Corfu, located in northwestern Greece, is the seventh largest of the Greek Islands.  It’s a very picturesque place to visit and, for a change, there were no ruins to tour.  Corfu has served as a backdrop for fables and myths, and it’s where Odysseus is said to have stepped ashore during his epic voyage. 

We stopped at a vantage point in Kanoni to view the harbor and tiny Pontikonisi (Mouse) Island in the center left of the photo below.

The Aegean Sea is beautiful. Because there are so many Greek islands, the distance between them is not great.  As a result, public ferries and private boats are popular for inter-island travel.

The Old Fortress of Corfu is visible atop a stony hill.  It’s one of the most impressive fortification works in Greece.

We spent the afternoon walking around Corfu’s Old City.  All of Europe is so old, I think every city has an Old City tourist district.  The equivalent in the U.S. would be the Historic District—an area filled with historic buildings, shops, and restaurants. 

The Liston, pictured below, is a lovely Old City promenade, once reserved for the local aristocracy.  Along the promenade on the left, below, is the Liston Stone Colonnade that has restaurants and snack bars beneath its portico. Similarly, the opposite side of this part of the Liston (on the right, below) is lined with outdoor cafés, making this a popular place during the day and at night. 

The Liston faces the Spianada Square, a large tree-bordered park barely visible on the right of the photo below.  The Spianada is one of Europe’s largest public squares, and it’s one of the most central and popular sites of the city.  I wish I had a better picture of the park, but that’s life.  It’s still a good memory for me.

Farther along on the Liston, in the right center of the photo below, you can see the Old Ancient Arch. (So is there a New Ancient Arch?)

The cafés along the Liston were filled with people sitting idly, sipping beverages, and enjoying conversation.  It was a perfect day to be outdoors.

Here’s a picture of the Old City’s main street.

I always enjoy walking in the old cities.  The streets are never a grid of “blocks”; instead, they usually have an irregular pattern that seems to grow with the buildings, rather than the other way around.

Ted’s and my enjoyable time in Corfu ended with a travel adventure.  When we finished walking around Corfu, we headed for the shuttle bus that would return us to our ship at the port.  The bus dropped us off in a different place than we had boarded it, and no one told us which of the many buildings we needed to enter to pass through security to the port.  We finally figured out the right building, but it was a ferry station and there were no signs indicating which of the many lines for the various ships and ferries was the right one for us.  Other passengers were having the same problem and there was a lot of shifting from one line to another.

We eventually found the right line by recognizing some of our fellow passengers, and we shared the common experience we’d all had figuring out where to go.  When Ted and I reached the gate, we had a problem:  I couldn’t find my ship ID card.  Without the card, you’re not allowed to proceed to the ship—not even with a passport.  After some language challenges, the gate officer figured out what we were trying to explain and told us they needed someone from the ship’s staff to verify my passenger status.  That was a pretty simple fix, but it probably took half an hour to send a message to the ship, get it to the right person, and have that person walk the quarter mile from the ship to where we were waiting.  During that time, Ted and I chatted with the employees and others at the gate and enjoyed getting to know them a little bit.  They suggested we skip the ship and just stay in beautiful Corfu.  One of them even offered to take us home for a Greek dinner.

Eventually, the ship employee arrived, verified my status as a passenger, and walked back to the ship with us to escort me onboard through the ship’s security.  Our first stop onboard was the guest services desk to get a new ID card for me.  That took about three minutes.  The staff was very calm about it, so I guess I wasn’t the first person to lose my ID card.  As she handed me my new ID card, the concierge joked that at least I wouldn’t have to sleep outdoors that night, to which I joked back that I’d already had an offer at the dock to spend the evening with a local family. 

People are wonderful wherever you go.  That’s another reason Ted and I enjoy traveling.