Corfu, the second largest of the Ionian Islands, lies at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea, in the Ionian Sea, midway between Greece and Italy. It was first colonized by the city state of Corinth but Corfu has been ruled by the Romans,the Venetians, the French and English so it has a wondous mix of European influences. Corfu town boasts fortresses bearing the insignia of the Venetian Republic, an esplanade lavishly planted by the French during the Napoleonic Wars, and an English cricket pitch. Corfu is a lush island with some of the finest coastal scenery in the entire Mediterranean. There are over 2 million olive trees spread out all over the island and olives are its most cultivated crop. It's Mediterranean climate makes it a sort after holiday destination for European travellers all year round.
Ken and I planned to catch the local bus from the port to the city and then to check out the old town, a palace and the 2 fortresses, so we left at 8am. We were pleased that the local bus also sold 5 euro all day pass which mreant we could travel all over Corfu by using a series of bus routes. That meant we could get a good overview of the island and decide which interesting areas to visit.
We met up Rita and James who decided to join us for the day and it's just as well because James has a poor sence of direction and his wife was wondering how they'd get around Corfu without getting hopelessly lost. We had a great day of following Ken's uncanny knack of orienteering around the mishmash of roads, alleyways and bus routes. We decided to explore Corfu's old town which is a delightful mix of a maze of cobbled streets full of old taverns, cafes and shops and narrow triple storey houses. It was like walking back into a Dickens novel and we just loved the hickory- pickeldy nature of the old city. It was bustling with early morning shoppers looking for fresh vegetables, fruit or fish deals, people on their way to work and street sweepers cleaning up from yesterday's activities. As we wove our way through the narrow laneways between tall stone buildings the air was warm and full of the smells of coffee, bakery-delight aromas and freshly caught seafood smells. We delighted in the appearance of a sleepy cats on doorsteps, the sounds of pigeons cooing to one another and the brightly coloured pot plants hanging from window boxes or adorning front door steps which opened right onto the alleyways as we passed.
We decided to take the longest bus route out of the city to visit the Achillion Palace and then work our way back to other venues through the day. It was a long bus ride but we didn't mind as we got to see more of Corfu. We passed villages, market gardens, olive groves, lemon orchards and vineyards. We saw local market displays, shops, kids playing on their way to school and workmen in fields or mending roads. The morning became warmer as we arrived at the village of Gastouri which is high on a mountain with views looking back over many towns and back to the port city and ocean below. We arrived just after 9.15 am and we were amongst the first visitors for the day to tour the exceptionally beautiful and graceful Achillion Palace. It was built for Empress Elizabeth of Austria from 1889-1891 in the Pompanian style which is most unusual but relaxing because it has wide open marble courtyards, columns and several porticos with elegantly carved marble statues of muses playing stringed instruments or just posing in relaxed stances. Sissi as Elizabeth referred to herself built the palace as a summer retreat. Sissi had extravagant taste, followed the latest fashions and collected beautiful furniture and collections of family portraits as well as famous paintings. 
Every room of the palace was beautifully decorated by paintings on ceilings, huge frescoes on walls, bronze statuettes and ornate bronze bannister carvings on the wide and imposing central grand staircase and around the wide landings from the ground floor to the palaces fourth floor are creative artistic ballista des in bronzeworks. Beautifully coloured marbles have been used throughout the palace and huge windows and mirrors and ornate chandeliers provide brilliant light in its' many rooms. We spent over two hours exploring this beautiful palace and listening to an audio guide which gave a lot of history abut 
Sissi's family life, history and facts about the exquisite furniture and objects in each room. The Achilian Palace featured in the James Bond movie, "For Your Eyes Only" where the palace was rd used for the casino scenes and the old city provided the venue for many of the action scenes.
In many ways Sissi was a woman ahead of her time for she adopted unconventional architectural styles to create a palace that is very liveable, relaxing and a little bit "over the top" but we loved it. Sissi was also a passionate collector of fine artworks and unusual objects of art. She held many banquettes and garden parties for friends, family and diplomatic delegates. In this way she assisted her husbands' leadership and popularity and carried the flag for Austria. She was an excellent host who personally organised the menus for lavish banquets for leaders of other European nations and for regular family celebrations with friends.
As we completed our tour of the palace, loads of buses delivered hundreds of eager tourists to the steps of the palace and they trundled through in their masses with enthusiastic guides all repeating their commentary on this magnificent now noisy palace. It was time to go and we were so thankful that we'd decided to visit so early that morning.
We had to wait for our returning bus which was held up by the traffic congestion created by the many coaches and cars trying to park around the narrow mountainside roadway by the palace. Finally we spotted our bus and headed back down the mountain and our route took us around the other side of the mountain so we saw many seaside coastal inlets with old fishing villages and small sandy beaches with people sun baking or swimming in the cool crystal waters of the Mediterranean.
