Saturday 14 May 2016

A trip to Corfu island (Part Two)

On Easter Sunday we woke up very very early at a foggy weather. It was difficult to sleep late at night and wake up early but we had to.
After breakfast we went to Achilleion  palace on a very nice guided tour. There was so much to see!

Achilleion palace was built by Empress Eisabeth of Austria .
I loved the frescoes on the ceiling. This is the Four Seasons.
And this painting/icon of Stella der Mare (star of the sea).


I loved the lights on the ceiling too.
The gardens were wonderful with lots of statues.
The most impressive of which were the Statues of Achilles!

For various reasons!




The triumph of Achilles!A huge wall painting!

I adored all the various wild flowers blooming everywhere on Corfu. They reminded me of Austrian wildflowers.
We then went on a tour of Spaniada Square.



Liston
 Then we returned to our hotel for a traditional Greek dances presentation along with ouzo and appetisers and then lunch with traditional food and sweets. We ate the charcoaled lamb after the dessert but that was alright with us!Better late than never!
In the evening we were taken to Benitses, a picturesque village which unfortunately we couldn't visit as it started raining cats and dogs(no wonder Corfu is so lush and green) and we only visited a small private sea museum with a big shell collection, not that impressive for us who have seen so many huge shell collections around the world.

 On the way back we were taken to Corfu town again and we only had time to visit some churches, among them the famous Saint Spyridon with its Saint standing in it.
Monday was our last day. It was overcast.We said goodbye to Paleokastritsa
The return trip was to go through Ioannina city but the agency decided to let us spend some more time at Corfu town. That was really great I guess!So hubby and I spent the day visiting first Casa Parlante, an ethnological museum that has moving dolls in it.




And then the amazing Museum of Asian Art which was fantastic. It had amazing pieces of Art from Asia, all from the private collection of a former diplomat, Gregorios Manos, who was the Greek ambassador in Austria and had spent all his fortune on buying Asian art at auctions.
The museum is inside the Palace of Saint Michael and Saint George in Corfu.


Its collections are amazing.They come from China, Japan, India, Nepal and other Asian countries. Unfortunately the museum book is out of print so I had to take lots of photos.





 Look at this bowl. It was broken and repaired with golden joinery or kintsugi as it is called in China




 The doctor's woman. In ancient China women weren't allowed to be seen naked even by their doctors. So they showed on a naked doll where they were suffering or had pain.


 Flying dance.Porcelain frescoes by Guoxing Jiang.

 Dreams of the silk road Sancai glazed painting by Aihe Guo.











 Noh theatre masks
 Geisha accesories

 Pic nic box








Isn't this amazing? It's a cricket cage.





 There was also a temporary exhibition by Pavlos Moraitis.



 Afterwards we had coffee at a cafe at Liston overlooking the cricket field!Yes there are lots of cricket teams on Corfu island and there is a cricket field in the middle of the Spianada square!


 Finally we did some last minute shopping for souvenirs.Fridge magnets and olive tree wood items!
We took the ferry under a bad windy forecast but fortunately we didn't feel a thing in the ship.
But all the way from Igoumenitsa to Thessaloniki we had a cloud over our bus that emptied its guts on us.
All in all it was an excellent trip! I really want to go back to Corfu one day!

7 comments:

Magali@TheLittleWhiteHouse said...

Thank you for taking me to the Achelleion. I dreamed of visiting it when I was a teenager.

Christina(ArtDecorationCrafting) said...

Κέρκυρα αγαπημένη, Κέρκυρα κοσμοπολίτισσα!!! Από τα ωραιότερα ελληνικά νησιά και όχι μόνο (υπάρχει άραγε κάποιο άσχημο); Υπέροχη παρουσίαση Αριάδνη, ευχαριστούμε και καλό Σ/Κ!

Angela said...

Beautiful pictures! Corfu looks amazing, I'd love to visit one day :)

riitta k said...

What a wonderful post Ariadne! Especially I liked the Asian art because it can be seen so seldom. Thank you!

Ο κόσμος της Ράνιας said...

Σ ευχαριστούμε πολύ Αριάδνη γι αυτή την εξαιρετική και ενδιαφέρουσα ανάρτηση !! Οι φωτογραφίες σου καταπληκτικές !!! Τα φιλιά μου !!!

AppleApricot Wen said...

Beautiful trip you made! We went to Corfu many many years ago, it's so beautiful there. The kintsugi bowl is so gorgeous, as is all the other beautiful art you shared with us here of your trip. xx

Thalia Tzellou said...

Τι υπέροχο ταξίδι! Αριάδνη μου σε ευχαριστούμε που μας ταξιδεύεις και εμάς με τις καταπληκτικές σου φωτογραφίες!