A Corfu shore excursion is a short tour of Corfu for cruise passengers whose ship docks at Corfu Town for the day. The island lies in the Ionian Sea, off the northwest coast of Greece. The trip is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers what a Corfu shore excursion includes, the two fortresses and the streets of the Old Town. It also covers what British rule left behind, the palace of an empress and the myth of Mouse Island. The west coast, the best months and common questions come last.
The sections include Corfu shore excursions and related Corfu tours that can be booked online.
What does a Corfu shore excursion involve?
A Corfu shore excursion is a short day ashore for cruise passengers whose ship docks at Corfu Town. The island sits closer to Italy than any other part of Greece. Its port covers the larger part of the town’s northern shore.
Corfu sits at 39.60 degrees north, 19.87 degrees east. The nearby Diapontian Islands sit about 40 km off Italy’s coast. Venice valued the island more after Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669.
A Corfu shore excursion lands on an island with its own guardian goddess. A marble panel of 375 BC in the Acropolis Museum marks its alliance with Athens. An ancient poem called it Corcyra the Black, after its dark woods.
The Corfu regional unit, a county-level district, covers 641.1 square kilometres. Its census count stood at 103,505 in 1991 and 111,081 in 2001. Its borders match the old prefecture, a province created in 1864.
A Corfu shore excursion begins in Corfu Town’s municipal unit, the town’s own local area. It covers 41.905 square kilometres of land. The 2021 census counted 40,047 people living there.
- Nickname: Corfu was called the key to the Adriatic.
- Density: The island holds 163.44 residents per square kilometre.
- Goddess: In myth, Korkyra, the island’s guardian goddess, had sisters named Aegina, Salamis and Thebe.
The port is the island’s main gateway for goods. The port authority aims to make Corfu a home port, where cruises start and end. It also planned about 80 yacht berths at the old port.
How did the two fortresses rise on a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion meets two strongholds that formed one system with the town walls. The Old Fortress fills a peninsula 600 m long and 200 m wide. The New Fortress rose between 1576 and 1588, in neatly cut ashlar stone.
A Corfu shore excursion reaches a citadel reshaped in three Venetian phases. A strong new wall circuit went up in 1402. Builders also made an artificial harbour at Mandraki, on the peninsula’s northern side.
In the second phase, the engineer Michele Sanmicheli built a new western front. Two five-sided bastions, jutting gun platforms, rose at either end. Each carried a cavalier, a higher gun mound on top.
The siege of 1537 began when an Ottoman fleet of 320 ships opened fire on 26 August. Bad weather and plague then struck the attackers’ camp. By 15 September, the sultan had turned for home.
A Corfu shore excursion crosses ground that Maltese and Papal ships helped defend in 1716. That year, 3,000 defenders under Marshal von der Schulenburg held off about 33,000 Ottomans. On 19 August, he led a counterattack in person.
- Reward: The republic gave the marshal a lifelong pension of 5,000 ducats, Venetian gold coins.
- Monument: A statue of him stands before the citadel gateway.
- Losses: The besiegers lost about 15,000 dead and 56 cannons.
The citadel’s Pasqualigo barracks of 1718–1721 had room for 1,200 troops. The Soranza Gate, the citadel’s first main entrance, later became a chapel of Saint Nicholas. The newer stronghold’s official gate, Porta Otturata, served only its commander.
Which streets and squares form the Old Town on a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion enters an Old Town shielded by a 1980 culture ministry decision. A presidential decree for the Municipality of Corfu followed in 1981. The UNESCO-listed core covers 70 hectares, ringed by a protected buffer zone of 162 hectares.
The Spianada, the great open square, holds a monument to the Ionian Islands’ union with Greece. The union was formally completed with a signed handover in the nearby citadel.
A Corfu shore excursion reaches the Liston, also named Eleutherias Avenue, from the Greek word for freedom. The arcaded street runs from Pentofanaro at one end to Kofineta at the other.
The town spread beyond the citadel walls as early as the 10th century. Its suburbs, the borgo, stayed unwalled until the Ottoman attack of 1571. Number 18 Filellinon Street, the oldest surviving building, dates from around 1497.
On a Corfu shore excursion, Saint Spyridon’s 40-metre bell tower stands on the church’s east side. A blue clock was fitted to it in the mid-19th century. In 1933, an iron stair of 103 steps replaced its wooden one.
- Opera years: From 1771 to 1892, the San Giacomo theatre staged opera buffa, or comic opera.
- Praise: Its successful performers were hailed as applaudito in Corfù, or applauded in Corfu.
- First woman: Maria Desylla-Kapodistria, mayor from 1956 to 1959, was Greece’s first female mayor.
The Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela visited Corfu around 1161/1162. The island once exported citron, a lemon-like fruit, partly for the Jewish feast of Sukkot. Of the Jews deported in 1944, 120 returned.
What did British rule leave behind on a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion crosses a city shaped by the United States of the Ionian Islands. It was a Greek state of seven islands under British protection. Ten British governors, called Lord High Commissioners, ran it. William Gladstone briefly held the post in 1859.
The state also held Parga, a port on the Greek mainland. It was sold to Ali Pasha of Ioannina in 1819. In 1848, the Party of Radicals began demanding union with Greece.
A Corfu shore excursion recalls Thomas Maitland, who arrived on 16 February 1816. On 25 October 1816, forty-six noble Corfiots proposed a triumphal arch for him. His one-man rule on Malta earned him the name King Tom.
In the Palace of St Michael and St George, the Throne Room holds a royal portrait. It copies Thomas Lawrence’s painting of King George IV. A British honour with the same name was founded there in 1818.
A Corfu shore excursion meets the collection of Greece’s first Far Eastern art expert. Gregorios Manos bought about 9,500 Chinese, Korean and Japanese pieces at auctions in Vienna and Paris. He gave them to Greece in 1919.
- Villa builder: Frederick Adam, who built Mon Repos, commanded a light brigade at Waterloo.
- Royal escape: In 1922, infant Prince Philip left Greece in a fruit box aboard HMS Calypso.
- Cricket body: The Hellenic Cricket Federation, founded in 1996, sits in Corfu, not Athens.
Charilaos Trikoupis signed the Treaty of London for Greece. The British kept the use of the port of Corfu. It counts as the first time Britain gave up a territory by choice.
Why did an empress build a palace on a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion reaches the Achilleion, a palace built in 1890. Empress Elisabeth wanted it to honour Greek language and culture. She asked for hanging gardens, safe from prying glances. It had to suit Achilles, who feared not even the gods.
The Italian architects Raffaelle Carito and Antonio Landy planned it as a hermitage, a place of quiet. Emperor Franz Joseph also owned land nearby. Her Greek tutor, Constantine Christomanos, joined her on Corfu.
A Corfu shore excursion crosses Gastouri, where her gift, the Fountain under the Sycamores, opened in 1894. She visited until spring 1896. Then she lost interest. Much of the interior went back to Vienna.
A Corfu shore excursion meets the work of Ernst Herter, who sculpted mythical figures. He made a second original of his Dying Achilles. That other statue stands opposite the City Hall in Elbląg, Poland.
Johannes Götz from Fürth made a victorious Achilles in 1909 for Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was meant to balance the dying figure. The archaeologist Reinhard Kekulé von Stradonitz advised on its place.
- Lost years: His family skipped Corfu in 1910 and 1913 over Balkan conflicts.
- Kaiser’s bridge: German troops removed its central section in 1944 to pass a huge cannon.
- Conference: In September 1979, twelve historians met in the emperor’s former bedroom.
In 1983, the casino lease ended. The Greek tourism body took back control. European agriculture ministers met there in 2003. The poet Tony Harrison set part of his 1992 verse film there.
What myth surrounds Mouse Island on a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion at Pontikonisi, or Mouse Island, meets a legend from Homer’s Odyssey. Local legend calls the islet the Phaeacian ship that carried Odysseus home. Poseidon turned it to rock. The Phaeacians’ name comes from phaiós, a Greek word for gray.
Alcinous, the Phaeacian king, bore a name meaning mighty mind. His father, Nausithous, was a son of Poseidon. Nausithous had led his people from Hypereia to escape the lawless Cyclopes.
On a Corfu shore excursion, the islet sits within 110 km, or 68 miles, of Ithaca. Homer wrote that even a falcon failed to keep pace with a Phaeacian ship.
In medieval times, the Chalkiopoulos lagoon was Corfu’s trading harbour. A canal joined it to the Ionian Sea. Ships slipped into the canal to escape pirates. Kanalia village, meaning canals, is named after it.
A Corfu shore excursion passes Vlacherna, a monastery named in a 1567 record. Its islet was then called Egripos. Two monks, Meletios Gardikiotis and Agathon Frangiatis, ran it. They agreed to paint its daughter church in Perivoli.
- Position: Pontikonisi lies midway along Corfu’s east coast.
- Wishing well: Visitors throw coins into a well on Mouse Island to make wishes.
- Census: Pontikonisi first counted as a separate settlement in 1940.
Homer gave King Alcinous a palace with bronze walls shining like the sun. Its gates were gold. Gold and silver dogs by Hephaestus, the smith god, flanked its doors.
Which castle and monastery crown the west coast on a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion on the west coast reaches Angelokastro, which 17th-century Venetian documents call Castello Sant’Angelo. Under Venice, it housed the governor and fleet commander of the Ionian Islands. Nearby, the Paleokastritsa monastery keeps a Gospels manuscript catalogued as Minuscule 2571.
Its garrison, loyal to Naples, briefly resisted the Venetian takeover. Power still changed hands with almost no loss of life. French scholar Jean Alexandre Buchon judged its walls hastily built.
A Corfu shore excursion at the ruins finds battlements only on the northeast side. A small gate once opened in the south wall. The ruins facing the main gate held the garrison’s quarters.
The monastery’s manuscript of the Gospels fills 264 leaves. In 1879 the Holy Synod, the ruling council of the Greek Church, exiled the cleric Eusebios Matthopoulos. It later sent him to this monastery.
- Castle governor: The city council of Corfu chose him from the island’s noblemen.
- Art: Edward Lear drew the castle in his Views of the Ionian Islands.
- Ermones: This coastal village belongs to Giannades, 7 km southeast of Paleokastritsa.
On a Corfu shore excursion, Lakones stands 240 metres above sea level. Lakones gained the status of a traditional settlement in 1978. Local tradition traces its first settlers to Oitylo in Mani.
Which months suit a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion in August meets the warmest sea, averaging 24°C. January still logs 117.7 hours of sunshine, February 116.8. Before Palm Sunday, the village of Episkepsi sings the Lazarus carols. Spring and autumn add processions for Saint Spyridon.
From January to March, the sea off Corfu averages 14°C. It warms to 21°C in June and 23°C in July. By December, the water off the island cools to 16°C.
A Corfu shore excursion at Easter hears funeral marches arranged for wind bands. On Good Friday they include Albinoni’s Adagio and Chopin’s funeral march. On Holy Saturday, the Kapodistrias Philharmonic plays part of Beethoven’s Eroica.
Four times a year, Saint Spyridon’s relics leave his church in a litany, or procession. Palm Sunday marks a plague in 1629, November a second plague in 1673. On his December feast, the relic stands upright inside the church.
- Palm Sunday: Locals call it Kyriaki ton Vagione, Sunday of the Palms; its litany runs longest.
- Holy Thursday: In the Duomo, the Catholic cathedral, the archbishop washes 12 children’s feet.
- Holy Saturday: Worshippers at the Virgin of the Foreigners church bang the pews, imitating an earthquake.
A Corfu shore excursion in the first week of August meets the Varkarola, a boat pageant. At Paleokastritsa, it re-enacts Odysseus meeting Nausicaa. It began in 1997, first in mid-July.
What do travelers want to know about a Corfu shore excursion?
A Corfu shore excursion meets people, food and music in one island story. The Philharmonic Society of Corfu co-owns the Kapodistrias Museum. It shares the museum with the Society of Corfiot Studies and the Reading Society. Maria Desylla-Kapodistria donated it in 1979.
What was the Ionian Academy, for a Corfu shore excursion visitor?
The French founded the Ionian Academy while they ruled Corfu. Its medical school ran from 1824 to 1828, then again from 1844 to 1865. It had schools of law, medicine and language studies. It later closed to support the University of Athens.
Who was Ioannis Kapodistrias, for a Corfu shore excursion visitor?
Count Ioannis Kapodistrias was a Greek statesman, born around 10 February 1776. His family came from Capodistria, now Koper in Slovenia, and moved to Corfu in the 13th century. In 1799 he ran the island’s military hospital. In 1802 he founded the National Medical Association.
Why does the Durrell family matter to a Corfu shore excursion visitor?
Lawrence Durrell persuaded his mother and siblings to move to Corfu. He wanted to escape the English weather. He wrote about his years on the island in Prospero’s Cell, published in 1945. His brother Gerald published My Family and Other Animals in 1956.
What is the kumquat, for a Corfu shore excursion visitor?
The kumquat is a small fruit tree of the citrus family, Rutaceae. It has been grown for centuries in Japan and Southeast Asia. Robert Fortune brought it to Europe in 1846. Seeds grow poorly, so growers graft it onto another citrus.
What are pastitsada and sofrito, for a Corfu shore excursion visitor?
Pastitsada, a Corfu meat dish, has a Verona namesake, pastissada, made with horse meat. Sofrito owes little to Italian soffritto, a fried vegetable base, beyond frying in oil. It is served with chilled dry white wine. Cooks can make it a day ahead.
What is the Philharmonic Society of Corfu, for a Corfu shore excursion visitor?
The Philharmonic Society of Corfu, nicknamed the Old Philharmonic, dates from September 1840. Composer Nikolaos Mantzaros led it first. It began after the British barred their army band from Orthodox church events. That ban followed the death of King William IV in 1837.