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Kanoni - Palaiopoli - Mon Repo |
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The trip from the town to the Kanoni peninsula is the ideal
scene for a walk all along Garitsa Bay up to Mon Repo and Palaiopoli. From when the island
was first colonized up to the Roman years, the town in which the Corfiotes lived developed
near its two harbours, lllaiko by the Halikiopoulou Lagoon and Alcinous at Garitsa. The
town was initially without surrounding walls, but later during the Classical Period
however, it seems that walls were built on its northern side. A section of the wall still
stands near the port of lllaiko, incorporated into the Byzantine Church of the Blessed
Virgin of Nerantzichas and is known by the locals as the Tower of Nerantzichas. Continuing our trip along the indented shores of Garitsa, we reach a place called Anemomilos (Windmill). Don’t waste your time looking for the famous windmill! The picturesque windmill that stood here was demolished in 1893 in the name of modernization and development. Its »breezy» beauty however was so intense a sonnet called Anemomilos was dedicated to it by the poet Lorentzos Mavilis. A 12th C. Byzantine church is situated here, dedicated to Ag. lasona (Jason) and Ag. Sosipatro, the first to teach Christianity on Corfu. The rectangular crusiformed temple is the most significant Byzantine monument on the island. Externally it is decorated with stones bordered by rows of red bricks. The hagiographies are also significant, with the majority of them being painted by Emm. Tzane. In the grounds of the church lies the grave of Ekaterini, wife of the last Seigneur of Mistra, Thomas Paleologou. Illaiko was the first harbour of the town and handled all commercial trading. The harbour was initially a large bay which extended deep into the land. Its narrow rocky entrance could easily be controlled and it was even possible to close the entrance with a chain, thus protecting the harbour from marauding conquerors. Gradually however, the port of lllaiko grew smaller due to silt collecting in the rivers that opened here, and the port soon lost its merits. Traces of the Temple of Artemidos (7th C. BC) were discovered near here. Built out of limestone, the temple had 17 pillars lengthwise and 8 breadthwise, with a ceramic roof that was replaced by a marble one around 530 BC. What remains today of the temple are the foundation trenches and the slabs that protected the trenches from water. A large stone pediment from Gorgon was discovered here and can be seen in the Archeological Museum on Corfu. Other findings include dedicatory inscriptions, which prove that worshiping of Artermidos took place in this village. The port of Alcinous in the Gulf of Garitsa was the town’s naval port, with significant morphological differences to what the gulf is today. Near the port -what today we call Palaiopoli- is the agora (marketplace) of ancient Corfu. It is said that the remains of the ancient town lies in Mon Repo, the land granted to the King of Greece by the State. The Monastery of Ag. Efimias is also found in the same village, built on the same site as an ancient ruin. The villa of the British Commissioner was used after Union as a summer palace by the Greek Royal Family. The building was built by the lonian Senate when Adams was Commissioner. Mon Repo also houses the Botanical Gardens of the lonian Academy, which currently has a large variety of impressive plants. Inside the estate the road continues after the palace and leads to the Sanctuary of Akreas Iras. The original temple was built around 600 BC and is somewhat large in size (20m x 43m). It was gradually destroyed by civil wars and by successive conquerors of Corfu, who used the building’s materials in constructing the walls of the new town. Southeast of the Sanctuary was an open-air archaic shrine dedicated to Apollo of Korkireo and the Doric- styled Temple of Kardaki (6th C. BC). The temple is the best preserved building of its kind on Corfu. It is worth noting that the material used in its construction was all local limestone from the quarry at Varipatadon. It has not yet been determined to which deity they worshiped here, but there is a high probability that it was dedicated to Apollo, Poseidon or Asklipion. On the northwest side of the estate is a pathway that leads to the ancient spring of Kardaki. According to folklore, whoever drinks the water from here forgets his homeland and remains forever tied to Corfu: «Golden waters, I see you because the waters from the cold tap bewitches me, which surely runs from the holy ground. Therefore some God has decreed, And whichever foreigner wets his lips To his homeland he will never return». Lorenzos Mavilis In the cavern blow Kardaki, a series of idolations to deities -all with almost the same status- followed one another. Even though the cavern has not yet been explored, it seems that during the first colonization the nymph Makris -and later Medea, who married Jason on Corfu after their return from Corcyra- were idolized here. Opposite the entrance to Mon Repo is the Royal Church of Palaiopoli, one of the most significant ancient Christian monuments on Corfu. The church is dedicated to Ag. Kerkira (St. Corfu) and was built in the 5th C. with materials taken from other ancient buildings. The church was periodically destroyed by invaders but was rebuilt each time by the faithful. It was last destroyed by bomb raids in 1940. Continuing on the road, we end up at the edge of the little peninsula - at Kanoni. The Halikiopoulou Lagoon empties directly at our feet and there is an air corridor and immediately opposite is the much-photographed Pontikonisi (Mouse Island), Corfu’s trademark. The usually serene summer sea, the deep green background of Perama and the charming little islet which seems to be floating on water all blend together to compose a very beautiful picture, which is representative of Corfu. A concrete pathway below Kanoni connects the land with the 17th C. Monastery of Vlacherenas. We can see the Byzantine Church of Pantokrator nestling among the trees that have grown on the microscopic islet of Pontikonisi, which dates back to the 13th C. Both the little church and the monastery are open only on certain holidays and only for celebrating the Holy Sacraments. The graphical harbour of lllaiko, the stony road to Perama which is always filled with carefree tourists walking in the middle of the... sea and the enchanting scene they all offer creates one of the most famous pictures of the island of Corfu. And this is the reason why the Kanoni is inundated with tourists and locals who enjoy the twilight, when light clashes with darkness, painting the sea with unique colors and illuminating Benitses.
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