Kastania Village
The picturesque village of Kastania is located high above Corfu town, offering amazing views of the Ionian Sea on the Northeast side of the island
Corfu
The lush green island of Corfu, or Kerkyra as it is known in Greek, with its unrivaled natural beauty, rich cultural heritage and modern tourism infrastructure is the most renowned of the Ionian Islands.
According to the Greek Mythology, the island acquired its name, Kerkyra, from a nymph of that name, a daughter of Asopos, the river god, with whom Zeus, the mighty King of Olympic Gods, fell in love and carried to the island to hide their mating from the wrath of his jealous wife, Goddess Hera. The first literary reference to the island is found in Homer’s “Odyssey”, as the Island of the Phaecians where the legendary hero Odysseus (also known as ‘Ulysses’) found refuge in the arms of the local princess Nausicaa, after his ship wreck.
Lying at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, in between the shores of Italy and mainland Greece, with just a narrow channel of sea, 1-1.5 nautical miles in width, separating it from the shores of Albania, it is the northernmost of the Ionian Islands, and at the same time, the westernmost part of Greek territory.
Its strategic geographical position attracted the interest of a number of mighty colonial cultures over the years; from the ancient Corinthians in classical times, to the Romans, the Byzantines, the Venetians, the Angevins, the French, and the British, before the island finally joined the Modern Greek state in 1864.
The capital of the island is the picturesque and delightful historic Corfu Town, one of the most attractive and best-preserved medieval towns in Europe. Built on a narrow strip of land, it owes much of its charm to the many disparate architectural elements it contains, traces of the different cultures that have settled here over the years; from the Venetians, who have built most of the old town and its fortifications, to the French and the British, who have added splendid monuments and palaces to it during their era.
The island, with its lush green hilly landscape, cloaked in olive, pine and cypress trees, and its impressive coastline nestling an array of traditional picturesque coastal villages, bays and coves washed by crystal clear waters, enjoys a temperate Mediterranean climate of mild winters and cool summers.
Known as the most verdant of all the Greek islands, hence its nickname “the Emerald Isle”, its trees, grass and bushes stretch right down to its shores. All year round, the island resembles a natural wild little “forest jungle”, adorned with colourful blooming flowers and trees laden with fruit. The locals, known for their genuinely hearty sense of hospitality, they communicate with simplicity and courtesy, proud of their island’s history and culture.