The Corfiot

The Corfiot is published every month and edited by Corfu resident and writer Hilary Whitton-Paipeti. On this page we aim to showcase some of the articles that have appeared in The Corfiot. If you would like to subscribe to the magazine (it can be mailed anywhere in the world) click here.

The Heroes of Lefkimmi

f you turn left just before reaching the coast at Alikes near Lefkimmi, a pot-holed lane leads you to a wide, dusty road junction. Here, amongst the paper and can litter of the roadside, stands a pristine monument in slate-grey granite and white marble. In dazzling full sun the inscription is hard to read, but what it reveals is an almost forgotten episode of World War II, during which the Corfiots - and especially the Lefkimmiots - showed their courage and integrity. Now read the rest of the article.

The Rise and Fall of Corfu's Mansions

We climbed one hairpin bend after another on our way up the mountain. Through the olive groves, the sea appeared in a more vertiginous perspective at every turn. Then, at a little hamlet, we set off on foot along a stone-cobbled path winding through olive trees. Nets were laid out on the ground to catch the fallen fruit - but it was June now, long after the harvest was over, and their presence was evidence that the proprietors no longer took care of their groves. Through the encroaching brambles, we glimpsed a strawberry-tinted wall while, high above, a green shutter rattled in the breeze. Here, on the hillside above Nissaki, we had come across one of Corfu's abandoned mansions. In a region where property on the coast is snapped up, hidden houses in the hills are left to moulder towards decay, for the landed families can no longer maintain the lifestyle of past generations. Now read the rest of the article.

A Tour of Corfu Town

This is an exploration of Corfu Town which takes you far from the busy shopping streets, and into the town the Corfiots know - the Jewel of the Mediterranean. The route follows, more or less, the line of the old town walls, and you encounter much of their remains. You can also take the opportunity to visit the two splendid fortresses, with their colossal walls and fine views. Now read the rest of the article.

A Trip to Sivota

Several years ago I took a trip on George's Boat, out of Aeolos Beach, to a mainland village called Mourtos. I remember eating fish at one of two or three simple little tavernas, and then carrying on to a deserted cove for swimming. I've never been to Mourtos since, and hadn't been able even to find it on a map. I imagined it must still be too small to rate a mention.

Recently we took a trip on the caique Eros, out of Benitses, destination Sivota. I had heard about this mainland port, and the high class tourism it is attracting. Glossy brochures show sea caves with turquoise and azure water, and a harbour front jostling with expensive yachts and motor cruisers.

Turns out it was Mourtos after all. They changed the name while I wasn't looking. Now read the rest of the article.

Preserving Memories of Bygone Days: The Arillas Heritage Walk

Early in the morning, the "donkey rush-hour" used to take place in Corfu's traditional villages. Saddled with a padded wooden frame slung with tools, baskets, sacks and provisions, the beasts would head out to the fields and olive groves, their owners sometimes sitting atop the implements, or walking behind. The donkeys knew the way. At dusk, the process was reversed, but the beasts now carried bountiful burdens - in winter a sack of olives, in spring maybe a bundle of artichokes. In June, you sometimes came across a mobile haystack, tripping along the road like a giant clockwork toy. Only a protruding nose told you the source of the locomotion, as the donkey took home its own food supply for the parching summer.

The new generation has left the land. Education, and cash to buy food instead of having to produce it, has changed Corfu from a self-sufficient economy based on agriculture to a modern commercialized society. The rush-hour is more of a trickle now, and the donkeys' day is closing towards twilight. Preserving memories of the way of life in Corfu's countryside is the aim of a new initiative just opened in Arillas in North West Corfu. Now read the rest of the article.

Boom Town Albania

In July 1991, in the company of Stavros Karvounis, a Greek journalist, I visited Albania for the first time. The communist regime had recently fallen, and the country was preparing for its first post-war elections. During a ten-day stay, we reached parts of the country where the people had never seen a foreigner, places depopulated by the rush of young men to Greece, hoping for a better life. With only three months' food left, Albania was on the verge of starvation.

I visited again in July 1992, to find a country where the optimism engendered by the approaching elections was fast diminishing. 'When will our lives get better?' one young woman cried as if in pain. 'Take us away! We so much want to have a better life!'

I could provide no vain reassurance, no false comfort. I felt that life would get worse before it could get better. And indeed it did. The people of Albania would suffer the collapse of the Pyramid Banking Scheme (a fraud initiated at the highest level of government), anarchy and virtual civil war, played out against the images on international television of those boat-loads of refugees who would take any risk and undergo any hardship to find a refuge from desperation.

We have lived through years when our island was a magnet for bedraggled and emaciated men looking for work - any work - and somewhere to sleep, even a windowless bothy. Happily, we have seen many of them make a success of their lives. And, visiting Albania again after so many years, I found many indications that the country is on the road to prosperity too. Now read the rest of the article.