Dinner in Old Town Corfu and the Achillion

Next to the lovely Church of San Nicolas dei Vecchi (with its 17th century murals) in the charming heart of Corfu Town, lies one of my favorite restaurants: Christa's Creperie. I think I love it as much for the ambiance as for the delicious food. It's such a romantic place.

In the summer you sit on the steps of the street on small tables (it isn't really a road but more a gradual climb on wide two meter deep steps) and in the winter time you sit in the cozy warmth of the interior... The food is marvelous. Luscious fat crepes stuffed with fresh ingredients and wonderful French sauces - yum.

It's been in business since 1980 and the owners know what people like. It's open all year round and in the summertime it's a favorite with locals as well as tourists for both lunch and dinner. (in the off-season, it's only open for dinner...)

They serve 52 different savory crepes and a wonderful selection of sweet crepes IF you have room for dessert!

[Benoit, for instance, ordered a Marango with shrimp and wine sauce]

Of course if you pace yourself you can have room for at least a taste of dessert! While Jenny and Benoit opted for the Fresh Fruit Stuffed Crepe with Creme Fraiche...

T,. bless him, ordered the flaming Grand Marnier Crepe with ice cream ... (I made him share it with me! It was great!!)

As for the rest of the evening, we had a marvelous time although the drawback of the month of August in Corfu is that there's no where to park. Poor T had to use all his cunning to find a spot, which unfortunately was still at some distance from the restaurant meaning that Jenny and I were forced to window shop as we meandered to the meeting point in San Rocco Square. We arrived with seconds to spare as the car came around the corner to swoop us up, so all's well that ends well. (except Jenny is forcing Benoit to go shopping this morning, now that the stores are OPEN.)

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On another note, I am including a little selection of Jenny and Benoit's visit to the Achillion, another nice (if expensive-7 euro!) place to visit on the island.

This lovely palace was built in 1880, for Elizabeth, Empress of Austria (Sissy). It was claimed that it was the only place she felt she could be herself. It was her summer retreat, and there are paintings and other memorabilia of her in the Palace.

She was tragically assassinated in Geneva in 1898.

In 1907, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany bought it. On the coast there is a bridge and jetty he built for his own personal access to his yacht and for his swimming trips. The bridge was mostly destroyed during the second world war to facilitate the Axis powers control of the island.

The lavish gardens are filled with statues depicting the heroic and tragic scenes of the Trojan War.

There are two quite special and famous bronze statues of the hero Achilles in the garden.

The hero Achilles, was the central theme Elizabeth had in mind behind the whole construction of her palace and the gardens. It was her tribute to platonic romanticism, and she named the entire palace after Achilles: Achillion (Αχίλλειον).


Gastouri is a charming little village that surrounds the palace with the standard narrow roads of Corfu villages. In the summer the road through the village is normally one way only.

"In Greek mythology, Achilles (Ancient Greek: Ἀχιλλεύς) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.

Achilles also has the attributes of being the most handsome of the heroes assembled against Troy.

Later legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the first century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Legend states that Achilles was semi-immortal, however his heel was vulnerable. Since he died due to a poisoned arrow shot into his heel, the "Achilles' heel" has come to mean a person's principal weakness."

The 12th James Bond spy film "For Your Eyes Only" used the Achillion for filming the casino scene.

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