Archive for the 'Corfu' Category
October 28th, 2009 by Juliet
Corfu town has so many shops selling jewelry, leather goods, olive wood objects, and handmade needlework that it is impossible to single out one or another. If you’re looking for needlework, the stores along Filarmonikis (off N. Teotoki) may have something that pleases you; prices are generally fair and uniform.
We would never recommend a trip to Corfu just for the kumquat liqueur, but this Chinese fruit has been cultivated on the island since the late 1800s and the liqueur makes a unique treat — or gift if it doesn’t appeal to you!
Continue reading ‘Shopping in Corfu Town’
September 23rd, 2009 by Sandie Lazaris
Living in Corfu in the mid-eighties. The people, the changes, religion and the back handers! When good old Greek cuisine & bottles of 5 star Metaxa had more clout than a fistfull of dollars, especially so with the local Corfiote constabulary! The good old days…never to be the same again. October 1985 and my 90 days stay allowance was soon to expire. With appointment pre-booked with the Port Police in Corfu Town the day had arrived to get my Aliens Permit.
Knowing Greece was a country with a legal system as watertight as a colander, I covered myself for any eventuality that would happen (knowing it WOULD…Never a COULD or MAY option here), or so I thought! Continue reading ‘The Alien Invasion!’
June 23rd, 2009 by David Mutlow
The last time I was in Takis Taverna was in early 2002 by then Kevin had been running the place for about 10 years. Takis Taverna in Kontokali was the centre of the expat community right next to Gouvia Marina. It was also the centre for all the liveaboard yachts that stayed there. Takis address was regularly used as a postal drop and frequently you’d see the early retirement types turning up in the morning in sun weathered shorts and tops collecting their mail. Continue reading ‘Kevin at Takis Taverna, Kontokali – Corfu’
May 27th, 2009 by David Mutlow
It’s one thing being a painter and decorator’s assistant it’s quite another doing all the work yourself, or so I thought.
Nikos the painter having lived in Australia for some years had a much broader outlook on life. His humour was wicked and stylish like a true Corfiot but with a subtlety that was full of guile (We got on well) and as a boss he was fair and reliable. Continue reading ‘It’s Just Business – Corfu’
May 18th, 2009 by David Mutlow
It’s acceptable not knowing much at 22yrs I’d wish I new that at the time. In 1989 I’d been on the Island of Corfu for 4 months and only now was I beginning to settle into the expat community of Kontokali.
I’d a steady job, time on my hands and some spending money. I’d my first steady girlfriend. A wild cat that could throw plates like frizzbys. Having lived on the Island for 6 years she could curse me in English, Welsh & Greek. Yet it was my calming effect that she craved. Continue reading ‘The end of an affair, Kontokali — Corfu’
May 7th, 2009 by David Mutlow
To understand the national character of Corfu, you need to now how they see themselves. Many base their character on the impoverished and downtrodden, getting the better of the world around them by sheer cunning. They’re impulsive, boastful, impatient, inventive and very quick in their sympathy. Yet their tolerance (Of the outside world) and charm is world renown. They admire fairness, toughness, resourcefulness and most of all a self-deprecating humour with an element of the perverse. Yet officially they wouldn’t admit it. Continue reading ‘Vangeli’s Revenge, Mandouki — Corfu’
May 3rd, 2009 by David Mutlow
High jinks and fun and games are the order of the day when young and single and living in Greece. Or at least it was 20 years ago as I’m sure things are much more sedate in this day and age…
Politics, arguments, disputes over money are not uncommon and in Corfu its no different. Some of my posts would suggest it’s mayhem on the island. This is far from the truth. Corfu has always been a well-run profitable island that steadily invested in its infrastructure. It’s just the disputes can be more colourful and the legal actions positively creative in there dastardly interpretation. Continue reading ‘The Liston to the Gallery – Corfu’
May 1st, 2009 by David Mutlow
Snakebites: There’s only one poisonous snake in Greece, its called an Ohiá.
I was on a photographic commission shooting for a Holiday brochure in the San Stephanos area of Corfu, following my intrepid boss up a dirt track I stepped on this snake by accident. I only new it was there when feeling the pain. Squeezing my toes showed the puncture wounds. Hopping back to the mini-market in San Stephanos (1.5 hours from Corfu Town) I was greeted by a me-lay of Greeks running around on hearing the news. I’d lived in Greece for some years and seeing Greeks run was unheard off this worried me more than anything. Continue reading ‘Snakebite in San Stephanos — Corfu’
April 26th, 2009 by David Mutlow
It’s been 20 years since I was in this part of the Old City of Corfu. The Liston area is where you find the upmarket Cafés, built by the French and modelled on ‘Paris Rue de Rivoli’. It’s where everyone sits and talks. Drinking coffee and people watching is the favourite pastime.
The cricket pitch is still as it was in front of the Liston and hemmed in by a car park on the far side, irregular dents from wayward cricket balls are not uncommon.
In the distance and next to the Museum is the Police station. Pains of guilt spring to mind when thinking about the Police station and events that took place one Sunday morning, it still leaves me with apprehension in case I’m spotted. Yet hand on heart I can honestly say I was guilty of nothing. Continue reading ‘‘Square Bashing’ at the Liston — Corfu’
March 26th, 2009 by David Mutlow
There’s a bee in my oily mousaka! It’s not moving. It just slid off onto the plate in its own pool of Olive Oil. I ought to complain, but after a week in this undiscovered backwater of Corfu I had become used to the enterprising antics on Myrtiotissa beach. With characteristic gusto Yannis solves my problem with a finger and thumb. Continue reading ‘Beeline to the Beach’
