Corfu

(This article is about the Greek island known in English as Corfu. There is also a place named Corfu, New York.)

Geography

The name Corfu is an Italian corruption of the Byzantine ?????ώ (Koryph?), which is derived from the Greek ??????? (Koryphai), meaning "Crests." In shape it is not unlike the sickle (drepan?), to which it was compared by the ancients, the hollow side, with the town and harbour of Corfu in the centre, being turned towards the Albanian coast. Its extreme length is about 40 miles (6 0km). and its greatest breadth about 20 miles (30 km). The area is estimated at 227 sq. miles (580 km²). Two high and well-defined ranges divide the island into three districts, of which the northern is mountainous, the central undulating and the southern low-lying. The most important of the two ranges is that of San Salvador, probably the ancient Istone, which stretches east and west from Cape St. Angelo to Cape St. Stefano, and attains its greatest elevation of 3300 ft (1000 m) in the summit from which it takes its name. The second culminates in the mountain of Santi Jeca, or Santa Decca, as it is called by misinterpretation of the Greek designation ?ἱ Ἅ???? ?έ?? (hoi Hagioi Deka), or the Ten Saints. The whole island, composed as it is of various limestone formations, presents great diversity of surface, and the prospects from the more elevated spots are magnificent. Beautiful and sparkling beaches with yellow sands are founded in Agii Gordi, the Korissi lagoon, Agios Georgios, Marathia, Kassiopi, Sidari, Roda, Palaiokastritsa and many others.

Related Topics:
Italian - Byzantine - Sickle - 227 sq. miles (580 km²) - Korissi lagoon

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Corfu is generally considered the most beautiful of all the Greek isles, but the prevalence of the olive gives some monotony to its colouring. It is worthy of remark that Homer names, as adorning the garden of Alcinous, seven plants only—wild olive, oil olive, pear, pomegranate, apple, fig and vine. Of these the apple and the pear are now very inferior in Corfu; the others thrive well and are accompanied by all the fruit trees known in southern Europe, with addition of the Japanese medlar(or loquat) and, in some spots, the banana. When undisturbed by cultivation, the myrtle, arbutus, bay and ilex form a rich brushwood and the minor flora of the island is extensive.

Related Topics:
Greek isles - Olive - Homer - Alcinous - Europe - Japanese

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The town of Corfu stands on the broad part of a peninsula, whose termination in the citadel is cut from it by an artificial fosse formed in a natural gully, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom. Having grown up within fortifications, where every foot of ground was precious, it is mostly, in spite of recent improvements, a labyrinth of narrow, tortuous, up-and-down streets, accommodating themselves to the irregularities of the ground, few of them fit for wheel carriages. There is, however, a handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel, and a promenade by the seashore towards Castrades. In several parts of the town may be found houses of the Venetian time, with some traces of past splendour, but they are few, and are giving place to structures in the modern and more convenient French style. The town is as mundane as Rome, looks like Venice and has the flair of Cuba. Of the thirty-seven Greek churches the most important are the city's cathedral, the church dedicated to Our Lady of the Cave (ἡ ?????ί? ?????ώ????? (h? Panagia Sp?li?tissa)); Saint Spyridon church, where inside lies the preserved body of the patron saint of the island; and the suburban church of St Jason and St Sosipater, reputed the oldest in the island, named after the two saints who were probably the first to preach Christianity to the Corfiots. The nearby island named Pontikonisi (Greek meaning "mouse island") has only three trees, and the highest point is about 2 m.

Related Topics:
Citadel - Venetian - French - Rome - Cuba - Saint Spyridon

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Othoni (??????) is the westernmost settlement and island in all of Greece. Erikoussa is the northernmost of the Ionian Islands. All areas lie below the 40° N. About a quarter of the villages ends with -ades and there is some villages that also ends with -ades outside Corfu and are a few in the prefecture of Ioannina. The southern part and on Paxoi have villages ending with -atika and one ending with -eika and is Gramateika.

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