Corfu

The verdant island of Corfu, or Kerkyra as it is known in Greek, with its unrivaled natural beauty, rich cultural heritage and modern tourist infrastructure is the most renowned of the Ionian Islands.

According to tradition, the island acquired its name, Kerkyra, from a nymph of that name, a daughter of Asopos, the river god, with whom Zeus, the mighty King of Olympic Gods, fell in love and carried to the island to hide their mating from the wrath of his jealous wife, Goddess Hera. The first literary reference to the island is found in Homer’s “Odyssey”, as the Island of the Phaecians where the legendary hero Ulysses found refuge in the arms of the local princess Nausicaa, after his ship wreck.

The island has lush green hilly landscape, cloaked in olive, pine and cypress trees, while on its impressive coastline nestles an array of traditional picturesque coastal villages, bays and coves washed by crystal clear waters.

The capital of the island is the picturesque and delightful historic Corfu Town, one of the most attractive and best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. The city owes much of its charm to the many disparate architectural elements it contains, traces of the different cultures that have settled here over the years (Venetians, French and British).