Corfu

Corfu is an island located in the Ionian Sea. It is a mixture of the different influences of the countries that occupied it over the centuries including Roman, Byzantine, Goths, Normans, Angevin, French, Venetian and British before its unification with Greece.

Our first stop was the Achilleion Palace. It was built in 1890-91 for Empress Elizabeth of Bavarian as a retreat from the Hapsburg court. She was married to a Emperor Franz Josef. It was named for Achilles & there are 2 statutes in the garden of him. The statute she had placed in the garden was of a dying Achilles. She admired the Greek mythological figure because he  combined Greek divine beauty & valor but also tragic fate. Some interesting facts about her. She had a 16" waist, was 5'7" & only weighed 95-100 pounds. Her hair went to her ankles & she spent 2 hours every day brushing it!  She was murdered by an Italian anarchist in 1898.

The main entry room has numerous pieces of art celebrating Greek mythology  with statues of Zeus & Hera. The ceiling has a beautiful fresco representing the four seasons. Empress Elizabeth had a private Catholic chapel that has a painting of the trial of Jesus.

The Palace was sold by her daughter to the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II. He added the second statute of Achilles (49' tall) in the garden made large enough do could see spear from his yacht. The palace was used as a military hospital during WWI & then as military headquarters for the Italian & German occupation forces in WWII. It was turned into a casino in 1962 & was used as the set for the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only.

We drove back through Corfu to reach a ocean view villa where we had a delicious lunch of numerous homemade Greek dishes, wine & ouzo. The dessert was orange cake serves with honey &  Greek yogurt....that tasted like no Greek yogurt I have ever had.

Today was a lesson in 7 degrees of separation. Our table mates are from Gastonia & he graduated from Davidson. We knew a bunch of the same people in banking. At dinner, the couple was from Atlanta. They are friend's of Gary's cousins.