Beautiful Corfu

Shopping in Corfu

Spend a few days in Corfu; it is more like Venice than Greece.  The Ionian Islands, which Corfu is part of, was the only part of Greece not to come under Ottoman occupation.  They became Venetian in 1386 then French then Russian then British.  It wasn’t till 1864 they finally united with independent Greece.

We went to Corfu twice, once while driving through northern Greece and then sailed back again when we were on the boat.  Getting to Corfu by car is easy, ferry’s leave regularly and if you can survive the car parking ordeal of getting your car in the correct spot with the help of the yelling Greek ferryman, you will have a delightful ferry trip over and be glad you brought your car so you can see the rest of the island.

The Buildings of Corfu

Old Corfu town is wedged between two Venetian fortresses and is characterized by narrow alleyways between high shuttered buildings painted mellow shades of ochres and pinks. This city reminds you of Venice and Naples.

Our Best Treat of the visit was Tiramisu of Corfu

We loved shopping in the many small family markets in search few last items we needed to provision our boat or our favorite treat, tiramisu.  The people of Corfu love their tiramisu and you can find it in shops and bakeries all over town in 9” square aluminum pans.  We would buy the whole tin and have no trouble finishing it off.

Provisioning the Boat

We spent hours in search of feta cheese and basil.  Feta we found behind the deli counter, in a large ceramic bowl in its brine. They cut of a slice for you and wrap it up.  You will also find the fabulous Greek yogurt in the same place. I think Greek yogurt is the best in the world. The Greek word for basil could not be found in any of our translation books and after carefully describing the leaf of the product we were looking for the shop owner said “aah, basilica!”  Shopping for food, no matter what country you are in, is such an adventure…mayonnaise in a tube? I think I finally found that in Turkey and milk on the floor of the market because it had been radiated to keep it from spoiling? found that on the 1989 trip to Yugoslavia, as it was known as then.  Caviar in a tube was another surprise.

Our Tiramisu Square

Stop at the outside cafe at the edge of town near the fort to have lunch and watch the cricket game.  We couldn’t figure out if these men had left their offices and just put together a quick game of cricket or of this was a regularly scheduled match but it was so delightful to find cricket being played on this Greek Island.