Corfu: UNESCO Venetian Old Town, the Liston Arcaded Promenade, Paleokastritsa Perfect Bays, the Achilleion Imperial Palace, British Cricket on the Spianada, and the Venetian Sofrito Cuisine
Corfu, the UNESCO World Heritage Ionian island most shaped by the Venetian Republic and subsequent British protectorate, combines the finest colonial city architecture in the eastern Mediterranean with the transparent coves of Paleokastritsa, the imperial Achilleion villa, the unique Greek island cricket tradition, and the Venetian-influenced sofrito and kumquat cuisine.
- 1
Corfu Old Town: The Venetian UNESCO Legacy
Corfu Old Town, the UNESCO World Heritage fortified city on the northeast tip of the island, is the most completely preserved Venetian colonial city in the eastern Mediterranean after Venice itself, with the Liston arcade modeled on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, the two Venetian fortifications of the Old and New Fortresses, the Byzantine Museum in the Antivouniotissa church, and the 14th century Old Fortress on the sea promontory creating the most intact ensemble of Venetian colonial urbanism outside the lagoon city.
- 2
The Liston and Greek Coffee Culture
The Liston, the elegant arcaded promenade of Corfu Town built by the French under Napoleon in 1807 in imitation of the Paris Rue de Rivoli, is the most aristocratic public space in the Ionian Islands and the social gathering point of the Corfu population for the morning coffee, the afternoon promenade, and the evening aperitif. The Corfu cafe culture, influenced by the French and Venetian traditions of the successive colonial rulers, is more sophisticated and more relaxed than the typical Greek island cafe scene.
- 3
Paleokastritsa: The Most Beautiful Bay
Paleokastritsa on the northwest coast, the most celebrated natural beauty spot in Corfu with the series of interconnected coves of transparent turquoise water, the cliff-top monastery of Theotokos, and the snorkeling over the underwater cave system, is identified by the local tradition as the location of the Phaeacian Kingdom of King Alcinous in the Homeric Odyssey where Odysseus was received after his shipwreck. The bay is at its most beautiful in the early morning before the day excursion buses arrive from the resort hotels.
- 4
Kaiser Wilhelm's Achilleion: The Imperial Folly
The Achilleion Palace on the Corfu hills south of the town, built by Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) in 1890 and purchased by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1907, is the most historically significant private villa in the Ionian Islands, with the neoclassical architecture, the garden terraces overlooking the Corfu channel toward Albania, and the statues of the Dying Achilles and the Victorious Achilles that tell the story of the two imperial owners obsession with the Homeric hero. The Achilleion is the only major imperial residence in the Greek islands.
- 5
Corfu Cricket: The British Colonial Legacy
Corfu is the only place in Greece where cricket is played, a legacy of the British protectorate from 1815 to 1864 that left the cricket oval of the Spianada esplanade in Corfu Town, where the Corfu cricket clubs have played on the same ground since the British introduction of the sport in the 1820s. The Spianada cricket match is the most unexpected spectacle in Greece and the clearest evidence of the British influence that also introduced the Corfu ginger beer and the Bianca bread that remain unique to the island.
- 6
Corfu Food: Sofrito and the Venetian Kitchen
The Corfu food tradition, more Italian and Venetian than typically Greek due to the 400-year Venetian occupation, centers on the sofrito of veal in the white wine and garlic sauce, the bianco fish stew in the white wine broth, the pastitsada rooster in the spiced tomato sauce served over macaroni, and the kumquat liqueur from the only kumquat cultivation in Europe. The Venetian culinary inheritance makes Corfu food the most distinctive island cuisine in Greece.