Welcome to our February 2008 Newsletter
WeatherSudden rains and warm sunshine are the main characteristics of this period. The temperature remains high C 6 – 14, which is amazing considering the fact that we are right in the middle of winter. As in the rest of the country the blooming of the almond tree indicates the forthcoming spring. You can now see them all around the island getting more flowers every day, making a huge difference amongst the other trees. In Greece and Italy the almond is supposed to bring good fortune. This is the reason they are given, covered in icing sugar, in abundance at wedding festivities. Old country people use to say that the blooming of the almond tree in January means that the rest of the winter will be heavy and cold with a lot of snow.
Featured Property for sale
This is a unique opportunity to experience authentic and quite village life in an old stone house of 193 sq.m beautifully renovated into a modern family house. It is situated in the quite hamlet of Pithos in the North-North East of the island.    
The hamlet of Pithos is located in the mountains, five minutes away from the main road connecting Kassiopi and Acharavi and very close to the old village of Perithia. The house sits in the middle of this lovely little village which has less than thirty permanent inhabitants. The owners have fully renovated the interior into a modern house with all the facilities needed (including underfloor heating) to serve a large family.
The property comes with 422 sq.m of land, which is approximately 30 metres away from the house.
A 48 sq.m old stable sits there and the land has building permission for an additional 200 sq.m of construction. Asking price: €295,000 – £220,186 www.x-rates.com For further details please contact: nenilam@jonathanedunn.com or click here
Lesser known facts about CorfuWhile Turkish rule (1453-1821) left Greece sleeping in spiritual poverty, another wind was blowing in the Ionian Islands. Education and the culture of western civilisation were the gifts of the various occupants. Under the influence of the Venetians, the French and the British, Corfu developed a particular culture of its own. The influence is plain to see: in their houses, food, festivals, the narrow streets and squares, their customs, language, even their Christian names. Here were established: The Ionian Academy was the first Greek University of modern times that was in operation in Corfu for forty years, from 1824 to 1864, that is up to the Union of the Ionian Islands with the Greek State, since Greece could not afford to maintain two universities at the time. The Ionian Academy was the first Greek University of modern times that was in operation in Corfu for forty years, from 1824 to 1864, that is up to the Union of the Ionian Islands with the Greek State, since Greece could not afford to maintain two universities at the time.
The University was founded by the British philhellene Frederic North, Count of Guilford, who had established close relations with Corfu after his first visit in 1791, when the island was still under Venetian rule. Almost twenty years later, with the Ionian Islands under British rule, he conceived the idea of establishing a University in Ithaca. In this University, students from all over Greece as well as other Mediterranean and Balkan countries would attend classes taught in Greek by Greek scholars. The aim of this project was to promote the intellectual development of the Greek nation and to provide an institution of higher education for all the young Greek scholars who, up to that time, had to travel abroad in order to attend European Universities.
Lord Guilford -as Frederic North became widely known- set out to realise his dream in 1811. His efforts lasted for more than 8 years and, during that period, he was the sole coordinator and financier of this major task. The Greek War of Independence which broke out in 1821 was the reason why the seat of the University was transferred from Ithaca, an island very close to the fighting mainland, to Corfu. The official inauguration of the Ionian Academy took place on 29 May 1824, in great festivity.
From the very beginning, the creation of the Academy was faced with indifferent and even hostile reactions. Such reactions came not only from the British but also from powerful local agents who feared that the Academy would make higher education accessible to broader social classes and not just to young aristocrats who, up to that time, were the only ones able to pursue advanced studies abroad, especially in Italy. This would threaten the young aristocrat’s monopoly on higher education and therefore their monopoly on positions of authority and public office. The reservations expressed by the British had to do with the considerable cost of the Institution's full operation, as well as the fact that the Academy would accept students from all over Greece and not only from the Ionian Islands.
In spite of the problems it had to face, the Ionian Academy produced a large number of graduates and many important intellectual figures. It was a University formed with very high aspirations and goals at an extremely difficult time. Despite the fact that its founder was British and the Ionian Islands were a British Protectorate, from the very beginning, lord Guilford envisioned and finally established a Greek University. Under difficult circumstances the Ionian Academy, the first modern Greek University, made a major contribution to higher education, by offering its services to all Greeks and not exclusively to the inhabitants of the Ionian Islands. The modern Ionian University prides itself to be the successor of this first Greek University.
The Ionian University took it’s place in 1984 and consists of the following Departments :
History - Foreign Languages, Translation & Interpreting - Music Studies - Archives & Library Science - Computer Science - Audio & Visual Arts
Eleni Angelomati Professor of History of Modern Hellenism 15th-19th c.
A moment in Corfu’s History The Kumquat is a Corfiot characteristic. It is a unique small tree bearing tiny oval fruits about three to four cm long resembling oranges. It has dense branches and deep green leaves. Its flowers grow white, resembling the citrus flowers, before turning into the miniature kumquat fruit. Corfu is virtually the only place in Europe where Kumquat is cultivated. It mainly grows on the northern part of Corfu in Nymphes, where the mild climate, rich soil and abundance in water, make it the ideal place for the kumquat trees to thrive. It blooms in March and April and the fruits are picked in May.    Kumquat has been cultivated in China and Japan for centuries. Its name comes from the Chinese word kam which means gold and kwat which means orange. It was brought to Corfu by the English botanist, Lord Merlin, in 1924. Merlin was specialized in cultivating different Citrus fruits in his large estate. Amongst others he is the creator of the famous Merlin variety of oranges. He was a great traveller and used to bring exotic products back from his trips. He discovered the kumquat on a visit to Japan and brought some plants to cultivate on Corfu. There are now thousands of trees on the island.
It is the only fruit of the Citrus family that is eaten with the peel, which is rich in essential oils and vitamin C. Its distinctive bittersweet zesty flavour makes it the perfect ingredient in deserts and salads and is a favourite for marmalades, sugary and other traditional sweets as well as liqueurs.
From the website of Vassilakis and Sons SA, a company based on the manufacture of kumquat products (www.vassilakisproducts.gr )
A character from Corfu's past : the little milkman (the photo is from the book of Maria Sgourou-Krokou “Η Κέρκυρα που έφυγε“)
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