Corfu: Walks and Wildflowers

After meeting at Corfu airport in the afternoon, we drive 35 km north by private vehicle and settle into our hotel. There is time for a stroll by the sea, as Scops owls begin calling at dusk. We dine locally, perhaps sampling the Corfiot stifado, a stew with red wine, herbs and tomato and the local ‘special reserve’ wine.

After a short road transfer, our walk (3.5 hrs) offers us sea views out towards Albania, once dark, now an equally enticing destination, wild mountain scenery and delightful flowers. The easy track contours across the mountainside above a deserted village. We picnic in an olive grove and spend time identifying wildflowers and birds.

Nearby is a Natura 2000 protected headland that we explore on foot (1.5 hrs), passing low rugged cliffs, lonely beaches and a pinewood. After a visit to an artisan working in olive wood, we drive further north with a picnic and gently climb through forest and olive groves to ancient villages and a ruined tower. Our round walk (2.5 hrs) descends through olive groves and ends up near a traditional bakery where we have tea and sticky Greek cakes with honey and nuts, before returning by vehicle to our hotel. A grilled fish supper this evening is by the beach and we sample kumquat liqueur, a speciality of the island.

A 5 hour round walk takes us to a romantic half ruined village, once one of the most important on the island, with churches and fine old houses and fine views back down to the coast. We should find excellent flowers by the wayside, including Jerusalem sage, tassel hyacinth and violet honeywort, and we may spot crested larks or hoopoes and hear nightingales singing in the thickets. We lunch in a local taverna, eating the locally gathered ‘horta’ (greens) and home-made cheese before heading down a dramatic gorge filled with wildflowers and through an oak wood.

A scenic drive takes us around the Mount Pantokrator massif (906 m), Corfu’s highest mountain, ringed by traditional villages with their terraced olive groves and gardens filled with lemon trees. Next, we commence a 2.5 hrs round walk up and across the limestone plateau that stretches below the summit of the massif. We picnic on freshly baked spinach pies, local crumbly cheese and fruit before returning to our vehicles and heading for Corfu Town, with time to settle into our hotel before setting out on foot to explore. Dinner tonight is in a nearby square overlooking the fine Baroque town hall, originally constructed between 1663 and 1693 when the island was under Venetian occupation. The cooking is modern Greek, dishes such as fava bean puree with caramelized onion and toasted almonds, followed by lamb with artichokes.

B, L, D included
We set off in vehicles to make a brief visit to Mon Repos, a fine Neo-classical villa overlooking the sea, the birthplace of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and built in 1828 to 1831 as the summer residence of the British Lord High Commissioner of the United States of the Ionian Islands. We continue to the south west coast to a lagoon, excavated by the Venetians who cut a channel to the sea, now home to black-winged stilts, duck, herons and sometime pelicans. We walk (2.5 hrs) by the lagoon, on the sandy beach and through dunes, picnicking along the way. Tonight, we have an aperitif on the Liston, Corfu’s French designed arcaded street, the centre of evening life, before dining in the town. Who knows, perhaps cricket will be played on the Spianádha (esplanade) where people still sip ginger beer thanks to the British.

A day to explore the old town with its maze of alleys, market and 2 iconic forts magnificently positioned overlooking the sea. The narrow streets lead to some beautiful churches, Agios Spyridon, home to the relics of the town’s patron saint and famous for a white marble iconostasis and the Mitrópolis, the icon-filled Orthodox Cathedral. Well worth a visit is the small but beautiful collection of artefacts in the church of Panayía Andivouniótissa, a collection to rival the Byzantine Museum in Athens. The rest of the afternoon is free to choose a café for lunch, take photographs and go shopping – perhaps for Greek linen, leather, honey and herbs. We have a farewell dinner outdoors under the stars.

After breakfast and a final stroll by the sea, we visit the elegant neo-classical Palace of S.S. Michael and George, built to house British civil servants of the Ionian islands to the order of Sir Thomas Maitland in 1818, and containing an eclectic collection of Asian art amassed by  Gregorios Manos, the 19th century Greek Ambassador to Austria and augmented by the donations of another ambassador, a Greek merchant and various other philanthropists. Our journey concludes with a short transfer to the airport for flights home.

£400 deposit per person
£420 single room supplement

If you are willing to share, but no other suitable guest books the trip, we regret that the supplement will be payable. We shall endeavour to obtain double rooms for single occupancy whenever possible.

• Accommodation for Days 1 to 8, on a twin shared basis
• Meals (with wine at dinners and taverna lunches) as listed in the daily notation
• Land transportation in a private vehicle as described, except during free periods
• Entrance and sightseeing fees, except during free periods
• Gratuities for hotel and restaurant staff (appreciation for tour staff is discretionary)

• Trip cancellation, medical or other insurance
• Immunisations, prescriptions or other medical requirements
• Passport, visa and health documentation
• International transportation to and from Corfu Airport
• Personal expenses (laundry, alcohol other than wine with group lunches and dinners, free time activities, etc.)
• Meals noted as excepted in the daily notation
• Transport and transfer of excess baggage 
• Greek departure tax, if any

On Kudu trips you will only need money for postcards, presents to take home, the odd G & T or an irresistible ice cream. Festival and opera tickets, museum and gallery entrances, National Park fees, all meals (with a very few exceptions specified in individual itineraries), wine with lunch and dinner, access to specialist books carried by the guides, gratuities for porters and hotel and restaurant staff, boat rides, train trips, internal flights, wine tastings, 4WDs with drivers, the services of skilled local guides and trackers etc are ALL INCLUDED in the cost of your holiday. 

We are confident that, like previous very satisfied guests, you will discover that our tours give you excellent value for money.

• 4 nights in a in a small 3 star hotel by the sea on the northeast coast 
• 3 nights in Corfu Town, in a centrally located hotel

Visa and Health Requirements

Visitors from the UK, EU, US, Australia, Canada & New Zealand require a valid passport, but not a visa, for entry to Greece. If you are a national of any other country, please check visa regulations with your nearest Greek Embassy or call our office.

Normally, there are no specific and compulsory health requirements for entry to Greece. You may also wish to check the advice given to travellers by the Department of Health and the FCO.

Insurance
It is essential, and a condition of booking, that you protect yourself with a suitable travel insurance policy as soon as you book a trip. Follow this link for a quote for a policy available to UK residents. If you are already insured or a non-UK resident, please inform us of your policy at the time of booking.

Size of party
This trip will run with a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 14 guests.