Corfu is on the west coast of the Ionian sea (the sea between Italy and Greece), about as far North and West as one can get and still be in Greece.

This is a very historic place and the largest of a number of islands in the area. I have spent the week in Corfu Town, a small historic town, now tourist destination.

This island was settled from the stone age. Corfu was a Greek city over 3300 years ago but of course almost everyone in the region and beyond has occupied the island from time to time, even the British. This was a Venetian city for centuries. Austrian and German royalty built palatial homes here. Prince Phillip was born here.

But Corfu was never occupied by the Ottomans. This was one of the most heavily fortified cities in Europe during the middle ages and these old Venetian fortresses successfully resisted four separate sieges by the Ottomans. The defense of Corfu is credited with halting the Ottoman advance into Europe.

This is tourist ground zero. 33 million tourists visited Greece last year. The old town of Corfu, a UNESCO world heritage site is one of the top destinations. Even now in late November the old town is full of them.
And why not, it is gorgeous. The city has a distinctive architecture of multistoried buildings with arched walkways. Narrow medieval streets with basalt and marble paving.

Some of the notable aspects of Corfu town being thoroughly geared up for tourists: The taxis are all immaculately clean Mercedes Benzes. The old town shops offer designer goods, jewelry and watches. 25 dollar cigars. And on the side streets there are endless little souvenir and trinket and handicraft shops.

The prices of everything in the old town are roughly twice those in Thessaloniki. There are rows of restaurants with handsome menus. In the old town and across from the cruise ship and ferry port. Many many upscale bars. The bars have American prices and are thick with cigarette smoke.

There is a very small but very nice archeological museum, especially interesting illuminating the important 600 to 300BC Greek period. Otherwise history seems to have taken the back seat to tourism. Following a map in the museum I track down a few notable ancient sites. Sadly, they are ruined, padlocked and neglected.

But they do bring me to this silly little picture, my favorite of the week.

Outside of the old town are the areas where real people live. Nice shopping streets selling the goods people need to live. Locals interested in talking with you beyond a potential commercial transaction. This is where your correspondent spends his time. The coffee is just as good and in real, lively cafes.

Simply asking in a nice butcher shop who grills lamb chops leads me to a delightful friendly little restaurant. The fellow selling fish in the market is happy to explain the types of fish he has displayed. He can easily send me to a nearby restaurant that grills his fish.

If I were out for a special evening or say for an evening off a cruise-ship I might want linen table cloths and sparkling glassware, but the food in the places I mentioned are literally half price from the old town restaurants a quarter mile away. And the portions are huge. I often request the doggie takeaway box.   A glass of wine in an old town bar is from 5.50 euros to 9 euros.  A half-liter jug of wine (hey, I read this on the menu) in my fish grill restaurant is 3.50 euros.

My apartment is very nice, but I spend too much time looking out at this little square in the rain.

There was a cold snap in the north of Europe this week, which played out here as wind and intermittent hard rain showers. My plans for renting a car for a day and exploring the island are washed out. Too bad because I read that there are a number of delightful villages on the island. And over 200 miles of marked hiking trails.

The showers are not continuous and so I make it out most days for walks with only a few soakings. And can scoot out between showers for a look around or umbrella out for some recreational eating.

Walking around Corfu city is difficult. The town is very small. There is a nice green 45 minute out and back south of town with views of the city.

The only long walks are to the northwest, following the highway out of the city. This takes you through some interesting suburbs, but the walking is tedious, directly beside traffic.

And so, that is my damp report on visiting Corfu. Thanks for coming along.

Tomorrow I shoot down to Athens.