in Corfu, but my favourite one is a very small place with less than 10 tables that doubles as takeaway, called aptly Magic Dragon. Not quite easy to find, it is located at the northern entrance of Corfu Town (the area is called Solari), it is just off the main road that leads to the north (on the left as you leave the town) and on the side of a large electrical store called Kotsovolos.

I am a big fan of Chinese cuisine. The cooks of Magic Dragon are Chinese, and you have visual access to the cooking facilities, which are spotlessly clean. A friend of mine (Peter) who lived in Hong Kong for many years and travels extensively in UK, Holland, and Europe keeps telling me that this small eatery is the best Chinese restaurant outside Hong Kong. I am sure there is a gross element of exaggeration on this, but I certainly give top marks to this small, unpretentious, and very inexpensive place.

On the menu, do not miss the carry kok, which actually is a Vietnamese appetizer (rather spicy hot), the chicken teriyaki (which again is not Chinese, but incredibly tasty), or the classic black-bean or oyster-sauced beef, pork, or chicken. Give a try to the Tsingtao Chinese beer, which I find better than any other beer I have tried in Greece. Another big minus (apart from how difficult it is to find this place) is that they do not serve Coca-Cola (only Pepsi).

For Corfiots, the heart and focus of life in their town is the Liston and Spianada. Liston is a series of cafeterias next to each other, with arched domes that flood with crowds during summers and weekends. The local talents will stroll up and down the Liston to be admired, envied, or scrutinised by the rest. The Liston was built by the French to resemble rue de Rivoli in Paris, but the name was given by the British, as during their rule only nobility could sit there (List On--you had to be on the nobles list to have a seat there). The fact of the matter is that with 5 Euros for the cost of a cappuccino coffee today, Liston is still a very dear place to enjoy your coffee, yet still very trendy for the Corfiots.

Behind the Liston is the park of Spianada, which serves as the cricket ground of Corfu. This is another relic from the British Administration, and Corfu cricket team is the champion cricket team of Greece (albeit without any competition!), as the sport is virtually unknown in the rest of the country. Cricket matches between Corfiots and visiting teams are held from time to time and are quite spectacular.

On the northern part of Spianada is the Palace of Saints Michael and George, built between 1819 and 1824. In the past, it has been used by the Greek royal family, but since the monarchy was abolished, it serves now as a quite impressive museum of Asian art. On the eastern part of the Spianada Park is the Old Fort of Corfu (Palaio Frouri), built originally by the Byzantine emperors, destroyed later by Goth invaders, and rebuilt around 1550 by the Venetians with extensive fortifications and a moat.

Corfu is a very photogenic island, and camera lovers will be trigger-happy in Corfu.

Corfu at night (especially the moonlit summer nights) is a totally different experience altogether. Combine this with the fact that Corfu Town is very safe place at night (with muggings and violent attacks practically nonexistent), and it may be a very unique experience to get hold of your camera and stroll the heart of Corfu Town (Liston, Campiello, the Palaces, etc.) when the locals and the tourists are in bed.

Even if you are at a resort, the clear Greek skies, with the pollution-free air and the calm sea, can help you produce some memorable holiday snaps. The photos you see below were taken WITHOUT the use of a tripod, simply by trying to keep camera and hands still.

The young and trendy absolutely adore Corfu for they can escape from the trivialities of everyday life and go wild for a week (or two). They have their own resorts and information about where to go and what to do is passed on from one to the next by word of mouth. Different nationalities have different preferences. The Brits go to Kavos, Sidari, Ipsos, and Gouvia. The Scandinavians go to Gouvia. The photos below do not belong to professional dancers but ordinary girls who felt the need to gyrate around the metal pole, for the pleasure of everybody else present in a club in Gouvia.

Kavos has a reputation for the extreme, and two years ago (for about a week), it was on the front pages of the both Greek and British tabloids for the unusual competitions of oral sex taking place in Kavos’s clubs. Despite the condemnation left, right, and centre by the Press, politicians, local authorities, the local church, conservative groups, etc., I was told by practically every Tour Operator on the island that during the week of the furor, sales of holidays with destination Kavos shot up by 15%!!