Corfu: North of Corfu Town

The roads along the east coast of Corfu are fast-moving, and hotel developers have followed them every inch of the way. Just north of Corfu Town begins a 10km stretch, most intense at Kontókali, Gouviá, Dassiá, Ípsos and Pírgi, set in the dishevelled beauty of the surrounding green hills and olive groves.

Blame the Junta government of the late 1960s for the presence of a main road so close to the shore; the original plan was to divert it inland, but the Junta insisted otherwise. Kontókali owes its name to Captain Christophóros Kontókali, who fought at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and was given the land here as his reward, along with a little garden isthmus.

At 8km from Corfu Town, the coast road veers sharply right through Gouviá, with a small sandy beach. The town’s lagoon was used by the Venetians as a harbour; the impressive vaults and columns of their arsenal built after the Second Great Siege of Corfu in 1716, overlook the marina.