KERKIRA (Corfu) - Ionian Islands

Corfu is one of the greenest islands in Greece. It is amazing how many shades of green that actually exist. The island has a very varied landscape, from steep mountains to stretches of sandy beaches that resembles what you can find on some of the Canary Islands. But what strikes you the most are its many a picturesque coastline and the beautiful scattering of cypress trees. Should be something for everybody here.
Unfortunately large stretches of coastline has been more or less destroyed by over-development. I guess you would have to go all the way down to Rhodes to see something worse among the Greek Islands.

For walking it is most practical to stay in the surprisingly pretty Corfu Town. Bus connections are good, and you will get around to every part of the island. Some has lamented the chaos of the green (long distance) bus terminal. Things must have changed lately, because I hardly used more than a minute to find my bus. All the buses are clearly marked, and fixed positions are assigned for departures to the most frequent destinations. Seemed very well organized to me. We are in Greece after all.

One bad thing about the town is that it is expensive. Its exclusive appearance and clientele have made this rather sophisticated town one of the most expensive places in Greece. Another thing is that it IS a town and it has lots of hostile streets and noise, although some of the prettiest streets are pedestrian. Assholes on motorbikes and scooters go everywhere of course. But as long as you will be out walking or at the beach just about every day, it should be just bearable.

It pays off getting a nice hotel in a place like this. A few cheaper hotels are close to the ugly new harbour, but you won't like it there for a whole week. So if you plan on staying for more than a couple of days, e.g the old harbour is a better choice. The C-class Constantinopoulis turned out to be a very nice place. It is totally renovated, has friendly service, and is well worth the 11000 GRD per night (includes breakfast) that they charge for a single room (mid-season tariff). All rooms have private baths and color TV (And yes, they DO have other channels than TV Corfu; EuroNews and FilmNet are the English language ones). You can also watch the impressive Pantokrator and its range of mountains across the bay (more than 900m to the top).

Selecting places to eat also needs care. I use all the help I can get from all the available guide books. But I must say that a couple of the recommended food outlets really fell from grace. It could be that the curious lack of tourists in early summer 1999 put to much pressure on them. "Dionysos" had bread with mould and a slightly oxidized red house wine, but served so cold I did not notice it until I had drunk almost half of it. Cannot think why I did not use my nose. I do have one. I did not drink it up. The food, on the other hand, was OK. "Scona" also had tasty food, but total ignorance (and respect) for wine. I really had to insist hard to get the waiter to remove a bottle of oxidized Naossa. Afterwards I gave him a quick course about oxidization in wine. He never approached my table again. Or hardly any other I think, playing cards with his friends for the rest of the night. Which was all for the best I think. Of other recommended places, "Naftikon" was OK I think, I only had lunch there once. And the "Averof" did not disappoint, with extremely friendly service and free entertainment (by the singing waiter). For some reason they had very few guests. All the restaurants mentioned so far are close to the old harbour, and therefore have reasonable prices. Close to the much more expensive Liston, "Restaurant Rex" also has reasonable prices, for the most part. Not that the food seemed to be anything over the average, but you will have a wide range of choices, and their red house wine was really excellent (tasted just like a Naossa). Be polite and give them compliments and you may get to taste their Tsipouro (Greek grappa) for free. But my own personal recommendation must go to the "Moyragia Ouzeri and Snack Bar" on Arseniou, which is about as genuine a taverna type food outlet as you can find in town. Low prices, good food, and a personal and friendly service. It is situated next to the better known "Pete's Pizza". The pizza joint had lots of customers, the ouzeri had hardly any at night, I find that disgraceful. If you show that you can enjoy a good wine you may even have a taste of the owners own produce (from a very small vineyard he has up in Sidari), only intended for himself and his family. Ask him for a bottle to enjoy with your dinner. He won't charge much for it. It is a charming white dry wine, with a very powerful apricot nose. Never tasted anything like it. In Glyfada try the "Glyfada Restaurant" at the far north end of the beach. Very good food, fresh and delicious white house wine. In Paleokastritsa try the "Astakos". I had some truly excellent Pastitsio there. The best I ever had?

Selected walks: For walks on Corfu take a look in Noel Rochford's Landscapes of Corfu. All references below are to this book (as "Rochford", and PLEASE NOTE: when I refer to walk numbers in this book they are taken from the 2nd edition). Most walks in the book are rather long or strenuous or both, so beginners will be better off with only shorter versions of the walks, or perhaps move on to the nearby island of Paxi? I selected my walks to cover as much of the different landscapes of Corfu as possible, as well as not being too exhausting in (early) summer. Also some good beach walks should be included. One last comment: Most of what is described as "gravel road" in the book is now tarmac. Sorry.

There is also this walking guide sold locally by Hilary Whitton Paipeti. More info can be found here. It seems you can also buy it online.

Lance Chilton has a booklet called Walks in the Agios Georgios Area.

◉ 1 NISSAKI - KASSIOPI (my total time 5h, including only short stops and a short swim, but includes 1h of walking and investigation at the start): This is Walk 5 in Rochford.

Why is it that every first walk on any island must go totally wrong from the start? I went off the bus in Nissaki knowing that I probably was a couple of hundred meters (according to Rochford's map) short. So I continued up the road for a while. Not before long there was a supermarket and a sign for 'PARALIA' pointing down some stairs on a corner of the road, just as it should be. Only the Shell station was missing, but it could have moved, could it not? The stairs/path went down to some tracks by the beach, and a path took off along the shore. Very nice. Next beach. Big hotel. All as it should be. But there was no path further. After long investigation I was able to find the remains of a path down some steps going a few yards further on the main road from the access down to the hotel. This path takes you straight to an abandoned house surrounded by olive trees where you can pick up an even fainter path from the front side to be able to continue more or less straight a bit further. The path ends up in another olive grove on the hillside below the main road. Some faint traces takes you up to the road. No alternative but take the road from here. After a short while you see the "missing" Shell station... One hour was lost here, but finally a road down to the correct beach were the walk should start. But no Angelo's supermarket or sign or path. All that has disappeared it seems. Take the road down. From here it was easy going, and you should have no big problems finding your way to Kouloura. I took no heed of Rochford's warnings about the continuing path, and the path was initially much better than expected. Not very vertiginous either. There was one awkward point where a part of the path had slid down towards the sea, but the stump of a bush/tree helped out a bit by providing something to hold on to. Nothing too bad, so you should have small problems getting yourself down to Kerasia. From Kerasia you are recommended to take Rochford's advice on how to avoid scrambling further on by taking the track from the taverna to Ag. Stefanos. You will have to use the track for about half of this stretch anyway. But the initial path was so good and the landscape so lush that I could not resist taking the path by the shore. This takes you to a steep descent down to the next beach. From there it is no path further, and the scrambling begins. I must admit that this part of the route was very tough going. Progress at some points will have to be slow, if safety is an option. At the tip of the headland you climb a steep narrow path towards a house up on the hill (See a black water pipe a yard or two before the path). After a few yards the paths forks. Clamber down to the beach again on the right fork. It is even signposted for Ag. Stefanos. And the scrambling goes on. You my even have to wet your feet at some point. Finally you will manage to get yourself to the next cove, where you pick up an overgrown path by another black water pipe (mentioned in the book) to crush your way through the bushes up to the track. Luckily no thorns. Phew!!! From here it's all tarmac. First to Ag. Stefanos, then to Avlaki, and finally Kassiopi. All tracks forking off the Kassiopi road leads to private villas, and there is no way of knowing which one (if any) can take you back to the shoreline without trespassing. Give it up. Unfortunately Kassiopi is just another tourist resort, nothing remotely genuine here. Take the first bus back.

◉ 2 PALEOKASTRITSA - LAKONES - ARAKLI - MAKARADES - ANGELOKASTRO - PALEOKASTRITSA (my total time 3h45, includes only very short stops): This is Walk 8 in Rochford, but shortened down by dismissing the long walk down to Ag. Georgiou (and back up again). Unfortunately I also had to cut the ascent to the cliff of Angelokastro, as it was all enshrouded in fog at the time.

This excellent walk has so many thrills that even if it is strenuous I am tempted to say that EVERYONE SHOULD TRY THIS WALK! Unfortunately some rough parts on the last leg will be not be suitable for everybody (But there IS a remedy - on your way back, just follow the road the entire way from Krini to Lakones, and retrace your steps down to Paleokastritsa from there).

Not much trouble finding my way on this walk, just pure delight. Just two points of difficulty. From Lakones the steep path up to the mountain may be a bit difficult to find. By following Rochford's instructions as much to the letter as possible, you will probably take the concrete road left up towards the upper parts of the village. Follow this lane as it curves back to the left. Then continue on the level as straight as possible until the lane suddenly ends. See a red blob on stairs to your right. The stairs take you up to the path. Turn right and you are on or way. On the return, by the souvenir shop where the rough descent down to Paleokastritsa begins, the initial stairs are destroyed by some new house building. You could take the easy approach suggested above, but you should be able to see the remains of stairs further down. Walk a few paces down the access to the new house, turn left (stepping over some debris) and find steps. They lead down to a very narrow path. Do NOT try to follow Rochford's instructions here. Instead try to follow what looks like the least narrow approach. Fork left, then right, to see a red mark on a stone to your right. Continue straight ahead into an olive ground where you can curve left (on the level) and then right, to descend to a track. Bear RIGHT here. Then wind, wind, wind your way down to Paleokastritsa.

◉ 3 AG. GEORGIOUS - ISSOS - AKR KONSIA++ and/or LAKE KORISSION (and return) (walking time about 1h30 should be sufficient for most, depending on how far along the beaches go want to go - on the far side of Cape Konsia you will probably have the whole place more or less to yourself): This is part of Walk 18 in Rochford.

A perfect day on the beach. With no dress code. You can skip the lake, but at least do some "lakespotting" from those weird looking miniature cliffs at Issos. Don't forget that the last bus back leaves at 1815 or something. The bus stop is about 100 yards back out on the access road (from the T-junction). When you came the bus probably stopped at the T-junction. And do take the bus to the right Ag. Georgious, this is the one in the SOUTH (There is another one at Pagi, a bus goes there as well).

◉ 4 PIRGI - SPARTILAS - TAXIARCHIS++ (and return) (my total time 5h, includes only short stops): This walk consists of the last (optional) part of Walk 9 plus the Short Walk 1 version (a bit extended) of Walk 1 in Rochford.

Straining my sadistic tendencies to the utmost I have constructed this hellish test just for you. What about starting out at sea level and see how far you can get up those hill sides, remembering that you will also have to return the same way? If this sounds appealing to you, be my guest and give it a try. There are over 900 meters all the way up to Mt. Pantokrator. The new gravel road weaving its way at about 700 meters will be more than sufficient for most. It was enough for me, anyway. The route from Pirgi to Spartilias is just an hours warm up exercise, with some road walking, but you will be able to do major shortcuts on remains of old footpaths. Try to follow that water-pipe! The last leg up to the village is all on a path running steeply up to it from below (as Rochford's map indicates). The easiest way to find the correct track out of Spartilias is to walk right through the church portal and then take the narrow stair street up to the left. After that, finding your way is not difficult. The mountain path leaves the track just a minute ahead. There is just one option, and that is to continue ahead in the direction the path goes. You must however ignore a right + left turn of the path down to a farmhouse. Instead continue straight ahead on a rather faint path. It is a good thing that there hardly is any problem finding your way, as you will have your hands full anyway, quite literally. The path is very narrow and stony and also becomes steeper and steeper. Rocks try to block your way. Trees and bushes join forces to keep you back, but less so as you get higher. Progress will be very slow. Be patient and watch your step. How long will you stand this abuse? Those who make it to the top of the plateau are rewarded with panoramic views, of course. The chapel are best left for the return, because then you will have seen it from several angles and know exactly where it is. So just continue further over the plain, following red crosses and arrows, and start to ascend slowly into a narrowing valley to climb to a new bulldozed gravel track at about 700 meters height. At this point Mt. Pantokrator stares malevolently at you. Follow the road over to the east for even greater panoramic views. But do NOT forget where you climbed up to the road. You will have to find this exact position to be able to return. A rather sorry looking cairn could be seen, a small rock with some lesser ones scattered around it. I built two bigger ones here on each side of the access. Still standing, these should be difficult to miss. You can probably continue on this track all the way to Pantokrator. Or you could start thinking about turning back. I turned here after a short stop. On your way back be sure to pick up the Taxiarchis chapel, just after the plain. It is in a sad state, but still has some beautiful still surviving frescos. What a place. Take your time back down. No hurrying on that descent! You get a chance to stretch out your legs a bit more on the road back to Pirgi. You will probably feel for skipping some of the initial shortcuts of the road at this point, to pick up a little more speed instead. Felt good to me anyway, after all that surgical warfare. You will still find a few useful stairs down. Using this set of shortcuts, only take the ones where you can actually see it hit the road again, some are overgrown with thorns at the lower end. Further down it's time for that water pipe again.

◉ 5 VATOS - MIRITIOTISSA - GLYFADA (walking time 1h20, included some investigation at Vatos): This is the Short Walk version of Walk 14 in Rochford.

Another nice beach day. Apart from some difficulties from the start the way turned out easy to find, if not always easy to walk. The descent down to Glyfada e.g was a nightmare. Take it real slow! Some points should however be made to make the instructions in Rochford clearer. Road building has unfortunately confused the picture a bit in Vatos. When you ascend through Vatos you should NOT take the road branching off left signposted to Miritiotissa and Glyfada. The NEXT branch left is the correct one. This is the one that takes you past the school. On the descent towards Trialos, do not forget to branch off left (on a more overgrown track) to walk through this long since abandoned hamlet. Just after the few houses of Trialos, continue straight ahead on a narrower path, do NOT follow the track as it turns right here. The map was helpful at this point.

◉ Good starting points: • Corfu town - from here buses will take you to all parts of the island (for schedules, see "More Info" below)

◉ How to get there: • By air • By ferry from the mainland • By ferry from Italy • By the occasional ferry from other Ionian islands

◉ More info: • Corfu Home Page • Friends of the Ionian - very nice site describing all the Ionian islands • The Corfu Trail - some info about this marked route through the whole of the island

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This page was last modified at April 22, 2007.