The Monument of the Union of the Heptanese

  Yesterday, Corfu and the other islands of the Ionian, celebrated the 147th year since the union of the Heptanese with Greece. To honour this remarkable date, the state erected a monument in Spianada and decided to declare the 21st of May a local holiday. 

  The monument is made of marble and has a form of an individual circular square. In its center, there is a cocentric set of steps. At the top of them there is the main piece it, a simplistic column which bares the comemorative inscription "ENΩΣΙΣ 21 ΜΑΪΟΥ 1864". 

  The most interesting aspect of the monument are the seven satellite marble pieces. Each one represents one ionian island with its coat of arms made of bronze placed on its side facing the main monument in the center of the circle.

Corfu

Paxoi

Zante

Itaca

Lefkada

Kithira

Kefallonia

  It's quite a common phenomenon the monument to be vandalized with graffiti by groups of mindless youths who lack of aesthetics, respect and knowledge of local history. Hopefully, as you can see from the recently taken pictures, the monument had been cleaned.

The picturesque little fishing village of Kouloura

  Last week, me and a friend of mine visited the picturesque village of Kouloura in northeastern Corfu. It is a place which is internationally famous as it has been photographed, painted or filmed numerous times in the past. It's still a working harbour, where local fishermen moore their boats.
  It can be reached following the road to Kassiopi just after the small village of Gimari. We've stopped at the bay just south of Kouloura, where still stands the so called "White House", one of the villas where british author Laurence Durrel lived in late 1930s. A commemorative plaque inform us about the significance of this villa still inhabited by some lucky family.

Across the bay where the Durrel villa stands, luxourious apartments were built on a headland overlooking the straight between Corfu and Albania.

  Going back up to the main road, we drive to Kouloura which panorama can be clearly seen. Agnielli's summer villa dominated the view.

  Going down the narrow descending road, we reach the little harbour of Kouloura. At its entrance a greek traditional restaurant, a little church and of course the property which FIAT's owner Gianni Agnielli used to spend his summers far from the hustle and bustle of Turin. 

  The harbour itself is lovely. Having a semispherical shape it is a perfect shelter for the small fishermen boats.

  Before leaving Kouloura, we visited that natural balcony from which beautiful vistas of Kouloura and Vouthroto area in Albania can be seen. 

Corfu island in the 1930s

 Another documentary video from the ERT archives demostrating various scenes of life as had been some 80 years before. You can see Kanoni, Achileion, the Jewish quarter with its narrow lanes, Pelekas and some activities of the locals before World War II and massive tourism. The document is enriched with local music sounds making this shooting ideal for advertising Corfu in mainland Greece and abroad.

Christmas time in Corfu - brand new christmas lights in Annunziata square

  Christmas time is here and Corfu town has been decorated with million of lights. This year, there's a enormous lighting scheme embracing the (newly baptised) Annunziata square. It hangs above the useless little roundabout at the front of the old campanile. People stop to stare and admire the new addition, so much needed in the grey economical times our country is going through.

Let's now remember how the older Christmas lights had been:
Christmas 2007: http://johncorfuworld.blogspot.com/2007/12/corfu-towns-high-street-christmas.html
Christmas 2009: http://johncorfuworld.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-in-corfu-how-central-streets.html

Corfu in the past 3: The "Tennis" area as it looked in the 1860s

  The "Tennis" area is now known as a heavy populated part of Corfu Town, full of flats which named after the existing tennis court. But one hundred and fifty years earlier the place was undeveloped and then out of the town limits. Corfu in early 1860s was still under the british rule, which lasted till May 1864. Since then, the Corfu town limits were defined by the venetian walls and the areas of Mantouki, Garitsa and Sarocco were being considered as suburbs. 

  The area between the Porta Remounda and Garitsa was being called by the British as "New town" as it was the first planned residential area of Corfu Town. But it was after the british rule, in the 1870s that the area had started to build up. Ioannis Chronis (1800-1879), a corfiot architect and engineer who envisioned the area having plenty of open space and a Π - shaped form in order to be healthy for its inhabitants. Indeed, new straights road opened, among them the wide boulevard of Alexandras avenue and as soon as the land was divided in blocks, fashionable residences had started to appear scattered around the area. Even though the original plan included arcaded buildings, a church on the site of the tennis court as well as the sophisticated Π- shaped blocks, all those were scrapped in 1873 by the government in order to rise the density of the whole built-up area.

  This couple of documentary pictures below show the forementioned area before its development. In the first picture, the bay road, now known as "paraliaki tis Garitsas" already existed. In the front, we can see some marble graves scattered around a field belonged to one of the three british cemeteries in the site of the Corfu Palace hotel. In the backround, the suburb of Garitsa could be seen and further back a patch of water from Chalikiopoulos sealake (near the present airport) and above it the Agioi Deka mountain making a strong presence.

  The second one was taken from a different angle but it's prespective covers the same area. At the left, a lonesome house standed and a diagonial road (which doesn't exist nowadays) probably led to the Sarocco area. In the background, the Anemomylos area and further right the undeveloped Alexandras Avenue made a good contrast with Garitsa's buildings further back.

-Photos taken from the Alinari Archives: http://www.alinariarchives.it/internal/default.aspx

The "Save Annunziata" initiative

  It seems that there is a great interest for that old venetian monument towering above one of the central points of Corfu Town. A Facebook group was created in order to promote the Annunziata's history and importance as well as persuade people to support this cause. So last Thursday, a peaceful protest was organized and around 250 people showed up standing for a good two hours holding a lit candle. It is worth noticing that the Annunziata's bell sounded for the first time after many years marking a new era for its fate.

   There was also a book in which the supporters signed the petition. Among the supporters of the movement who signed a petition was Sotiris Mikalef, the ex-mayor of Corfu Town, who promised to make everything within his power to restore and protect the monument.

  I hope this will be a good start and make local people think of Annunziata's historic importance. I have already posted a brief history in this blog, if you are interested have a look. Below there are a bunch of photos from the protest and a short video.

The "Panagitsa" chapel inside a vault of Mouragia's ancient wall

  In the Mouragia, an area which took its name from the italian word for wall "muraglia", a miniature church could be found inside a vaulted chamber. It is called "Panagitsa" ("Little Virgin Mary"). 

  Nobody can tell for sure when and why this little chapel was built. Legend has it that some centuries ago, a seaman was seeing a light coming out of a little cave. Some years after, a mural which depicted the Virgin Mary was discovered and since then this place became a place of worship. 

 Today, the place is being visited by the locals and the tourists who want to pray. A bunch of local folk take care and maintain the chapel with love and devotion. 

  To access the chapel, pass the gate of Saint George in the Anaktora area towards Mouragia and then turn right down Faliraki. When you arrive down at Faliraki, on your left hand you will find a parking area. The chapel is located at the very end of it, facing a little beach under the walls frequented by some elderly locals.

Forgotten Corfu 7: A door leading nowhere near St. Spyridon church

  Tomorrow (11th of August) we celebrate the Saint Spyridon's miracle against the Turkish invansion of 1716.  So in this occasion, I visited the open space in the front of His church called "Πλακάδα του Αγιού" to spot one detail connected to this miracle: a door leading nowhere. It wasn't difficult to spot it as on my right hand and very close to the church there was a quite big traditional door which seems out of place. Actually it is stucked between two old venetian buildings. Behind that door there is a narrow lane created by the space between those two old buildings. 

  Legend has it that this door was the entrance of a latin chapel dedicated to the great miracle of St. Spyridon which was never built because St. Spyridon did not want a catholic establishment on the foot of His house. The result of his anger was the tragic death of one venetian general called Andrea Pizani who was responsible for that construction. The official version of this legend says that the venetians wanted to built a marble altar inside the church but there are some Corfiots who say that the door outside was a part of a latin chapel as well.

The door which they say it belonged to a never built latin chapel

A close-up 

The narrow lane behind the door

   The official version of the miracle is below:
  "After this powerful, surprising and most obvious miracle, the Venetian ruler Andrew Pizani, who was a Papist, wanted to erect a Papist altar inside the Orthodox Church of St. Spyridon (forever pushing for this was also the Papist Cardinal of the island). However, St. Spyridon appeared to Pizani in a dream saying: "Why are you bothering me? The altar of your faith is unacceptable in my Temple!" Naturally, Pizani reported this to the Papist Cardinal who answered that it was nothing but an evil fantasy of the devil who wanted to nullify the noble deed. After this, Pizani was much encouraged, so he ordered the necessary materials to commence construction of the altar. The materials were piled up outside of the temple of St. Spyridon. When the Orthodox priests of the temple and the Greek leaders of the island realised what was going on, they were greatly grieved. They asked to meet with Pizani to ask him to put a stop to this. Pizani's response was quite disheartening. He said quite bluntly, "As a ruler I will do whatever I please!" At that moment, the Orthodox community of the island turned their eyes to their Saint, beseeching him to put a stop to this abomination.
  That same night, St. Spyridon appeared to Pizani as a monk and told him, "I told you not to bother me. If you dare to go through with your decision, you will surely regret it, but by then it will be too late."
  The next morning, Pizani reported all this to the Papist Cardinal who now accused him of being not only faithless but also of being "yellow". Again, after this, the ruler mustered up enough courage to order the construction of the altar.
  The Papists of the island were celebrating their triumph while the Orthodox were deeply grieved. Their grief could not be comforted and with tears they begged for the Saint's intervention to save them from the Papist abomination.
  The Saint heard their prayers and intervened dynamically.
  That evening, a terrible storm broke out, unleashing a barrage of thunderbolts on Fort Castelli, Pizani's base and his ammunition barracks. The entire fort ended up in a holocaust. 900 Papist soldiers and civilians were instantly killed from the explosion, but not a single Orthodox was harmed (as they were not allowed inside the fort after dark). Pizani was found dead with his neck wedged between two wooden beams. The body of the Papist Cardinal was found thrown a great distance from the fort.
But the most incredible fact was that the same night and at the same hour, another thunderbolt struck in Venice, targeting the compound of Pizani, burning his portrait that hung on the wall. Strangely enough, nothing else was damaged. Also, the guard of the ammunition barracks saw the Saint draw near him with a lit torch. He was carried by the Saint near the church of the Crucified without a single scratch."
(Taken from http://patristic.eastern-orthodoxy.com/StSpyridon.htm)

  Legend or reality? Who can tell! Corfu is full of stories and legends which have already survived to the our times.

A visit to the marina @ NA.O.K.

  Summer is the best time to see some luxurious yaghts who host the rich people who are lucky to sail the mediterranean. The biggest one is the marina at Govino Bay (which I will write about it in the future) but there is also a small one in the area of the Corfu's Nautical Club (in greek "Nαυτικός Όμιλος Κερκύρας" or coloquially more known with its acronym "NA.O.K."). The area of the marina is prefered by some locals for swimming as it is so close to the centre of the town. There is also a popular summer bar called "Hook" from which you can have a panoramic view of the marina.
 
  Now let's have a photographic tour of the marina.

General view of the marina.

A boat which just departed from the safety of the marina.

Small boats moored in a removable platform.

Small and bigger boats.

The Old Fortress dominate the view to the north.

There are some maintenance facilities around as well.

Some enormous yachts which belong to some "poor people".

A closer look of those floating palaces.

The boats are well served by the owners.

Some boats and Corfu Palace hotel in the background.

The southern end of the marina with the Ionian Academy and Cavallieri hotel in the background.

A yacht with the dominant walls of the Old Fortress in the background.

The marina as it seen from the coastal road to Garitsa.