Corfu is a fabled isle in every way, a modern holiday paradise, yet with an enduring heritage gleaned from its colorful and often turbulent past. Imprinted upon the island's landscape and life are the legacies of classical Greece, Byzantium, Rome and Venice, and those of later French and British influences, that made Corfu a crossroads of east and west without eroding its essential Greekness. You feel this extraordinary undertow of history most potently in the Campiello district, the oldest part of
Corfu Town, amid a tangle of narrow alleyways hemmed in by the tall color-washed façades of Venetian houses, whose crumbling walls, shapely moldings and elegant balconies glow in the evening sun.
Yet, these medieval streets, full of light and shade, give way seamlessly to the equally fascinating world of bustling shops, blaring traffic and voluble crowds in modern San Rocco Square. It is this happy mix of old and new Greece that underlines Corfu's enduring appeal. If you bring to Corfu a sense of curiosity and discovery, along with reliable expectations of a relaxing, sun-blessed holiday, then this loveliest of Greek islands will capture as well as captivate and will draw you back again and again.
The modern name of Corfu is said to derive from the Greek word koryphai, meaning 'summit' or 'twin peaks', a reference to the hills of the Old Fortress of Corfu Town. The older name for the island, Corcyra, or Kerkyra in modern Greek, is said to have been adopted in honor of the mythological nymph, Kerkira, who was abducted by Poseidon and brought to the island. Another suggestion is that Norman invaders of the island named their anchorages Corfi, the Greek version of the Latin word for bays, golfo.
Corfu has been claimed as being the idyllic Scheria — 'like a shield laid on the misty sea', wrote Homer - the island of the Phaeacians, where the shipwrecked Odysseus was discovered by Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous. Several places on Corfu's coastline lay claim to be the spot where Odysseus was washed ashore, but the lovely bay at Ermones on the west coast is the favored site.
Fallen olives were once painstakingly collected by hand. Now, nets are spread beneath the trees to make harvesting less labor intensive, but the work is still extremely hard. The Corfu olive, introduced by the Venetians, is used mainly to produce oil, rather than for eating as a fruit. Although some locals eat raw olives like grapes, visitors are advised not to; the experience is bitter.
