A broad street descends from the S. end of the Esplanade to the Viale dell’ Imperatrice Elisabetta, formerly Strada Marina, skirting the shore below the new quarter of the town and now a favourite promenade in the evening. At the beginning of it, on the right, is the Casino, with reading and concert rooms. Turning to the right after 4 min., and then to the left, we come to the Museum, containing ancient sculptures and tomb-inscriptions. Near it is the round Tomb of Menecrates, resembling a well (7th or 6th cent. B.C.). Above is the ruined Fort of San Salvatore (prison).
The boulevard sweeps round the suburb of Kastrades or Garitza first to the S. and then to the E. to the Molo protecting the bay. At a bend, short of the molo, we follow the Viale Imperatore Guglielmo Secondo to the right (S.). After 7 min., opposite the apse of the old church of Santa Corcyra, we ascend a road to the left. A gate on the left is the entrance to the—
*Royal Villa of Monrepos (Villa Reale; free on Sun. and Thurs. aft.). The park affords fine views of the town and castle.
The Viale Imperatore Guglielmo skirts the W. slope of the hilly peninsula which stretches to the S., between Lake Kalikiópulo and the sea. Here probably lay the ancient city, with the bay of Kastrades as its trading harbour, while the Lake of Kalikiopulo, now choked with mud, seems to have been the Portus Hyllaeicus, used as a station for vessels of war. The road is bordered with rose and orange gardens, and farther on with beautiful olive-groves. In 25 min. (or from the Esplanade in ¾ hr.) we reach a round open space, called the *Canone, or One-gun Battery (carr. 5–6 fr.), which commands a superb view of the E. coast of the island.
Opposite, at the entrance to the ancient Hyllæan harbour, lies the Scoglio di Ulisse (‘cliff of Ulysses’), or Pontikonisi (‘mouse island’), a cypress-planted islet with a chapel and parsonage, now owned by an enterprising German. The Greeks took this to be the ship of the Phæacians which had brought Odysseus to Ithaca, and on its way back was turned into stone by the angry Poseidon. The S.W. shore of the Lake of Kalikiopulo, where a brook named Kressida enters the lake, is pointed out as the place where Odysseus was cast ashore and met the princess Nausicaa.
The charming drive to Gasturi and Benizze (7½ M.) and back takes 3–4 hrs. (carr. 10–15 dr.; as far as the Achilleion, there and back 2½ hrs., 8–10 dr.). We leave the town by the former W. gate, or Porta Reale and pass through the suburb of San Rocco. The road runs a little to the W. of Lake Kalikiopulo and ascends in windings to (5 M.) Gasturi (Achilleion, pens. 7 dr.). About ½ M. farther, a little to the left, is the villa *Achilleion (adm. to the building and the grounds 11–3, 2 dr.), built in 1890–1 for Empress Elizabeth of Austria (d. 1898), in the Italian Renaissance style, and purchased by the German emperor in 1907. The back of the villa is adjoined by a peristyle and three terraces adorned with statues. On the road, just beyond the villa, is the Restaurant Bella Vista. We now descend (short-cuts for walkers) to the (2 M.) fishing-village of Benizze, where delicious oranges grow, and where there are remains of a Roman villa (boat to Corfu, 5 dr.)
Another delightful excursion is to Santi Deca (carr. 10–15 dr.; there and back 5–6 hrs.). About ¾ M. short of Gasturi the road diverges to the right from the Benizze road. The drive to the village of Hagi Deka or Santi Deca (‘ten saints’; 676 ft.) takes 1¼ hr. (the walk 2 hrs.). Thence we ascend (guide) the (1 hr.) double-peaked Monte Santi Deca (1862 ft.), where we have a superb view, notably of the Albanian coast. A narrow path then descends, the last part through olive-groves, to (½ hr.) Apano-Garuna, and proceeds thence to the N. to (¼ hr.) the pass of San Teódoro or Hagios Theódoros (788 ft.), where the carriage quitted at Santi Deca may be ordered to meet us. The drive back to Corfu viâ Kamára takes 1½ hr.
The monastery of Palæokastrizza (‘old castle’), on the W. coast, about 15 M. to the N.W., is a delightful point of view (carr. there and back 20–25 dr., in 6 hrs., excl. stops). A road diverging to the right about halfway, 1½ M. beyond the picturesque bay of Govino, crosses the Pheleka and leads over the fine San Pantaleone Pass and through hill scenery to the N. coast. Far to the right, on the E. coast, rises Monte San Salvatore (Greek Pantokrator; 2998 ft.; ascended with guide in 3 hrs. from Spartilla; carr. from Corfu to Spartilla viâ Giovino, Ipso, and Pyrgi, in 2½ hrs., about 20 dr.).
See also Baedeker’s Greece.