Corfu Greece - Port of Call

We were sailing on the Celebrity Silhouette on a 13N Med and Adriatic cruise out of Rome.  One of the port of calls was Corfu, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece.

This was the Celebrity Today.  Arrival was 10am with all abord at 5:45pm.  It wasn't a long port of call.  We were on a private tour today.  My wife had done some research and we were going to use a company called SUNRISE Rent A Car - www.corfusunrise.com

The Corfu Destination Guide printed by Celebrity.  Gives a neat overview of the port of call.

Sailing into Corfu Greece on a cloudy morning.

The dark clouds didn't look too good.

Pilot craft.

Nice views.

Corfu, the city.

Today, we were on a private tour with Sunrise Rent-A-Car.  It was 90 Euros plus fuel costs for the day, and that included a driver cum guide! This is their website - http://www.corfucar-rental.com/

They did a great job and I have no hesitation recommending them.

It is a family-owned and run business. The driver (one of the owner's sons) picked us up at the port and drove us to the office to do some quick paperwork, before we setting off.

View of the port from the car rental office.

The white van was the vehicle we had for the day.

For our first stop, he drove us up high to a viewing point.  The views were gorgeous but pity the cloud cover!!  Oh well, this is off-season, so we can't ask for too much.

Nonetheless, the views were very good.

We passed through that village to get here.

That is the Monastery that we would be going to later.

Olive trees.

That's our vehicle.

Olive trees.  Many, many of them.

On our way to Angelocastro.

The Byzantine castle of Angelokastro in Corfu, located at the western frontier of the Empire, was
instrumental in repulsing the Ottomans during the first great siege of Corfu in 1537, in the siege of 1571 and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716 causing the Ottomans to fail at penetrating the defences of Corfu in the North. Consequently the Turks were never able to create a beachhead and to occupy the island.

Walking up to the castle.

Unfortunately, the castle was locked that day.  So this was as far as we could go.

Resting a bit, before heading down again.

That's the vehicle (parking lot) as we headed down.

Our kids had a great time, running down!

Next stop was the Paleokastritsa Monastry. We saw the monastery from the viewpoint just now.

There were wonderful views behind the monastery.

Look at that old cannon.

 Very noisy!!

The Greek flag.

Back to the church, but it was closed.

The water was very cold to swim, even in summer.

Next, we went to the famous Kaisers Throne (Pelekas).   Apparently, Kaiser Wilhelm II spent his summers at the Achillion Palace between 1908 and WWI.  However, his favorite place was not the Palace but the village of Pelekas.  Standing at his 'throne', you have an incredible 360 deg panoramic view of Corfu island. It was absolutely breath-taking!

Look carefully, you can see the Celebrity Silhouette.

Looks like the port was very far away, but it only took about 30 minutes to get back to the port area.

The Achillion Museum in Corfu.  Quite a bit of history here, you can google it up!

A nice place.

Great views from the gardens too.

Thereafter, we took a drive to the city center.

Some shops were opened, but our guide told us that this time of the year was very quiet.

Great job done!

Thank you for reading.

Swiss Flight Links

a) Singapore to Rome (via Zurich) Economy Class, Nov 2013

b) Rome to Singapore (via Zurich) Economy Class, Dec 2013

Cruise Links

Celebrity Silhouette Ship Pictures and 13 Night Med and Adriatic Seas Cruise Content Page