Orkuthru Tribal Art

Buddha Snuff

Grecian Glory

It may be popular for holiday cruises, but there's a lot more to Corfu than endless holiday resorts. Mike Gerrard takes us on a tour of this stunning and culturally rich Greek city.

Get lost. That's the best bit of advice you'll receive about Corfu. The capital of this Ionian island has a warren of twisting, narrow streets in its Old Town, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. Getting lost in them is the best way to discover its secrets, and in fact it's hard to avoid getting lost, unless you are carrying a map and compass.

It isn't only the Old Town streets that are confusing. Although Corfu is a city, it's still often called Corfu Town, and both it, and the island of Corfu, also go by their Greek name of Kérkyra. Its culture too is a pleasing blend of something from each of its various occupants over the years – including the British, French, Venetian and Italian – while at the same time still remaining quintessentially Greek. And it's this merge of nations that makes Corfu one of the most sophisticated capitals in the Greek islands.

 

Cultural inspiration

You could spend a whole day in Corfu Town just going from one museum to the next. It's not that they are all huge, or that there are so many of them, but the main museums have collections that will absorb visitors for hours on end.

Perhaps the best, which you might think you'd be more likely to find in Athens, is the Museum of Asiatic Art. With more than 11,000 items on display, it's one of the best collections in Europe, housed in the Palace of St Michael and St George. The palace was built between 1819 and 24 for the British High Commissioner, and its sumptuous rooms and grand staircases are worth seeing by themselves. The art collection was amassed by a Corfiot diplomat and the museum contains room after room of exquisite Chinese porcelains, Japanese folding screens and woodblock prints, musical instruments, Buddhas, snuff bottles and simply superb examples of all different kinds of art from across the whole of Asia.

If, after this, you still have the time and energy to visit another museum, a short walk south around the bay brings you to the Archaeological Museum. It isn't large and can be seen in an hour or so, but it does have several outstanding items. Most impressive of all is the Gorgon Pediment, which is thought to be the oldest surviving monumental sculpture in Greece. It is from a 6th-century BC temple whose scant remains are just south of the city, and the frightening, vast figure of Medusa in the middle of the frieze is enough to give you nightmares.

Also inspired by Greek mythology is the neoclassical Achilleion, a palace that resides up above the hilltop village of Gastouri, just outside Corfu Town. Built in 1890 as a summer residence for Empress Elisabeth of Austria, a statue of Achilles punctuates the beautiful gardens, and the grand interior is certainly worth a visit.

 

Sensational souvenirs

Corfu has always had a thriving artistic scene and at one time there was even an Ionian School of Painting based here. It came about because many artists from the Cretan School of Icon Painting stopped off and sometimes settled here on their way to Venice when it was the magnet for craftsmen from all over Europe.

The tradition of icon painting lives on in Corfu, and many of the local souvenir shops sell cheap – and sometimes not-so-cheap – modern reproductions. To find an original modern icon, go to the Ergastirion Technis art studio, based at Kalochairetou 6 just behind the city's most important church, which is dedicated to the island's patron saint, Agios Spiridon. Here the artist uses traditional methods, such as painting with egg tempera, to produce a modern version of those ancient icons.

Visit the Byzantine Museum inside the church of the Panagia Antivouniotissa and you will not only see some of the finest examples of the icons produced on Corfu but may be inspired to buy a modern icon from one of the workshops in the Old Town. They do make for evocative souvenirs, and by visiting the museum first you have some idea of the various styles and techniques available.

If all this art inspires you, why not get a more personal souvenir? Grab your camera and head in the morning for the Old Fortress, which stands east of the Old Town on a rocky promontory. From here you'll get great views back over the rooftops and church towers of the Old Town, with the sun behind you. In the late afternoon go to the Esplanade to take photos of the Old Fortress, then climb up into the New Fortress on the way back to the harbour. The afternoon sun softly illuminates the rooftops from the west, and from here you'll also get wonderful views over the Old Port and across to the Greek and Albanian mainland. Even if you don't paint or photograph the scenes, you'll always remember them.

Olive wood items make authentic souvenirs too. There are said to be between three and four million olive trees on Corfu. It was the Venetians who encouraged their widespread planting, and they found that the trees not only flourished but produced oil of exceptional quality. Some of the trees planted under Venetian rule still survive, but others get harvested or pruned each year.

Their wood is in great demand for craftsmen to turn into all manner of decorative items or useful kitchen items – bowls, cutlery holders, salad spoons, condiment sets. Plenty of shops in the Old Town sell imported or mass-produced items, but wait until you find one of the handful of places where you can see the owner actually carving or whittling the wood. Then you can buy an original item, smelling of Corfu.

 

Corfu Cuisine

Another special but unlikely Corfiot crop is the kumquat. Kumquat trees were imported from Asia in 1846 and, to many people's surprise, they flourished. Today there are an estimated 6,000 kumquat trees on the island, and kumquat liqueur, jam or marmalade is definitely something to try or buy while on your cruise travel.

The kumquat taste has been absorbed into Corfu's cuisine too, and at Rex Restaurant (Kapodistriou 66) you can sample chicken in kumquat sauce, one of their signature dishes. The Rex has been in business since 1932, and its menu includes other island specialities such as lobster pastitsada, a layered pasta dish. You can eat informally outside the venue or in the more formal dining room – but do get there early for lunch as it tends to fill up quickly.

The same goes for the Mouragia near the Old Harbour (Arseniou 15). It doesn't have a great waterfront view so most visitors pass it by, but locals know that you will get some of the best fish in town here. The secret is to share several plates of meze, the Greek equivalent of tapas, to sample delicious, fresh dishes like stuffed squid or deep-fried whitebait.

Greeks place more emphasis on food and atmosphere than on how a venue looks from the outside. Others to check out, which you might otherwise walk by, include Dionisis (Dona 17), Khrysi, also known as O Ninos (Sevastianou 44-46) and Khryssomallis (Nikoforou Theotokou 6). Other Corfiot specialities to look for on the menus include bourdeto, a white fish stew, and bianco, which is a little like a Greek bouillabaisse.

After one or two Corfiot specialities, some local wine (good brands include Koulouris and Theotoki), and perhaps even a drop or two of kumquat liqueur, you may just feel you want to get lost and stay lost in Corfu forever.

About the Author

Snuff $8.49 Snuff

Snuff Box $5.99 Snuff Box

Snuff Said... $7.99 Snuff Said...

Snuff Crew $9.49 Snuff Crew

Snuff: Disposable $16.36 Snuff: Disposable

Snuff EP $9.63 Snuff EP

Cajun Snuff $18.63 Cajun Snuff

A Buddha $10 A Buddha

Buddha $10 Buddha

The Buddha $11.28 The Buddha

Snuff - $12.99 Director Max Marsh (Aldo Mayo) flies to Argentina to make a sexually explicit film with his girlfriend and star, Terri London (Mirtha Massa). Unbeknownst to Max, Terri has taken a new lover, a rich playboy named Horst (Clao Villanueva), who lives on his father's nearby estate. Terri becomes pregnant by Horst, threatening the production of the film, though the entire shoot is canceled when Max is murdered during a street carnival. Meanwhile, a woman named Angelica (Margarita Amuch?stegui), who lives in the mansion with Horst, is in cahoots with a vicious band of female hippies who are in thrall to a Mansonesque leader named Satan (Enrique Larratelli). He preaches that the decadence of the rich must be punished, and plans to start with Horst's family. Angelica's mission was to become pregnant by Horst in order to provide a baby to be sacrificed as the first victim in Satan's war against the wealthy. However, the news that an American film star is carrying the child is even better, and the band of killers bide their time (though they keep busy by swimming naked and murdering innocent shopkeepers). Six months later, the girls return to Horst's estate, where a lascivious, drunken party is in full swing. The guests are murdered, Horst is castrated, and the pregnant Terri is stabbed to death in her bed. At this point in the film, the camera pulls back to reveal the set -- the director of Snuff is seen congratulating the actors for such great performances. He convinces one actress to join him on the bed, where they begin kissing. When she realizes that she's still being filmed, she gets confused, and the director suddenly brandishes a knife. With the help of two production assistants, he cuts off a finger, saws off her hand, and then disembowels her. He holds the entrails in the air and howls with triumph as the film suddenly runs out and members of the crew say, "Ok, we got it, let's get out of here!" ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi