Empress Sisi as a Nymphette
Sisi's Study
Hail, Hail Freedonia!
Escape from Corfu - PLEASE!Corfu – Second class Island
After Santorini, the Greek island of Corfu is a disappointment.
After Santorini, the Greek island of Corfu is a disappointment.
I'm afraid that I have to say it’s the Revere Beach of Greek islands.
As we debark from the Splendour, I vote to take a ferry to the even smaller island of Pakos and spend the day in an “unspoiled Greek fishing village” as described in the tourbook. I’m outvoted 3 to 1, so we do the same thing on Corfu that we did in Santorini. Only it’s inferior in every way.
First the taxi tour. Our driver, Christos, is quite personable and his English is better than any of the others (he lived in Toronto for 20 years). Unfortunately, the material he has to work with is not top drawer.
The scenery is so-so and it’s a cloudy day (the only cloudy day on the cruise). There are no dramatic cliffs, active volcanoes or buried cities. The chief attraction is a tiny palace built by the last Hapsburg Empress – Elizabeth of Austria a.k.a. ‘Sisi’. (faithful blog readers will remember her as the same Empress for whom the ‘Sisi’ bridge in Budapest was named -see "Peeing in the Public Baths - Budapest, Hungary August 25, 2001" ) She built this palace on Corfu because it was the part of the Empire farthest away from her detested husband, the Emperor Franz Joseph. It was constructed in 1892 at the height of Austrian kitsch. Sisi was assassinated by an anarchist bomb in 1898, so she didn’t get to spend much time in the palace.
And we don’t either.
After the island tour, we spend the rest of the day in the Old City shopping. The Old City is not that old. I would say it’s about as old as the Marx brothers. It even reminds me of the capital of Freedonia,“Land of the Spree, and the Home of the Knave”, as depicted in the movie ‘Duck Soup’. Only where’s Rufus T. Firefly when we need him most? I am un-amused.
The shopping itself is also inferior. What can you expect from an island whose principle products are olive oil and kumquats? Kumquat liqueur anyone? I buy a tee-shirt and take a few photos.
One of them is actually quite interesting. It seems to show a bunch of toys escaping from a Corfu shop window and invading Freedonia. Now that would be interesting! Unfortunately it’s just a trick reflection on the glass.
That pretty much sums up Corfu – a trick reflection of a Greek Island from which toys and tourists cannot escape. As old Groucho might say - “Corfooey”.
Don’t worry readers – better days are ahead. Next stop – Venezia!!
As we debark from the Splendour, I vote to take a ferry to the even smaller island of Pakos and spend the day in an “unspoiled Greek fishing village” as described in the tourbook. I’m outvoted 3 to 1, so we do the same thing on Corfu that we did in Santorini. Only it’s inferior in every way.
First the taxi tour. Our driver, Christos, is quite personable and his English is better than any of the others (he lived in Toronto for 20 years). Unfortunately, the material he has to work with is not top drawer.
The scenery is so-so and it’s a cloudy day (the only cloudy day on the cruise). There are no dramatic cliffs, active volcanoes or buried cities. The chief attraction is a tiny palace built by the last Hapsburg Empress – Elizabeth of Austria a.k.a. ‘Sisi’. (faithful blog readers will remember her as the same Empress for whom the ‘Sisi’ bridge in Budapest was named -see "Peeing in the Public Baths - Budapest, Hungary August 25, 2001" ) She built this palace on Corfu because it was the part of the Empire farthest away from her detested husband, the Emperor Franz Joseph. It was constructed in 1892 at the height of Austrian kitsch. Sisi was assassinated by an anarchist bomb in 1898, so she didn’t get to spend much time in the palace.
And we don’t either.
After the island tour, we spend the rest of the day in the Old City shopping. The Old City is not that old. I would say it’s about as old as the Marx brothers. It even reminds me of the capital of Freedonia,“Land of the Spree, and the Home of the Knave”, as depicted in the movie ‘Duck Soup’. Only where’s Rufus T. Firefly when we need him most? I am un-amused.
The shopping itself is also inferior. What can you expect from an island whose principle products are olive oil and kumquats? Kumquat liqueur anyone? I buy a tee-shirt and take a few photos.
One of them is actually quite interesting. It seems to show a bunch of toys escaping from a Corfu shop window and invading Freedonia. Now that would be interesting! Unfortunately it’s just a trick reflection on the glass.
That pretty much sums up Corfu – a trick reflection of a Greek Island from which toys and tourists cannot escape. As old Groucho might say - “Corfooey”.
Don’t worry readers – better days are ahead. Next stop – Venezia!!
DAKTARI
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