After the museum, we decided to walk up the coast to the old fort.
A lovely pink villa on the coast. 
The bay is placid. 
There’s the citadel. Cant miss it really, it oversees the entire Corfu town. 
And the giant Crucifix on top. 
A lovely sail boat. 
The horse drawn carts, I was tempted to climb on one but then my son said that that would be animal cruelty. Little shit. 
It looks so calm. 
In the tip, you can see a park and a wind mill. We didnt have enough time otherwise I would have popped over to see it. 
Crystal clear waters. 
Even the sea gulls love it. 
Some of the bathers in the sea. 
Nice boats….
Its a massive structure actually. 
Couple of local worthies, unfortunately the graffiti artists had already got to work on the top chap. 
A roman / greek temple? 
Getting closer to the fort. Massively sloped ramparts. And the main gate on the right. 
One walks from the outside of the moat over to the citadel on this walkway.
This moat business is serious, you can see the huge gap between this side the the walls of the citadel. Now there is a small channel. 
Couple of cannons guarding the doorway. We paid for the tickets and got inside. 
Walking across the pathway. This was previously a peninsula but the Venetians in the 14th century dug this channel so that it became an island. This citadel saw action against the Turks over 1537 and 1716 and over and over and over. As I mentioned before, Corfu was one of the few places which held out against the Turks, very brave soldiers indeed. The Ottomans were fierce fighters no doubt but this was impressive. 
A boat entering the channel
These walls are massive. I would have guessed about 30-40 meters in width. 
The channel. Looks very peaceful. 
A hotel in the corner. 
The entrance. 
You can see the gun ports. Presumably these were to be used if the enemy would break into the citadel’s moat area. 
Sadly much of the citadel is falling to pieces, much like the Greek State. I dont think they have the money to do structural repairs anyway. Sad. very sad. 
Walking into the citadel. On the right is a small Byzantine museum and on the left is a small visitors shop.
Here are some of the exhibits. 
Floor tiles. 
Wall mosaics
Pediments
A brief chronology of Corfu under Byzantine rule. 
Some stone work. 
A fresco, from a church.
The kids sitting in the back, they dont appreciate Baba poking his nose into dusty old artefacts, mouldering stone and faded paintings. 
A Byzantine era manuscript dating back to 13th C. The colours were bright and vibrant. 
Another Gun on its carriage. 
We popped into the shop but the prices were seriously ruinous. Crazy. 
Looking back at the entrance. It has been restored but weirdly. 
Moving into the next open courtyard. 
This was the second layer of defence. Two serious walls again separated by another moat. Presumably this was also flooded? 
With gun ports. 
And the same on the other side. 
In periodic intervals, this strange formation was seen on the walls. Presumably some kind of Venetian Symbol? The central section was too worn away to make out what it was all about. 
Going through and you see these small shop like structures. The British occupied this for a long time as well, so presumably they used this for storage? 
Some gnarled trees
Now we actually saw how high this was and how much we have to climb. The moans and whines from the family slowly started to rise to a crescendo. 
Climbing the stairs, there was another flat area where many of these guns, cannons and mortars were placed. Big ass bits, I wouldnt want to be on the receiving end of what they spat out…
The bell/clock tower. 
There is a cafe on the courtyard so we sat there and had some icecream and water. To our right, between us and the Ionian Sea is another courtyard which ends in the outside curtain wall. 
The massive walls can be seen. 
This is a naval gun mounting. 
Zooming out, you can see how it would overlook the bay. 
There’s the wind mill that I noticed earlier. 
This is an extraordinary building, I first thought this was a hold over from ancient Grecian times but no, the Doric Columns and classical Greek structure was built in the 18th century during British Rule. 
Peering up at the massif as we start walking to the Church. 
Serious amount of work was put into this. Craggy stuff. 
What is this? some kind of a drainage channel? 
We popped inside the church but we were not allowed to take photographs, i dont know how this photo happened, invisible men pressed the button. I wasnt impressed by the church, it was too bare.
Came out and started walking to the side. See the side of the church? Very plain. 
Back end of the church showed this cannon graveyard. Very sad. 
My two munchkins, all hot and bothered. 
Peeking over the wall to see the sea. 
Rusted cannons. 
This was an ammunition magazine. 
Back to the central courtyard. 
We found a cute little well and both girls wanted to chuck a penny into it. Diya managed to do it perfectly, while her mum took 2 tries to get the penny into the well. I am not sure if wishes count for bad throwers. This is why India loose at cricket. 
This was the prison. 
Good heavens, some serious ironmongery in here. 
And tiny cells. 
Walking up next to the prison up into the citadel proper. 
Bits had obviously fallen off, staircases going nowhere. 
Stairs going down to this building. 
Entering the covered walkway. You can imagine the width of the wall if it can have such a long covered walkway. 
The flagstones were very slippery from all the billions of feet. 
A small doorway on the side. Hello? 
Popped into it. 
It comes out into a small chamber and then a small flight of stairs again. 
It opens up on to this fortified area. 
The Venetian Lion. 
Looking on the other side of the bay. 
Ivy? 
This is the hold harbour. 
A small island in the bay. 
We are all hot and tired. 
Nice. 
That’s the Church of St. Spyridon, the Patron Saint of Corfu. 
That’s the hospital on the right and the final battlement. 
Kept on walking up. 
More military offices. 
A long way to go. 
We come up another level. 
The old habour. 
A spiked cannon. 
Old style windows on the military barracks. 
Walking up. 
This is the British Naval Hospital. 
The Lighthouse at the top. That’s where I have to be. 
You can see the bay spread out below you 
The other side, one can see the old harbour, the island etc. The rest of the family decided to stay down below where it was shady and let Baba drag his carcass on his dodgy knee up the 300 more steps. I was huffing and puffing badly. 
The views were worth all the huffing and puffing. 
The bay
Corfu Town. 
The other side of the Corfu Town. 
The Cross. 
Why have they buried a spiked cannon like this? I can see the gun ring but doesnt make sense. 
Another gun mount. 
Looking down at the entrance moat. 
That’s the new citadel. 
Corfu Town. 
Zooming into the island. 
Stone gun ring. Must be pre 15th century at least. Can you imagine hauling the gun up to here? And then the ammunition? Well, not like they had anything else to do, so least they could do was to haul away. 
The cross was supported by this buried cannon, lol. 
Looking down at the other side of the citadel. 
Another gun mount. 
The far end of the citadel with the naval hospital in the foreground. 
Some people are having fun in the cerulean waters of the Ionian Sea. 
There’s the lighthouse. 
The steps to go down.
Caught up with the family, the whines about feeling hungry were pretty shrill so agreed to go and have food. 
A ferry coming into Corfu. 
Following a little butterfly dancing down the path. 
Sitting on the sill of the Prison. 
A plaque on the wall. 
Lovely trees in the courtyard. Warm green colours. 
The door is looking seriously manky. 
Walking across the passageway. 
The other side of the moat has these shanty huts. Weird. 
With a staircase. Strange, very strange. Anyway,we completed this trip.
This citadel spoke to me in so many places. It was fairly quiet, not that many people and when the family’s piteous cries would die down and I would concentrate hard, I could hear the Venetian gunners bellowing orders and the cries of the sailors drifting in the warm zephyr. You could almost feel the tread of the British Marines marching up and down in the courtyard practising their marching exercises. I saw the hospital and i could almost be inside, sick with dysentery, cholera or any of the medieval diseases, lying on cool white cotton sheets, the shutters thrown wide open, feeling the breeze and watching the schooners sail by, with the sounds of creaking wood and flapping sails.
I like.
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