corfu
04/05/2026 - 04/12/2026
We had a pretty easy travel day from Crete to Corfu. It was kind of long because there are no direct flights, so we had to connect through Athens, but all in all it was a smooth travel day. Corfu is the northern most Greek Island just off the coast of the Greece/Albania border. It is the second-largest of the Ionian islands and has the unique status as the only part of Greece that was never conquered by the Ottomans. It is also where the late Prince Philip was born.
There isn’t nearly as much to see or do on the island of Corfu as there was on Crete, but it is still really nice.
Corfu old town is really cute. It has lots of cool pedestrian areas, narrow alleyways, cute shops, good restaurants, and a Venetian fortress overlooking the water.
We were seriously lucky to get to experience Orthodox Easter in Corfu. We didn’t plan it that way, but were so glad we happened to be there over the holiday. The celebration begins on Good Friday with processions. These processions happen all over town all day long. We were worried about figuring out how to find them, but it turns out you couldn’t miss them if you tried! They are accompanied by the island's famous philharmonic bands that march through the streets playing funeral music that transition into triumphant music.
When we were visiting the fortress, we went to check out the church and accidentally found a processional as it was queuing up, so got to watch the entire process from beginning to end!
When we arrived, the choir was getting organized in the back of the church and there was a big glass box with a little Jesus in it set up on the altar. People were lining up to kiss the Jesus box. We took a seat in the front row and watched. We did not kiss the Jesus box… what a germ fest!
At precisely 4:00 the choir started singing and the Bishop and a Nun holding a big cross stationed themselves in front of the Jesus box to lead it out. The Jesus box was carried by a group of Red Cross workers and they slowly left the church and the people in the church followed the procession. Somewhere along the way, the nun ditched the cross and gave it to a lady in a suit.
Once outside, we managed to get ahead of the procession and found a stairway leading to a perfect view point from above to watch the whole thing proceed through the fortress grounds and out to the town. The marching band was queued up and ready to take the lead. They were followed by the church choir. Next came the nuns, then the suits with the cross, followed by a pretty disorganized group of children with baskets of flowers. And last but not least came the Jesus in a Box! They walked all through town with the band playing and the people following. It was actually pretty cool to watch… even for me 😊
Processions like this were taking place all over town starting at all the different churches and hospitals (yes, hospitals) and they continued until midnight!
Then came Holy Saturday… that was a trip!! Corfu does a unique Easter tradition called "Botides" (clay pot throwing). Thousands of people gather in Corfu Town to watch residents throw large, sometimes water-filled clay pots from their balconies to smash on the streets! Apparently it symbolizes the First Resurrection.
We made our way through the crush of people to the main square where you could see a lot of balconies all in one area and stand far enough back to avoid being fatally injured! It was WALL TO WALL people. At precisely 11:00, people started throwing pots off their balconies. Little by little, the balcony dwellers would produce bigger and bigger pots and get the crowd amped up and cheering. The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes but was really fun to watch.
After that, the whole town was a non-stop massive party! All the bars and restaurants were open, there was music everywhere and the occasional marching band clogging up the streets. The streets and sidewalks were covered in broken clay from the pots, but the cleanup crew arrived pretty quickly to get it taken care of.
The day proceeded with continuous partying and culminated with the candle-lighting tradition which happens just before midnight. The church lights are all extinguished to symbolize Jesus' descent into death and the priests then emerge with a flame lit from the Holy Light to pass it to the people. Thousands of candles are lit from one another as the flames are passed from person to person basically throughout the whole town all at once, creating a sea of light. It sounds like a huge fire hazard to me – possibly even more dangerous than slinging giant heavy clay pots off balconies!
Once the town is lit up with candles, they set off fireworks (yikes – more fire!) and the church bells start ringing, and ringing, and ringing… We were home in bed by the time all the fire-starting took place, but we definitely heard the commotion! If we hadn’t had to finish packing and leave the next morning, it might have been fun to stay in town and check out the pyromania festivities.
We also partook in the Corfu egg breaking tradition known as tsougrisma. It is a competitive game where two people tap their hard-boiled, red-dyed eggs against each others. Whoever’s cracks first loses. The winner moves on to the next competitor. I lost to Darren immediately. Then Darren lost to Grady - but it kind of looked like Grady may have cheated. He pulled some kind of distraction move while Darren was conducting an analytical assessment and visual stress analysis of each egg. The cracking of the egg is supposed to symbolize the breaking open of Jesus Christ's tomb and his resurrection and, of course, the red color represents the blood of Christ, and the egg symbolizes new life. I just wanted to eat some hard-boiled eggs!
We drank shots of the traditional Corfu Kumquat liquor as part of our ritual.
One day we drove up to the far northern part of the island to check out the coastline - it was so beautiful and the water was so blue! We didn’t really do a whole lot besides have lunch and walk around a bit to a couple different lookout points, but it was a really nice day with gorgeous weather. In the distance you could see the mountains of Albania – which, thanks to Darren, I now can’t get the stupid Albania song from an old Cheers episode out of my head! On the way back we found a pretty little marina area where we stopped for dinner.
Another day we drove to check out the western side of the island. Our first stop was at the Holy Monastery of the Virgin Mary (Theotokos) which was founded in 1225–1228, though most current structures are actually from the 18th century. The monastery is located on a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea, with really nice views.
There was a little museum that provided literally no information. There was a whale skeleton in the museum which was kind of random and again, no information about it. The museum also houses rare Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, religious vestments, and manuscripts – none of which we learned a thing about.
The buildings, grounds, and gardens were all pretty, but it would have been nice to have just a shred of information. There was absolutely nothing. So all in all, I thought the monastery was a bit of a disappointment.
Our next stop was the Angelokastro, or the "Castle of the Angel," which is a historic Byzantine fortress situated on a 1,000 ft high cliff. While the site has been fortified since at least the 7th century, the castle was significantly developed in the 13th century. For a period of time under Venetian rule, it actually served as the capital of Corfu.
It’s known for its impregnable strategic position and served as a key defensive site against pirates and the Ottoman Empire. It was never conquered during any of the major Ottoman sieges.
Once we climbed the stairs to get up there, we saw (of course) the castle ruins, some incredible views, and also two intact churches. One was a proper little church built in 1784. The other was a little cave church from roughly the 15th century. It contained 18th century frescos which indicated it had been in use until the other church was built. I liked the cave church!
Below you can add a comment: type your text in the white box and then Post Comment. If you get a second panel, you just need to enter your name and then hit ‘comment as guest’.
Be nice with your comments, we can always delete them 😊
