Island life
The most beautiful, perhaps, (and its hard to chose) is Agni, which has three wonderful, above-average tavernas (Nikola’s, Toula’s and the Agni) and a cottage whose front door opens onto the beach and which is for sale for €600,000 and which I am buying next week when I’ve won the lotto. On the other hand, I might hunt down a villa to rent from the enterprising Agni Taverna’s travel website, agni.gr, which specialises in northeast coastal properties.
A fun way to get an overview of the northeast coast and what it has to offer is to take one of the many day trip boat excursions. They cost about €20 per person on timber boats carrying about 50. Dipping in and out of each bay, they usually end with a barbeque on a remote beach, accessible only from the sea, with lots of jumping off the boat, lazy swimming and wine on tap.
The old part of Corfu town is a delight – full of narrow streets with four-, five- and six-storey 18th- and 19th-century terraced buildings, many of them a little shabby and looking slightly like parts of downtown Havana.
Our last night starts with pre-dinner drinks on the Esplanade and Liston. This is where Corfiot society comes to preen, examine itself and have wedding photos taken, whiling away the hours chatting with friends, reading the papers or merely pondering life’s mysteries over liquid refreshment. It’s the place for people watching.
As evening swallows swoop and screech, darting low along the narrow streets and whirling around the distinctive red-topped spire of the church of St Spyridon, the island’s patron saint, we amble down to En Plo, a restaurant on the water’s edge sheltered by the Old Fortress.
A nightcap at the chic Cafe Bristol, bubbling with life, overflowing with bright young things, brings proceedings to a satisfying close.
Corfu Uncovered
Getting there: We booked online with Falcon, part of the UK’s Thomson Group. The cost for four adults – return flights, all transfers, two twin rooms with sea view balconies and half board hotel – for 14 nights was €3,993.
Eating and drinking:A good lunch may be had from about €10 a head (Greek salad €6; beer/wine €4). For a more substantial meal, most starters are between €3.50 and €7 depending on the dish selected. Main courses can be anything from about €6 for a moussaka (very common dish all over Greek made of spiced minced lamb, aubergine and/or potato cooked in a bechamel sauce), to €10/€12 for souvlaki or stifado (stewed beef and onions in a rich gravy sauce) or kleftiko (lamb, often a knuckle, marinated in lemon juice, cooked long and slow in a sealed pot), to €20- €40 for fish, fresh most costly, frozen cheapest. Wine: retsina can be as cheap as €4 for a half litre; a litre carafe (often a light aluminum flask) of house white generally costs about €10 to €12, while a 75cl bottle of anything else starts at about €18.
