In the morning our coach took us from our resort in neighbouring Dassia to the capital Corfu town. The familiarisation tour started with a stop (oxymorons are a sign of too much ouzo) at Kanoni which is a high point overlooking the historical Mouse (Pontikonissi) Island on the one side and the one-runway Corfu airstrip on the other where we witnessed a jet landing.
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| Pontikonissi Island |
From there we had guided tour through the extensive botanical gardens of the old High Commissioner’s summer house called Mon Repos and which was built by the English Governor Adam built for his Greek wife, i.e. it was the residence of the ‘Adams Family’! J This is an elegant neo classical mansion which is where Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was born some 90 years ago and now functions as a museum nowadays. It is located next to the site of one of the old Roman baths of which there were quite a few.
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| The group outside the Adams family residence - Mon Repos |
A short trip took us to the old town area between the two massive forts and this is now the CBD for Corfu town’s 30,000 population. This inner city precinct had a range of architectural styles with the British built Palace of St George and the French built military barracks which are now shops on the ground floor and apartments above. These blend well with the Venetian buildings in the many winding and marble-paved lanes. The old barracks overlook a cricket field where the local team had a famous victory against an Australian team on its way to an Ashes series in England – obviously it was blamed on the ouzo or a glass or two of off retsina the night before! We might be trying to forget this incident, but the Corfiots never will!!
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| The gang in the Liston, Corfu Town |
Our last destination was the Basilica of Corfu’s protector saint St. Spirydon wherein lies his body embalmed in a silver casket made in Vence. After that, most either wandered through the shop-filled back streets or sat under cover outside the many restaurants or coffee shops, in some cases watching the horse-drawn carriages taking tourists on town tours. Jan and Jane went to their favourite jewellery stores to organise good discounts for those who will probably return to the town on tomorrow’s free day.
There was another little treat on the return coach trip when we made a photo stop portside to snap off a picture of the huge luxury liner Queen Elizabeth II.
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| The Queen Elizabeth |
Following the siesta we gathered at the poolside for evening cocktails when we saw the Queen Elizabeth sail across the bay in front.
At 8-00pm it was off to an old village and a famous restaurant called the Tripa Tavern. Apart from the food and wine we had entertainment in the form of music and a professional Greek dancing troupe. Most utilised the dance floor themselves to shed a bit of excess energy. It was our latest night but with a free day to come sleeping-in would be no problem.
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| Greek dancing at Tripa (I'll get a better one tomorrow!) |
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