BRIMMING WITH NATURE
‘”CORFU ISLAND”
DAY 1
Arrival to Corfu Island, meet with our representative and transfer to your hotel.
Explore Corfu Old Town, a certified UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has this accolade because of the stunning Venetian architecture and history.
Walking around the streets you can see the Venetian influences and will be awed at the beautiful buildings everywhere.
DAY 2
After breakfast, drive through the wonderful Corfiot countryside, full of olive groves, pine, cypress, lemon and orange trees. Approximately 25 minutes later, you arrive at one of the most beautiful spots on the island, the bay of Paleokastritsa, called the “Capri of Greece”. Once you are there, you visit the Byzantine Monastery of the Virgin – still inhabited by a community of monks - and its small museum, housing a unique collection of Byzantine icons and church relics. From the Monastery gardens you can admire breathtaking views over the beautiful bays of Paleokastritsa below, with their crystal-clear waters and the rocky promontories. According to the local myth, in one of these bays the legendary Odysseus met the beautiful local Princess Nausica after his shipwreck. After your visit at the monastery you will have some free time at the beach of Paleokastritsa, where you will have the option either to hire a boat in order to admire the caves or even enjoy a quick swim at the crystal blue waters of this area. The tour continues to the picturesque traditional village of Lakones, situated high up to the mountain slopes, from where you can enjoy a panoramicview over the whole bay of Paleokastritsa. Driving onwards, you arrive at the traditional village of Makrades, where you will admire an old tradition village of Corfu with it’s narrow streets and the village life.
Our next quick stop will be at the area of Martin (in Greek = Helidoni), from where you will have the chance to see the north of Corfu island, as you would have seen it if you were a martin. Our next stop and as per your preferences can be at one of the best sandy beaches of the island, St George Pagoi, where you will have the chance to stay for some time (even have lunch at a seaside tavern).
Your tour continues to the village of Old Perithia, which was built in the 14th century while the island was under the Byzantine rule, and is located on the northern flanks of the Mount Pantokrator at about 400m above the sea level. The surrounding land was ideal both for sheep farming and the cultivation of olives and vines, and Old Perithia was soon relatively prosperous.
Times were harder by the 20th century, however, and as tourism began to bring wealth and jobs to Corfu’s coastal areas, the village’s residents were drawn back down the mountain in search of work. Today, the village is a protected heritage site with 130 houses, many built in a Venetian style, which lie abandoned in varying states of dereliction. A few civic buildings also survive, including a school that remained in use until the middle of the 20th century. Surrounding the village are eight churches, one for every 150 of the village’s 1,200 former residents.