A walk through Paleopolis neighbourhoods

  Today we will walk through some suburban neighbourhoods of Corfu town built on Paleopolis, the ancient greek town. These neighbourhoods are the following: Desilla, Ayioi Thodoroi and Stratia.

  Our walk begins from the neighbourhood right next to now derelict Desillas factory (see the green point in the map below). 

  The area's houses are old and small. Most of them belonged to the Desillas factory workers next door. The factory manufactured cords which covered not only the greek market, but it exported its goods to Italy and beyond. It closed its doors in the early 1980s.

  Few metres away, a house bearing some statues made of plaster reminds us that we are approaching the area which in the antiquity was the heart of the old Corfu town.

  On Dessila street, there are some other interesting old buildings, some of them recently renovated, others left to their fate.

  As we walking down Desilla street, the Garitsa proper ends and we are heading towards the greener and more suburban Kanoni peninsula. We turn right and follow the road leading to the old Ag. Theodoroi monastery and to the byzantine Nerantzicha temple.

  You can get some good views of the old fortress while walking down Ag. Theodoroi street which feels like being in the countryside rather than a place few hundred metres away from busy town.

  The remnants of an industrial building (?) seem out of place in this peaceful area.

  Turning left towards the Mon Repos estate, there is Stratia, a neighbourhood built a couple of centuries ago in order to accomondate some venetian soldiers and their families.

  In the middle of Agioi Theodoroi street, there is the homonymous monastery, established in the 5th century although the current church and its adjacent buildings were built during the 16th-18th centuries. 

  There is a hill across the monastery. Its top is dominated by a couple of antennas which belong to the Civil Aviation Authority (the airport facilities are located pretty close to the neighbourhood).

 Next to the monastery there is the ancient greek temple of Artemida.

  Finally at the end of Ag. Theodoroi street, on the top of a hillock there are the remnants of the byzantine church of Nerantzicha, built on the ancient greek defensive wall of Paleopoli.

 Few hundred yards away, there is the southern entrance to the central cemetery of Corfu. At this point our walk has come to an end. In the following days there will be a couple of posts dedicated to the monastery, the Artemida temple and to Nerantzicha church.