If you will be visiting Corfu on holiday this summer and fancy taking a break from the beaches and the bars, you will find there is plenty on offer to see and do. This is a guide to some of the most popular places of interest in Corfu for holiday makers.

If you are embarking on your first holiday in Corfu, Corfu town should probably be your first port of call. Corfu town is the commercial and cultural centre for the Corfiots and is a labyrinth of narrow cobbled streets. The town is dominated by a sixteenth-century fortress which offers splendid views over Corfu town. The shops found in Corfu town are diverse and plentiful with many of the shops selling good value jewellery, local ceramics, leather goods and sculptures crafted from olive wood. Also worth a visit in Corfu town is the striking Saint Spiridons church, where the mummified remains of Corfu’s patron saint Spiridon lie, with the exception of the four occasions during the year when his remains are paraded around Corfu town. Holiday makers visiting the church must dress respectfully and it is essential that women keep their shoulders covered and men wear t-shirts.

One of Corfu’s top attractions for holiday makers is the Achillion Palace, situated in the village of Gastouri in Eastern Corfu. Built in 1890 in the architectural style of Pompeii, Achillion was constructed as a summer palace for the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. The palace is an impressive, picturesque building both inside and out and features perfectly landscaped gardens filled with artistically sculpted statues of the Greek Gods. The palace is also famous as being the birthplace of Prince Phillip and appearing in the James Bond film, ‘For Your Eyes Only’.

On the west side of the island you will find Paleokastritsa, considered one of the most beautiful spots in Corfu. The area consists of six bays surrounded by steep cliffs and it is possible to hire a boat to explore the sea caves surrounding the bays. The seventeenth-century monastery built on the headland is one of the main attractions of the area and visitors should be sure to venture inside to view the famous ceiling carving of the ‘tree of life’. Again, visitors should ensure they are appropriately dressed. Around the headland you will find the Marina which will be of particular interest for the nautically inclined as it draws some extremely lavish yachts in the summer months.

The highest point on the island, Mount Pantokrator in the north east is nearly one thousand metres tall. If you have a hire car you can drive to the summit to enjoy the views over the whole of Corfu, with Albania and Italy both visible on a clear day. The road leading to the top of the mountain passes through the village of Strinalas which is well worth stopping in. At the peak you will find Pantokrator monastery, rebuilt in the seventeenth-century on the site of an older Angevin monastery.

By: Harry Lawrance
To find and compare holidays in Corfu and to book your holiday car hire try visiting Travelsupermarket.com.

Featured by Resourcesforattorneys.com, a Legal Resource and Lifestyle Information directory.

Visit our Discount Travel Directory.

For travel jokes, humor and satire see Travel Jokes from Resources For Attorneys.

For articles about travel within the United States visit Travel America - Travel Blog, a Travel Destinations resource provided by USA City Directories.

Since the beginning of summer, when I came to the island, I have spent Sunday evenings exploring the Old Town, the Medieval City of Rhodes. It is my ritual for decompressing and enjoying quiet time. I know what you are thinking. Quiet time in the Old Town? An oxymoron if there ever was one! Yet I am talking about Old Town the neighborhood, not the evening hotspot.

There is another world, a neighborhood where people live peacefully, surrounded by history in Knights’ houses and centuries-old narrow streets, elements that have graciously survived for hundreds of years. The current shape and size of the Medieval City date back to the mid-15th century. The City itself has gone through numerous distinct periods, with a mélange of styles, nations and ethnicities, and as many masters: Byzantines, Knights, Ottomans and Italians, among others. Even though “ethnic” neighborhoods existed, the lines between ethnic and class formations were blurred. Take, for example, the old Jewish neighborhood, spread across the East side of town. Within the Jewish neighborhood alone, Jews, Greeks and Franks coexisted, along with at least five Christian churches.

That such a massive fortress like the one in the Medieval City remained intact since the 16th century, despite four centuries of occupation, is extremely rare. As the island came under Turkish occupation, its geographical significance lessened. As a result, with no serious threats facing it, there was little need to keep modernizing the fortress and it remained relatively unaltered. In turn, building facades in the Medieval City were, for the most part, devoid of ornamentation. At the turn of the 16th century, when Knights’ Town enjoyed special prominence, several buildings were restored. During that time some early Renaissance touches were added to the buildings, especially the ones facing ‘Magna et Communis Platea’, the Grand Square.

In the mid-19th century powerful earthquakes caused severe damages in the Old Town, with further damage ensuing when the city was bombed during WWII. Still, several monuments and the Town’s medieval character remained wonderfully intact. When the Dodecanese Islands were incorporated into Greece, shortly after WWII, the Medieval City was largely in ruins. Several years later, intensive and careful restoration began. Today, the Medieval City of Rhodes is a UNESCO World Heritage City, and one of the biggest and most important groups of monuments in the Aegean.

Inevitably, the Old Town is a visitors’ magnet. As you walk through the gate your senses switch to overdrive: a whirlwind of sights, sounds and smells vie for your attention. Tourist shops, selling everything from olive soap to replicas of medieval armor, compete with tavernas and bars in a decibel-induced feast. If this is not your cup of tea, keep walking until you get to the neighborhood. They say the only way to get past something is through it.

Back to my Sunday ritual, it goes something like this: spend the day reading and swimming in South Rhodes. Start the hour-long drive to Old Town in late afternoon, park by the harbor and walk through the Main Gate. Buy ice cream from the aptly named Medieval, up the street. Walk toward the main square, making way through dense crowds. Arrive to the residential section of Old Town just as ice cream begins to melt. Slow down, inhale evening aromas of jasmine and primrose, and look around. What I see is straight from the pages of an art book, frames of simple domestic life, beautiful: old ladies and men sitting in their courtyards, women hanging clothes to dry, barefoot children playing outside or feeding the cat. All this in the sanctuary of narrow streets and thick, textured walls. Sit on a stoop and rest bare feet on mosaic made of black and white pebbles, a trade nearly extinct. Look at sky above, dark but clear, and the occasional bursts of color from a bougainvillea or a brightly painted wall. Take all this in with voyeuristic joy. End the day feeling grateful for experiencing these Greek moments with history, tradition and modernity, young and old peacefully under one roof.

By: Katerina Roussou
Katerina Roussou works with Property Greece Ltd., a group of Real Estate / Insurance agencies throughout Greece. For more information on buying property in Greece, or to browse Greek properties for sale, please visit http://www.propertygreece.com Questions? Feel free to email info@propertygreece.com

Featured by Resourcesforattorneys.com, a Legal and Lifestyle resources directory.

Visit our Travel Directory.