Greece - Korina Miller [556]
Inside the 15th-century Church of Our Lady of Antivouniotissa is the Antivouniotissa Museum (Byzantine Museum; Map; 26610 38313; admission €2; 8am-7pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, 8.30am-2.30pm Tue-Sun Nov-Mar). This exquisite aisle-less and timber-roofed basilica, located off Arseniou, has an outstanding collection of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons and artefacts dating from the 13th to the 17th centuries.
It’s worth visiting the two fortresses, Corfu Town’s most dominant landmarks. The Palaio Frourio (Old Fortress; Map; 26610 48310; adult/concession €4/2; 8.30am-3pm Nov-Mar, 8.30am-7pm May-Oct) was constructed by the Venetians on the remains of a 12th-century Byzantine castle. The British made further alterations. The gatehouse area houses a Byzantine museum and exhibition space. The summit of the inner outcrop is crowned by a lighthouse and can be reached by a steep climb for superb views. The Neo Frourio (New Fortress; Map; admission €3; 9am-9pm May-Oct) is a gaunt piece of military architecture reached by a steep climb. Again, there are fine views and the interior is an eerie mass of tunnels, rooms and staircases.
The sacred relic of Corfu’s beloved patron saint, St Spyridon, lies in an elaborate silver casket in the 16th-century Church of Agios Spyridon (Map; Agiou Spyridonos). Nearby is the intriguing Banknote Museum (Map; 26610 41552; St Spyridon’s Sq; admission €2; 9am-2pm & 5.30-8.30pm Wed & Fri, 8.30am-3pm Thu, Sat, Sun Apr-Sep, 8am-3pm Wed-Sun Oct-Mar), part of the Ionian Bank. It has a collection of banknotes, including a sixpenny note from the British period.
A haunting survival of British rule is the peaceful garden-like English Cemetery (Angliko Nekrotafeio; Map; Kolokotroni) off Mitropoliti Methodiou and also known as the British Cemetery, on the southwestern outskirts of town. It has been lovingly tended by its caretaker over many years and contains the graves of soldiers and civilians of the 19th and 20th centuries.
On the southern outskirts of Corfu on the Kanoni Peninsula is the Mon Repos Estate (off Map; 8am-7pm May-Oct, 8am-5pm Nov-Apr), an extensive wooded park surrounding an elegant neoclassical villa. The estate and villa were created in the 1830s by the second British commissioner of the Ionians, Sir Frederick Adam, as a tribute to his Corfiot wife. The British handed over Mon Repos to King George I of Greece in 1864. It was the birthplace, in 1921, of King George’s grandson, the UK’s current Duke of Edinburgh (Queen Elizabeth II’s husband). Eighteen months later the Duke’s parents – and the baby Duke – fled the island on board a British warship when the new Greek Republic banished its then monarch, and Philip’s uncle, King Constantine. For many years ownership of Mon Repos was in dispute between the Greek government and Constantine until the Municipality of Corfu took over the estate and turned it into a rather splendid public amenity. Today, the villa houses the excellent Museum of Palaeopolis ( 26610 41369; adult/concession €3/2; 8am-7.30pm Tue-Sun May-Oct), with entertaining displays of archaeological finds and the history of Corfu Town. Rooms on the first floor are furnished in the early-19th-century Regency style of the British era. Tracks and paths lead through the wooded grounds to the ruins of two Doric temples; the first is vestigial, but the southerly one is still quite impressive.
Parking outside the gates of Mon Repos is limited.
Tours
Petrakis Lines (Map; 26610 31649; Ethnikis Antistasis 4) and Sarris Cruises ( 26610 25317; Eleftheriou Venizelou 13) both organise day trips from Corfu Town, including an excursion to ancient ruins (Butrinti) in Albania for €59; and a boat trip taking in Paxi (and the Blue Caves) and Antipaxi for €40.