Long before the whole world fell in love with the BBC series The Durrells of Corfu, my friend Anne and I had been devoted lovers of My Family and Other Animals, the source material for the show and our favorite book from fifth-grade English class. In the woods that separated our houses, we would pretend to be Gerald Durrell and his sister Margo exploring the flora and fauna of our Mississippi habitat as though it were every bit as glamorous and exotic as the olive groves of Corfu. We vowed, as 11-year-olds, that we would travel to the land of the Durrells as soon as we were old enough.
Life intervened. Anne spent her junior year in India. I spent mine in France. She moved to L.A. I moved to New York. We had jobs. Then we had children. Somehow, Corfu didn’t happen. And then we found ourselves at the midpoint of life, when suddenly it seemed silly to wait for something we’d always imagined could wait until later.
We had both loved the series, almost as much as the book, and over one of our much-too-rare visits, we promised that we would rent a house there a year later. I was in charge of finding the place. She was in charge of the itinerary. As I scrolled the internet in search of a villa that would sleep us, our children, and our fellow travelers, I was deflated to find that the top recommendations were all modern glass boxes perched on the rocky hills above the west coast of the island, where the sunsets are among the most spectacular in the world. But we didn’t want a glass box. We wanted a simple house, isolated from the crowds of tourists that mob the island in summer, where we could laze in hammocks and eat late suppers on a terrace overlooking the sea.
And then I stumbled upon a listing for Villa Posillipo. At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The photographs on the website looked almost exactly like the house that Keely Hawes, as Mrs. Durrell, managed with a mixture of exasperation and joy, toiling in the kitchen while trying to rein in her unruly brood. A quick call to my beloved travel agent, Teresa Chope of Gallivant, Ltd., confirmed what I was almost too scared to hope for: this was the house where The Durrells of Corfu was filmed. We didn’t hesitate. There were only two weeks of the whole summer when the house was available, so we booked it. We had a whole year to plot and plan and to delight in fulfilling our childhood dream.
Arriving in Corfu is like a dream. Flying from Athens to the tiny Corfu airport, the airplane passes low over the small islands of Paxos and Antipaxos, where the color of the sea is otherworldly, a patchwork of icy blue and emerald water hugging the shore and slowly giving way to the darker depths of the broader Ionian.
Hot and tired from the chaos of arrival, we drove through the urban sprawl outside Corfu Town, following the GPS to the villa and hoping we would soon turn down a forgotten road winding through olive groves and umbrella pines. Finally, we arrived at the dark green gate to Villa Posillipo, and the view opened up onto a world out of time. A long gravel road leads up to the stately front of the house, built in the 18th century and reflecting the style of the Venetians, who occupied the island for more than 400 years. The six acres of grounds are planted with all manner of centuries-old trees: palm, olive, oleander, pomegranate, and lemon. As you pass the kitchen door, separated from the lawn by a grapevine-covered pergola, the horizon opens up from the back of the house, and there the sea stretches out all the way to the arid hills of Albania in the distance. The countries are separated by just four miles at the narrowest point between the two land masses.
It is afternoon, and the sunset on the western side of the island has cast a pinkish-purple haze over the water to the east, which has a glassy calm in the late evening. A young man named Periklis—how could he not be named Periklis?—greets us on the terrace to offer us a drink, and behind him is Tanya Geracaris, the owner of the house, whose husband’s family has owned it for five generations. “Welcome home,” she says. And she really means it.
The itinerary below reflects the choices we made during our two weeks at Villa Posillipo, but it is by no means exhaustive. I could have stayed for a year and never scratched the surface of all the beauty and history the island has to offer. I loved everything we did, but nothing was more relaxing or more joyful than taking up a lounge chair on the lawn or the pier with our friends and family, reading books or swimming in the gentle sea that is just steps away from the back door.
The House
My Family and Other Animals was the inspiration for our first trip to Corfu. Villa Posillipo will be the inspiration for our return. Every window on three sides of the house offers an unobstructed view of the sea. I woke up early every morning to photograph the brilliant pink and orange sunrise, then went back to sleep until the light came in through the windows and brightened the whitewashed walls of my bedroom through gauzy white curtains.
Not only is the house an oasis from the bustling island outside its 18th-century gates, but it is also cared for by the most generous owners and their delightful team. Every morning, a traditional Corfiot breakfast appears in the dining room, prepared by Serena or Pavlos, featuring eggs and bacon, fresh tomatoes and feta, homemade jams made from figs and apricots grown on the property, spanakopita, croissants, fresh fruit, freshly squeezed juices, and my new favorite dish, a quiche-like pie made of eggs, feta, and yogurt, its name loosely translated from Greek to English as “lazy bum” because it is so easy to make.
The sommelier-chef team, the aforementioned Periklis and his partner Ioaquim, cooked for us most nights, setting the long table on the terrace overlooking the Ionian. I don’t have the culinary vocabulary to do justice to the meals they prepared for us, but they were more delicious than any of the best restaurants I’ve been to in the past ten years. Meals featured salads made with the freshest ingredients combined in the most inventive ways and main courses that took their cue from the fish or lamb available at the local market.
On one memorable night, a salad of fresh beets, snake beans, pistachios, oranges, and soft feta cheese was served with a prawn risotto that tasted like the sea. We drank Greek wines that had a round but minerally taste, and I wondered if it was a result of grapes grown on rocky ground. I’m no sommelier, but I had only to ask Periklis, who, in fact, is a sommelier and also the owner of a lovely coffee shop in town.
Perhaps the most special part of our stay was the generous advice that Tanya and her beautiful daughter, Milka, so freely offered when asked. They know every restaurant owner, every beach club operator, every boat provider, and every village and cove off the beaten path. They can tell you where to go and when, how to avoid the crowds and the traffic, and Tanya is not afraid to remind you to resist the urge to overplan. “Enjoy a day at the villa. Swim. Have a late lunch at the taverna down the beach.” She was, of course, right about everything.
Paxos & Antipaxos
One of our favorite days was a trip from Gouvia Marina (five minutes from the villa) over to Paxos and Antipaxos for swimming, snorkeling, cave exploring, and late lunch. It’s best to book a boat in advance of travel, especially during the summer, and there are plenty of options through the many boat operators across the island. Because the villa has its own pier, a tender can pick the group up and meet the boat in deeper water. This also comes in handy when you want to take a water taxi to town or explore other parts of the island. What can take two hours on the main road takes 20 minutes by boat.
After a cruise of about an hour and a half, the boat reaches the rocky coves of Paxos, the bigger of the two islands, and every jaw drops when the color of the water comes into view. Words strain to describe it: icy blue in the shallows, sapphire in other places, emerald green elsewhere. The boat would stop in whichever coves looked least populated, and we would jump from the side and swim for an hour before heading out to another spot, more beautiful than the last. Because we were on the island for two weeks, we took two trips to the islands. Each trip was different from the other and equally delightful.
On our first trip, we stopped in the tiny village of Loggos on Paxos and had the most delicious meal at Taverna Vassilis. The moment the group was seated, our waiter brought out a raw fish on a platter, silvery scales glistening, mouth slack from having just been caught that morning. He recommended a certain weight to feed the table, and while we waited for it to be grilled and filleted, we feasted on all manner of cheeses and greens, eggplant, fried courgettes, stuffed squash blossoms, hummus, tzatziki, and a delicious spread made from fish roe.
The place itself was small but charming, but I admit to being surprised that the villages on Corfu, Paxos, and Antipaxos are not of the sprawling Medieval sort you find along the coast of France or Italy or in Tuscany or the Luberon. They are modest fishing villages with a few shops, a church, and an array of tavernas. I made the mistake a few times of asking where the main square was, only to be met with a few laughs and the answer, “You’re in it.”
On our second trip to these beautiful islands, we dined at the spectacular Bella Vista restaurant on Antipaxos, located 200 steps above Voutoumi Beach, named one of the most beautiful in the world. We were initially intimidated by the idea of climbing the equivalent of 11 floors of a building, but the steps were shallow, and we made it up in no time and no worse for the wear. The view at Bella Vista can hardly be beat, and the food was excellent. After the walk back down the stairs (even after a few glasses of wine), we were all thrilled to hop in the water again before our return journey to Corfu.
Corfu Town
Corfu Town is a beautiful, bustling town that reveals its history at every turn. The old town center is a maze of small streets lined with shops and tavernas, all housed in beautiful, colorful buildings constructed during the years of the Venetian occupation, between 1386 and 1797. Elegant colonnades line the edge of the district, and narrow stairs lead to even narrower streets that often open up onto small squares.
I was delighted by all the Byzantine churches, some of which you are allowed to photograph if you purchase a candle to light for someone who has passed away. Others are stricter. In one church, my friend was admonished by a black-clad priest with a long beard to put her phone away. My favorite church was Agios Spyridon, named for the island’s patron saint, whose body is said to rest in the silver sarcophagus that sits in the beautiful crypt just to the right of the altar. Legend has it that the saint only lies in Corfu because his body was stolen and hidden when careless priests left it unattended on its journey to Italy after the fall of Constantinople.
Here is a list of the two restaurants we liked best and a few shops we particularly enjoyed. The linen dresses and olive wood products sold in every other establishment on the main drag were of good quality, and I am returning home with a suitcase full of both!
Restaurants
Liodentro — Charming restaurant with outdoor seating and delicious food near the old town hall. The name means “olive tree.” Have the pita chips, halloumi, and chicken souvlaki.
Mouragia — Quayside dining at a hyper-local taverna just steps from the water and situated along one of the many charming stone staircases that take you to the old town center.
There are many lovely tavernas in the back streets of the old town, but we only spent two half-days in Corfu Town, as it is very hot and filled with tourists. One of the benefits of staying at Villa Posillipo is the ease with which you can hire a water taxi to pick you up at the villa dock and deposit you at the edge of the old town. You have to commit to three hours, which was just about the perfect amount of time to shop, explore, and have an Aperol Spritz.
Boutiques
Naya
Muses
Byoung
Ioannidis Jewelry
Rocordi
Corfu Sandals
Exploring the Northeast Coast
Another favorite day was spent on a small speedboat exploring the northeastern coast. This trip is far less elaborate than the trip to Paxos and Antipaxos, and the skipper sets the pace you request. One day, we preferred to speed along to the very northern tip to swim on a secluded beach next to a 16th-century monastery, followed by a long lunch in Agios Stefanos at the delightful Eucalyptus Taverna. Another day, we stopped several times along the way to enjoy the caves and rocky coves between Gouvia and Kassiopi and had lunch at a lovely tavern called Aiolia, with tables in a garden setting just across from the beach in Avlaki.
Again, taking a boat is far preferable to driving, but we did enjoy a day taking the car to Kalami and Kassiopi for a different view of the island. In Kalami, you can visit the White House, where Larry Durrell and his wife lived and where he wrote Prospero’s Cell, a history-cum-diary-cum-memoir of his time in Corfu in the late ’30s. I learned while reading the book on the flight over that Gerald (and the BBC) take liberties with the truth by placing Larry in the same house as the rest of the family while, in fact, he was married and living a few hours up the coast from the daffodil-yellow house.
We enjoyed the Kalami Taverna, which is situated just five feet from the water, and where we had fun watching local children splash among the large white stones that make up the beach. In Kassiopi, we found a pretty church, a lovely hike up to Kassiopi Castle, and the most wonderful shop, Agathi's Lace, where an ancient woman sells embroidered linen sheets, tablecloths, and other exquisite handwork. I loaded up an entire suitcase with gifts for Christmas.
Exploring the West of the Island
We quickly discovered that the coastal road leading north was filled with traffic, while roads headed west were fairly empty. That made crossing the middle of the island easy for us, a 30-minute ride from the calm bay of Kontokali, where the villa is situated, to the dramatic rocky coast of Paleokastritsa and the west. It’s lovely to get off the main roads and into the interior of the island, where stone-supported terraces of olive groves climb the hillsides and tavernas dot the road.
Knowing a year in advance that we would be traveling to Greece, I decided to reread the Odyssey. I signed up to audit an online class through the New York Review of Books. The course was taught by classicist Daniel Mendelsohn, whose recent translation of the epic has won many prestigious prizes. I was delighted to learn that Corfu is thought to be the ancient island of the Phaeacians and the peaceful kingdom of King Alcinoos, who ultimately returns Odysseus to Ithaka by means of his magical fast ships.
Despite the hordes of holiday-goers that pack the beaches of Paleokastritsa, it isn’t difficult to imagine the place as the site of Odysseus’ washing up on the shore and encountering the beautiful Nausikaa, daughter of the Phaeacian king, and her maids bathing. High cliffs of limestone plunge into the blue waters of the small coves that dot the western coast, and for those adventurous souls who are willing to do a steep hike, there are plenty of secret swimming coves that are not filled with people. Our friends took such a hike and said it was marvelous.
My group, on the other hand, first visited the town for a day at Aragosta, a beach club that offers private chairs and umbrellas and a lovely lunch service. My 18-year-old daughter and her friend probably enjoyed it more than the older members of our group (lots of club music played at jarring decibel levels). By night, though, Aragosta’s vibe mellows, and there is a lovely seaside restaurant that has a pretty view of the beach and the cove once the day-trippers have left.
The most stunning spot in Paleokastritsa can be found at the monastery high above the village, a beautiful, peaceful place to visit, featuring a museum, lush gardens, and a stunning view over the sea. Our second visit to this part of the coast was for dinner at one of Corfu’s best restaurants, Monastre, located just across the way from the monastery. A 7 p.m. reservation secures a seat on the terrace overlooking the same view enjoyed at the monastery. And by 8:30, as the sun begins to set between two rocky outcroppings in the sea, the place is lit up with gold and red and orange and yellow, creating one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen.
Back to the House
While the view and the sunset at Monastre would have made dining there the perfect farewell to Corfu, it was far more special to end our two weeks on this magical island with dinner on the terrace, lovingly prepared by Perikles and Ioaquim. Whether you are renting Villa Posillipo or another of the many villas for hire on Corfu, this dynamic duo is not to be missed.
How sad it was to say goodbye to the Geracaris family, to their wonderful staff, and to the villa itself. But we will return. And if you’re lucky enough to visit, I suspect you’ll do the same.
