Corfu, Greece

Our next port of call was Corfu, and this was another first for us. After three days in a row of getting off the ship and exploring old towns, we were ready to change things up a bit.

Our original plan was to head to the beach and enjoy a relaxing day. That sounded pretty good to us. But when we got up that morning, it was drizzly, and the forecast was calling for rain throughout the day. A beach day wasn't looking quite so appealing anymore, so we decided we'd be better off going back to Plan A and exploring the Old Town.

We opted for a slower start and eventually made our way to the New Fortress. It was interesting to walk through, but there was very little information explaining what we were looking at or telling us about its history. We wandered around for a while, but left without really knowing much about the place we'd just explored.

Later in the day, when we were back on the ship, I did a little reading about the New Fortress. I learned that it was built by the Venetians in the late 16th century to strengthen the city's defences against Ottoman attacks. Corfu's position in the Ionian Sea made it strategically important, and the fortress formed part of an extensive defensive system protecting the city. It would have been interesting to know more about its history while we were walking through it, rather than having to look it up afterwards.

From there, we wandered through some of the streets, looked in a few shops and stopped for lunch. Corfu's Old Town has a long and varied history, with Venetian, French and British influences visible in its architecture. The historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and there are certainly plenty of old buildings and narrow streets to explore.

As we continued walking, though, we found ourselves passing one shop after another. There were plenty of places to shop and eat, but we weren't finding much else that really grabbed our attention.

Eventually, we came across the Old Fortress. By that point, we were getting tired, and it was getting closer to the time we needed to be back on the ship. We decided not to go inside and instead took a few photos from the outside before continuing on our way.

Back on board, I learned that the Old Fortress has roots dating back to the Byzantine period.  Dating back to AD 550, that makes it 1,500 years old.  The Venetians later strengthened and expanded its defences.

Sitting on a rocky peninsula beside the Old Town, it played an important role in protecting Corfu for centuries. Today, it is one of the city's best-known landmarks. Having learned a little more about it afterwards, I wondered whether we might have appreciated it more if we'd had the time to explore inside.

Maybe we had just hit Corfu on an off day, but we weren't overly impressed. We didn't find a lot to do in the part of Corfu we explored beyond shopping and eating. We also found the people we encountered less welcoming than we'd expected, although that may have been more about cultural differences than anything else. 

That doesn't mean we had a bad day. We wandered, had lunch, saw a few interesting things and enjoyed being together. But sometimes a place just doesn't click with you, and Corfu was one of those places for us.

We made our way back to the ship feeling that, based on what we'd seen, we probably didn't need to return.

Maybe the beach would have changed our minds.