Cruising to Corfu

I like to think that my blog entries are a bit like an all you can eat buffet.  Quantity over quality so here goes with the second instalment of Guest Blogging by Barry.

I was introduced to the island Corfu as a young boy by my mother as she read aloud Gerald Durrell's "My Family and Other Animals" which is set on the beautiful Greek island.  My mother read us Durrell's books as we prepared to visit Corfu in the summer of 1976.  I remember well being enthralled with the exploits of a young Gerald as he explored the flora and fauna of Corfu.  Unfortunately, some tainted mango juice bought from a street vendor in Cairo cancelled my first visit to Corfu due to me spending 2 days in an Athen's hospital as opposed to visiting the beaches of Corfu.  Fast forward 40 years and thanks to the Costa Mediterranea, we arrived in Corfu with just over 8 hours to explore the city.  This trip to Corfu came with its own set of challenges as the trip in was quite bumpy and all of us felt a little seasick as the waves and wind battered our floating hotel whilst traversing the Adriatic Sea from Bari.

This picture doesn't quite do the waves justice but we were rocking and rolling pretty well!

Corfu was a great stop for a day trip as the city is quite compact and easy to get around.  My favourite stops on the cruise were the smaller cities that didn't overwhelm with the scope of their size.  We started out visiting the Old Fortress.  One thing I found interesting throughout the cruise was hearing of the successive empires that controlled the various cities over the last 1000 years.  Corfu was no different as the Old Fortress was built by Byzantines in the 12th century, though artefacts from as early as the 5th century are displayed in the Old Fortress museum.

Fragments of a floor mosaic from the Basilica of Jobianos dating to the 5th or 6th century.

The Republic of Venice extended all the way down to Corfu and they continued to improve the fortifications of the Old Fortress to such a degree that the fortress survived three major Ottoman Empire sieges in 1537, 1571 and 1716.  It was a beautiful day to walk the grounds of the fortress and imagine the Ottoman navy trying in vain to take the fortress.

In front of the church of St. George.

Ginger and the girls in the entryway of the Old Fortress.

The Contrafossa moat was built by the Venetians to improve the fortifications of the fortress by turning it into an artificial island.  The inner harbour is still used by fishermen to this day.

We left the Old Fortress and headed into the Old Town of Corfu.  We really felt the benefit of travelling here in off season as the narrow streets were quite empty and easy to manoeuvre in.  Grace and Lily managed to score a couple of flashy purses and they made their dad proud as a well placed "they were cheaper at the other store" by Grace to Lily resulted in a "prices can change!" response from the owner and voila: 20 euro purses became 10 euro purses.  I almost cried at the progress in their bartering skills.

The three of us sampling a Greek doughnut.  How could I pass that up?  

When we first arrived in Corfu, we asked Lily what was one thing she wanted to do in Greece and she replied, "eat Greek salad of course!"  So with stomachs somewhat satiated with Greek pastries we began a search for the perfect Greek salad.  This proved a more difficult task than we initially thought as the chilly wind was driving everyone indoors and all the restaurants with indoor dining were full.  Well, these hardy Canadians were willing to eat outside and we lucked out by stumbling on Pane e Souvlaki on the Town Hall Square.  With a wind break to our left and a heater to our right, we had an amazing lunch of pita bread and hummus, with a main of Greek salad that did not disappoint.

Feeling like we had made the most of our visit, we headed back to the ship just in time to catch the evening sun lighting up the city.

Corfu city with the twin peaks of the Old Fortress in the background.