Our original visit to the main city of Corfu Town on the Greek Ionian Island of Corfu was by taxi rather than by boat. While our yacht was safely moored at Gouvia Marina, about 10 miles north, we packed our backpacks and headed into the city. Read my article entitled, ‘Sailing Around The Greek Ionian Islands’ to hear more about Gouvia Marina and our first thoughts of entering Greek waters.
Being new to the area, we didn’t know if we could moor at Corfu Town so we took a nice little taxi ride to the city center.
It might sound surprising, but going in a car has become a novelty for us. We are almost always sailing or walking so having a car journey is fun.
Several people have told me that Corfu Town is ‘nice,’ but that just doesn’t do it justice.
Corfu Town is beautiful, magical, colorful, enchanting, and down-right special!
After the taxi driver dropped us off, my family and I started to wander through the narrow streets lined with restaurants, bakeries, butchers, and tourist shops.
Corfu Town is most definitely a tourist destination so the shops all hold the same made-in-China goods you find at any other tourist place, however, the shop fronts are at least in keeping with the style of the old city feeling.
I did, however, discovered quite a few one-off shops selling clothing, art, jewelry, and a variety of knick-knacks. Those are the shops I enjoy looking at!
Our first port of call was small little café for lunch – the picture above is me and hubby waiting for our food. While walking along the main street we peered up a side-street towards a square filled with restaurants, a church, official building, and beautifully laid tables and chairs.
We stopped at the first café we found and pulled up a pew.
The colors of the trees and shrubs drew me in – I immediately saw deep fuchsia, yellow and pinks amongst a beautifully laid out piazza. And there stood the most fantastic palm tree ever!
After a bit of discussion, we ordered a meat platter containing chicken & pork souvlaki, turkey burgers, and lamb in addition to a Greek salad and some fries. While waiting for our food, a wedding finished at the church next door and we were able to admire a beautiful bride and groom.
Even though I had no clue who the newlyweds were my heart filled with loved and I silently wished them an incredible life together.
Our food came and went quickly. We devoured it with our usual moo’ing sounds. Mmmmmmmm. It was outstanding. How do we always get such amazing meals? Perhaps we’re easily pleased or…we’re so grateful for the food that our gratitude creates more opportunities for more good food. Like attracts like – doesn’t it?
My family and I played around taking photos of each other. We were all smiles. Our next stop was the seafront and the old fort. We looked out over a beautiful blue bay and cast our eyes on several sailboats moored at the foot of the old fort.
The old fort in Corfu town was built by the Venetians and used by the British as a military hospital when Britain ruled Corfu.
After seeing the sailboats anchored, I turned to my husband and said, ‘can we anchor there?! Can we? Can we?’ Of course, his response was a ‘yes.’
We took some photos and made our way to the fort. We had a ball walking along the walls, enjoying the views, and absorbing the history. The breeze was nice and the walk up to the top wasn’t too difficult. Once we got to the end, we enjoyed a panoramic view of the Ionian Sea and Corfu Town.
My eyes smiled with delight.
Thereafter, we made our way through the town again thinking that we must spend another day or two taking a slower browse in the cute little shops. Back to the boat went and the next day we were anchored next to the Old Fort. It was great to be anchored – I no longer enjoy the marinas.
They’re expensive, crowded, noisy and impersonal.
We anchored next to Corfu Town for a couple of days.
And it’s a good thing we did! We met two of the most incredible people in the world – Jim and Carole. See my write up entitled, ‘Couple sets off for a 3 year around the world sailing trip – 15 years later they’re still going!’ for more about them!
While anchored, we took the tender out and pulled our daughter and my cousin around in a tube. All of us jumped off the back of the boat and enjoyed swimming over to our lovely neighbors.
I can’t explain how amazing it feels to wake up, open up our door at the top of our stairs, and look up to a historical fort alongside the bluest waters I’ve seen.
Every morning I had to pinch myself and express my gratitude for being able to sleep under the stars next to the incredible Corfu Town.
Needing a SIM card, printer, USB stick, and a wireless keyboard, my husband dropped my cousin and I off for a trip to the town by ourselves.
We were like two little kids let out alone for the first time.
We got our chores done – a quick visit to Vodafone to sort out our Wifi and then a visit to Publix, a computer store and we were done.
After we had our goods, we decided to get lost in the backstreets of Corfu Town.
We walked down the backstreets enjoying the sites and smells of Corfu Town. And of course, we looked over the made-in-China stuff in addition to the handmade offerings.
Being without my daughter for the first time in months gave me the opportunity to dawdle, spend time looking at what I wanted to look at, and stop off for a nice glass of wine! My cousin and I wandered around laughing and chatting about all sorts – it was a nice little girly break.
We tried to find a non-touristy place to eat lunch and settled on ‘Slouvaki King’.
Hehehehehe. It was probably the most touristy place to go but the wine, food, and service were great. It was another perfect day.
A few things to note about Corfu Town…
There’s a high street that has many British stores. I found an M&S in addition to other Brit stores. If you want to spend some time shopping, there are quite a few boutique stores. The food seemed reasonable – we avoided the places that had really nice table clothes, as the prices seemed higher.
We decided where to eat based on how well the tables were laid out!
One thing that was a bit bothersome where the cruise ships, but that can be said about any destination. When a cruise ship came in the town was flooded with people wearing stickers with numbers on them. I imagine it was their identification badge for the ship and wondered if it caused the locals to instantly add 30% to the price of things too!
If you see a cruise ship, wait until it’s gone and then enjoy the city!
Overall, I loved Corfu Town.
Visiting the city would make a great weekend break and if your holiday in Corfu for a week or two, it’s a must to see. We found the food, people, history, and sights to be excellent!
So…Corfu Town is not ‘nice’ it’s far better than that. My family and I had a brilliant time and we all highly recommend a visit.
Check Out Some Other Areas In Greece & The Mediterranian
For all our destinations in Greek Ionian, read Sailing The Greek Ionian Islands. If you’d like a breakdown of all the places we’ve visited while sailing the Mediterranean please read our destination overview: Sailing The Mediterranean. Otherwise, check out more posts about our time spent in Greece.
- Sailing Sicily to Corfu
- Corfu – Palaiokastrita & Gouvia Marina
- Fiscardo Cephalonia
- Navigating Through The Lefkas Canal
wander not wonder, and several other errors 🙂
They say people who point out grammatical errors have personal issues.
I hope doing that made you feel better, at least 🙂
Thanks for your lovely personal review. I went to Corfu twice in the 80s when I was a much younger man. I went with two friends and it was an experience I’ll never forget. Being the 80s it was very cheap and the nightlife was fab but everything ended at 2am. Different times . I’m bringing my family there this October to celebrate my 60th birthday. We’ll visit the town based on your blog. Thank you.
Great feedback. And happy b-day for your 60th in October! Smiles, Kim