Corfu Culture and Practical: Saint Spyridon Processions, the Three Philharmonic Bands, Shakespeare Tempest Connections, Mon Repos Archaeology, West Coast Olive Sunsets, and the Kapodistrias Airport Ferry Hub
The Corfu culture and practical guide covers the four annual Saint Spyridon street processions, the 1840 oldest Greek philharmonic rivalry, the Shakespeare Tempest literary claim alongside Homer and Durrell, the Mon Repos Roman temple archaeology, the Bella Vista sunset viewpoint, and the Kapodistrias Airport plus Adriatic ferry gateway role.
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Corfu Greek Orthodox Culture: The Spyridon Procession
The four annual processions of the silver-encased mummified body of Saint Spyridon, the patron saint of Corfu, through the streets of the old town with the full panoply of the Corfu philharmonic bands, the church banners, and the local authorities are the most elaborate Orthodox religious street events in the Ionian Islands and the expression of the Corfu Catholic-influenced Orthodox tradition that the Venetian occupation shaped. The Palm Sunday procession is the most elaborate and the most international of the four annual Spyridon events.
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Corfu Philharmonic Bands: The Musical Tradition
Corfu has three competing philharmonic bands, the Philharmonic Society founded in 1840 as the oldest in Greece, the Mantzaros Philharmonic, and the Reading Society Orchestra, that provide the Corfu public life with a level of formal musical culture unique in the Ionian Islands and attributable to the Venetian and British musical education tradition that established the Ionian Academy in 1824 as the first Greek university. The rivalry between the Corfu philharmonics is the most contested cultural competition in the island.
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Corfu in Literature: The Shakespeare and the Tempest
Corfu and the Ionian Islands have been associated with the setting of Shakespeare's The Tempest, with the Caliban island identified by some scholars as Corfu and Prospero's island as the Corfu coast, in a literary claim that the Corfu tourism authority has enthusiastically promoted alongside the better-documented Odyssey and Durrell literary connections. The concentration of literary associations in Corfu, from Homer to Shakespeare to Durrell, makes it the island with the largest claim on the English literary imagination in Greece.
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Corfu Archaeology: Beyond the Museum
The Corfu archaeological heritage beyond the Museum includes the ruins of the Artemis Temple of 585 BC at Mon Repos from which the Gorgon pediment was recovered, the Roman Kardaki Temple of 530 BC, the ruined Paleopolis basilicas of the 5th century AD, and the scattered ancient remains of the Hellenistic city that the Greek and Italian excavations have been revealing since the 19th century. The Corfu archaeological park at Mon Repos is the most concentrated ancient site accessible within walking distance of the capital.
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Corfu Sunsets: The West Coast Golden Hour
The Corfu west coast sunsets, when the sun sets over the Ionian Sea in the direct west without obstruction and the olive grove hills catch the gold and orange light of the late afternoon, are the finest in the Ionian Islands for the combination of the sea horizon, the olive grove landscape, and the characteristic Ionian atmospheric quality. The Lakones village overlook above Paleokastritsa, the Bella Vista terrace at the highest point of the Paleokastritsa road, and the Pelekas Kaiser's Throne hilltop provide the finest sunset viewpoints in Corfu.
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Corfu Practical: Kapodistrias Airport and Ferry Connections
Corfu Ioannis Kapodistrias Airport receives direct flights from all major European airports throughout the summer season and year-round services from Athens and Thessaloniki. The Corfu ferry port connects to Igoumenitsa on the Greek mainland in 90 minutes by fast ferry and to Brindisi, Venice, and Ancona in Italy by the overnight Adriatic ferries, making Corfu the primary gateway between Italy and Greece for the car and motorcycle traveler. The inter-island ferries to Paxos, Lefkada, and Kefalonia connect Corfu to the Ionian island chain.