LOCAL

 

Local village, Sinies (on a crossroads at the bottom of our road) has a good food and wine store, a lovely patisserie café serving home-made sweet pastries, cakes and excellent icecream (also to purchase), a very small bakery for hot bread and croissants, if there before around 11am, and a couple of bars. The friendly community recycling centre is also here, as well as a drinking water refilling station for water tanks provided in the house.

The North East Coast

The north east coastal villages: from the northern fishing harbour village of Kassiopi (with an ancient castle, many restaurants and the only sandy beach around) all the way east and south around the coast to Nissaki, are ideally explored by boat. There are numerous bays with restaurants including Avalaki bay, good for breezy lunches on a hot day, the famous Agios Stefanous, known for cocktails and many restaurants, pretty Kouloura with round harbour wall and fish restaurant (also excellent breakfast), Kalami with the famous White House (once home of Laurence Durrell), Agni with grand restaurants and onto quieter bays and … more restaurants.

Rugged rocky bays with famously clear water, the north east coast of Corfu is good for swimming, motorboating, eating and walking.

Local attractions

Pantokrator mountain behind Porta at 906m high has extraordinary views (even Italy can be seen) and a beautiful monastery sadly straddled by huge communications masts, and old Perithia mountain village on the other side of Pantokrator (was deserted until about 10 years ago but now a popular destination with lots of restaurants and pricey honey).

Corfu town

The best attraction on the island is the town itself. Old Corfu town is a beautiful, mostly Venetian style jumble of buildings, with some French (the Liston) and British influences (the governor’s house, now the Museum of Asian art, with cricket pitch in front). There are two huge fortresses and, as a vibrant centre of the Greek Orthodox church, there are masses of hidden churches. .

Visits in Corfu town - go to the Asian Museum of Art (beautifully displayed treasures bequeathed principally by two Greek Ambassadors who built up extraordinary collections in a fabulous building in a stunning setting), Mon Repos, the neo classical villa built by the British in 1831 where Prince Phillip was born on the kitchen table and, further south from Corfu town, Achillion Palace (an ancient greek fantasy palace built in bereavement of her only son by the short-lived “Sisi”, Austrian empress, in 1888 but she was stabbed by an Italian anarchist whilst on holiday ten years later).

Shopping – Corfu town good for things in olive wood, lace and embroidery, some ceramics, Canadian spice shop.

Activities

Walk the coast and the hills
Hire bikes
Hire boats
Pottery

 

What to bring

  • Swimming shoes for pebbled beaches

  • Snorkelling kit and swimming float for visibility when swimming in the sea

  • Beach bag for days out on a boat or beach

  • Hats

  • Beach towel – we provide pool and bath towels

  • Insulated water bottles for when out and about

  • Toiletries, including shampoos, shower gel, soap – not provided

  • Medical basics, including an antihistamine (piriton), sunscreen, mosquito repellent, disinfectant, plasters

  • Hairdryer

  • Bluetooth speaker (like a boombox) if you want to listen to music outside

  • Best map for walking…

  • Walking boots

  • Odd foods that are hard to come by or very expensive

  • Good tea and coffee, granola, bulgur wheat, Asian spices