Corfu is the second largest of the Ionian islands, and including its satellite islands, forms the northwesternmost part of Greece. The island has a variety of different cultures which reflect the years spent under Italian, French and British rule before returning to Greece in 1864. But the culture, mythology and history of Corfu is not always of prime interest to tourists for whom a wide range of holidays are available. For many, like the author, the long hot summers, the beautiful scenery and the friendliness of the locals are sufficient reasons for visiting the island. But even in Corfu, summer doesn't last forever. From November, the tourists have all gone home. What would things be like, then? Who would be there once the last direct flights to anywhere except Athens had departed? Did the island and its inhabitants go into hibernation for the next six months? What did everyone do, if anything?
The author, a former civil servant freed from the rigours of full time work, decided to find out.
Flying to Corfu, via Athens, and staying in a hotel close to where the Duke of Edinburgh was born, armed with little more than a voice recorder and notebook, Rick Johansen set about a winter ramble on the summer island and this book records where he went and whom he met.
As the days passed by, the author recognised the potential for winter tourism. For most of the time in winter, the beaches were out of bounds, but there was so much else to see. Whilst Corfu Town still bustled, many of the resorts were ghost towns.
Never the most organised person in the world, Rick criss-crossed Corfu from Kavos to Kassiopi, from Sidari to Messonghi and to many points in between.
Here is the story of one man's visit to the summer island in winter.
The author, a former civil servant freed from the rigours of full time work, decided to find out.
Flying to Corfu, via Athens, and staying in a hotel close to where the Duke of Edinburgh was born, armed with little more than a voice recorder and notebook, Rick Johansen set about a winter ramble on the summer island and this book records where he went and whom he met.
As the days passed by, the author recognised the potential for winter tourism. For most of the time in winter, the beaches were out of bounds, but there was so much else to see. Whilst Corfu Town still bustled, many of the resorts were ghost towns.
Never the most organised person in the world, Rick criss-crossed Corfu from Kavos to Kassiopi, from Sidari to Messonghi and to many points in between.
Here is the story of one man's visit to the summer island in winter.
