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Corfu island and the town of Kerkyra - Corfu

K Kerkyra (Corfu) is one of the most important and beautiful places in Greece, perhaps the greener island with dense vegetation and very dense road network, an island with great history, connected with Greek culture and tradition for over 3000 years, is inhabited since paleolithic era and long later inhabited by the Phaeacians as they mentioned in the Odyssey.
Homer refers to it as Scheria, also Corfu once had the name Drepanon(sickle) and that because of the sickle shape.
The first Greek colonization occurred at around 775 B.C by the Dorians of Eretria and soon after at around 750 B.C followed also Dorians from Corinth.
The name derived from nymph Corkyra, the daughter of the river god Asopos, Corkyra was brought here by the god Poseidon when he was kidnapped her, then Phaiax was born as the result of their union, Phaiax was the founder of Phaeacians, the word Corkyra tranformed to Kerkyra in Doric dialect and this is the today`s Greek name of the island.
During the Middle Ages the island and the town took the name Corypho which means peaks, (Coryphai in Greek), due to the two peaks in the peninsula of the old fortress, or the two peaks of it`s highest mountain Pantokrator.
It is more than obvious that from this name Corypho derived the current international name of Corfu.

Geography

Geographically Corfu is located in the northern Ionian Sea, opposite the coast of the Greek mainland and southern Albania, northwest of Kerkyra there are three small islands, named Othoni Mathraki and Erikoussa respectively and known as the Diapontia islands, also the islands of Paxos and antiPaxos in the south with which all together they form the Prefecture of Corfu.
Corfu is a medium sized island with an area of ​​588 square km. and an official population of 120,000 inhabitants, although informal residents are more and approach the 150,000 people, while the town of Kerkyra alone has 30,000 inhabitants.
In length from one end to another the island is not exceeding the 61 km and the greatest width is 27 km.
















The northern part of Corfu is mostly mountainous, at north-east is dominated by the mount of Pantokrator, the ancient Istonee mountain, the highest peak at the East is the high Pantokrator at 914 meters and a little lower is Stravoskiadi a couple of miles to the west at 849 meters, the mountain continues westward and dominates the northwest part of the island with highest peak the Troumpeta peak at an altitude of 600 meters.
In the middle of the island there is another mountainous area with the mountains of Stavros village and Agioi Deka, the highest peak is above the village of Agioi Deka at 600 meters where there is an aviation radar, while the southern part is mostly flat with small hills and two small mountains above the villages of Chlomos and Saint Mattheos.
This island, depending on the size is the third most populous place in Greece after Athens and Thessaloniki.
The climate is generally mild with hot and dry summers and very mild winters, in Corfu never snows, except the top of the highest mountain of Pantokrator, every Corfiot in the island will see snow no more than 2-3 times during a lifetime.

From 2011 after the new administrative reform called "Kallikrates" the island became one municipality, the municipality of Corfu which originated from the merger of the 12 former municipalities, the municipalities of Corfu, of Achillion, Thinalion, of Lefkimi, Korrision, Paleokastriton, Melitieon, of Saint George , Esperion, Feakon, Kassopaion and Parelion.
There is also another municipality in Paxos with the townhall to be in capital Gaius, also three more communities in the homonymous small islands in the north.

Corfu Culture

Culturally Corfu is very different from the rest of Greece, was fortunate not to ever suffer the Turkish occupation as at that time was part of the powerful maritime state of Venice, this was the era that shaped and influenced profoundly and fundamentally the cultural character of the island and residents.
From one side an authoritarian attitude of the feudal ruling class of nobles created continual opposition and popular movements from the poor people`s side and on the other side the development of arts and culture in general differentiate completely the landscape in contrast to the situation in the rest of Greece which was then under Turkish occupation.
The Venetian period followed by the French dependencies, first the democratic French and later the imperials of Napoleon, then followed the Russians and finally the English period until 1864 when along with the rest of the Ionian Islands, Corfu was unified with Greece.
All these influences have left their marks, so in the island there are now buildings and monuments from the Middle Ages and later, of unique beauty, especially in the old town which was actually a miniature of Venice without the canals of course, Kerkyra still keeps it`s medieval style, the town had the luck, in contrast with the other Ionian islands, not to have ever been hit by powerful earthquakes as unfortunately happened in Kefalonia and Zakynthos.
Although located in the seismic geology of the Ionian arc, it sits in a more stable part of the earth`s crust resulting in absence of earthquakes capable to destroy the unique architecture of the city.
















Corfu has many museums, monuments and cultural centers, here was established and operated the first Greek university of the modern era, there was a power plant here since 1850 which moved to Piraeus after the union with Greece, there is a huge music tradition in the island and the town of Kerkyra that has three main philarmonics, this of the Old Philharmonic, the Philharmonic of Mantzaros and philarmonic of Kapodistrias, but also almost in every village there is a music band too.
Also known by the immense contribution of Corfiot intellectuals in the formation of the modern Greek state and countless celebrities and world-class nation they were born, originate or have lived in this blessed island.
Without to mention the hundreds of younger, the famous personalities which were born or lived here were many, such as Ioannis Kapodistrias the first governor of Greece, Nikolaos Mantzaros which was the composer of Greek national anthem, Dionysios Solomos our national poet had lived here for the last 30 years of his life, Spyros Samaras the composer of Olympic anthem, the famous Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi lived much time of his life in this island, also many poets like Gerasimos Markoras, Lorenzos Mavilis, Andreas Kalvos, Iakovos Polylas, a former Greek prime minister George Theotokis, Nikolaos Theotokis which later became the archbishop of Russia, the important Ecumenical patriarch Athenagoras was born here, St Filomena also, the unforgettable actor Vasilis Avlonitis, Albert Cohen was born here too, also the singers Vicky Leandros and Nana Mouskouri, actor Nikos Kourkoulos had his origin from here, and hundreds of others who can not fit here in this page, even Giaccomo Casanova spent much of his life here ...
Corfu has given and still gives a lot in Greece, both culturally and economically with the huge tourist growth, but not necessarily has taken back all as definitely deserved ...
















The town of Corfu had also the name Kastropolis which means a city inside castles, because in the past was one of the few in the world which was entirely inside the walls of both castles, here are the old and the new fortresses, the Espianada square perhaps the biggest square of Europe, Liston, a meeting place for the nobles of the past and now a meeting venue for all Corfiots, the Palace of Saint Michael and Saint George known as the old palace which today houses many museums and exhibitions, the building of Ionian Academy the first university of Greece founded in 1824, the building of the Ionian parliament, the building where today houses the townhall which started to be build in 1663 initially as the Hall of Nobles (Loggia dei Nobili) and later it housed the famous Theater of San Giacomo, the ruins of Paleopolis which is the ancient city of Corfu in Kanoni peninsula next to the summer palace and numerous other cultural spots, museums and dozens of other monuments.
There are dozens of monuments and important buildings and outside Corfu town, like the byzantine fortress near Paleokastritsa called Aggelokastro, The famous Achillion palace in the village of Gastouri 3 kilometers north of Benitses, which was build by the Empress of Austro-hungaria Elizabeth also known as Sissy, the palace was in honor of legendary Hero Achilles, the Kaizer bridge on the beach of Achillion, which was build by the German Kaizer Wilhelm the second, when he bought the Achillion, the sea museum in Benitses, the museum of olives at the village of Kynopiastes, mansions and dozens of other medieval and younger remains in almost every village.

Corfu environment

Environmentaly Corfu is certainly a whole continent in miniature, it has all kinds of amazingly varied landscapes, from lush forests, green mountains to deserted sandy beaches reminiscent of the Sahara and all contain unique ecosystems rich in biodiversity, there are hundreds of species of birds, wildlife, insects and all kinds of plants and trees found in the Mediterranean and beyond.
Of course, the dominant tree is the olive tree and all citrus fruit trees.
Corfu with the highest rainfall and the richest soil in Greece could be self-sufficient in all areas of production, but the development of tourism and other factors have led the population to other activities.
Sure, Corfu is an island worth visiting in any way, to explore it and learn about it two or three weeks are not enough, it is an island blessed by nature and people.