Corfu: Mediterranean Collection's selected tours.

Corfu Walk in town
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Kanoni - Palaiopoli - Mon Repo
The trip from the town to the Kanoni peninsula is the ideal scene for a walk all along Garitsa Bay up to Mon Repo and Palaiopoli. From when the island was first colonized up to the Roman years, the town in which the Corfiotes lived developed near its two harbours, lllaiko by the Halikiopoulou Lagoon and Alcinous at Garitsa. The town was initially without surrounding walls, but later during the Classical Period however, it seems that walls were built on its northern side. A section of the wall still stands near the port of lllaiko, incorporated into the Byzantine Church of the Blessed Virgin of Nerantzichas and is known by the locals as the Tower of Nerantzichas.
Continuing our trip along the indented shores of Garitsa, we reach a place called Anemomilos (Windmill). Don’t waste your time looking for the famous windmill! The picturesque windmill that stood here was demolished in 1893 in the name of modernization and development.
Illaiko was the first harbour of the town and handled all commercial trading. The harbour was initially a large bay which extended deep into the land.
Traces of the Temple of Artemidos (7th C. BC) were discovered near here. Built out of limestone, the temple had 17 pillars lengthwise and 8 breadthwise, with a ceramic roof that was replaced by a marble one around 530 BC. What remains today of the temple are the foundation trenches and the slabs that protected the trenches from water. A large stone pediment from Gorgon was discovered here and can be seen in the Archeological Museum on Corfu. Other findings include dedicatory inscriptions, which prove that worshiping of Artermidos took place in this village.
The port of Alcinous in the Gulf of Garitsa was the town’s naval port, with significant morphological differences to what the gulf is today. Near the port -what today we call Palaiopoli- is the agora (marketplace) of ancient Corfu. It is said that the remains of the ancient town lies in Mon Repo, the land granted to the King of Greece by the State.
On the northwest side of the estate is a pathway that leads to the ancient spring of Kardaki. According to folklore, whoever drinks the water from here forgets his homeland and remains forever tied to Corfu:
«Golden waters, I see you because the waters from the cold tap bewitches me, which surely runs from the holy ground. Therefore some God has decreed, And whichever foreigner wets his lips To his homeland he will never return».
Lorenzos Mavilis
Opposite the entrance to Mon Repo is the Royal Church of Palaiopoli, one of the most significant ancient Christian monuments on Corfu.
Continuing on the road, we end up at the edge of the little peninsula - at Kanoni. The Halikiopoulou Lagoon empties directly at our feet and there is an air corridor and immediately opposite is the much-photographed Pontikonisi (Mouse Island), Corfu’s trademark. The usually serene summer sea, the deep green background of Perama and the charming little islet which seems to be floating on water all blend together to compose a very beautiful picture, which is representative of Corfu.
A concrete pathway below Kanoni connects the land with the 17th C. Monastery of Vlacherenas. We can see the Byzantine Church of Pantokrator nestling among the trees that have grown on the microscopic islet of Pontikonisi, which dates back to the 13th C. Both the little church and the monastery are open only on certain holidays and only for celebrating the Holy Sacraments.
The graphical harbour of lllaiko, the stony road to Perama which is always filled with carefree tourists walking in the middle of the... sea and the enchanting scene they all offer creates one of the most famous pictures of the island of Corfu. And this is the reason why the Kanoni is inundated with tourists and locals who enjoy the twilight, when light clashes with darkness, painting the sea with unique colors and illuminating Benitses.