Posts Tagged ‘Cheap Airfares’
The most northerly and, with Greece’s highest rainfall, the greenest of the Ionian Islands. Corfu lies close to the mainland and the Albanian coast. Described by Homer as ‘beautiful and rich’, it is mountainous, lushly fertile and fringed by fine beaches with lovely aquamarine waters.
From the 8th century BC, Corfu was subject to a succession of powers, though it never became part of the Ottoman Empire.
Venice held it for 200 years, then Napoleon seized it, and for some years it was a British Protectorate. Long a favourite with travelers, its quiet, idiosyncratic life is lovingly recorded in the books of Lawrence and Gerald Durrell. Now despite some indiscriminate tourist development, it remains bewitching.
Corfu Town is a lovely place, a blend of splendid Italianate buildings; narrow alleyways and grand, French-influenced arcades. There are museums and fine churches, including the Church of Ayios Spyridhon, where the mummified body of the island’s patron saint lies in a glass-fronted coffin. (It is paraded through the town several times a year.) A popular excursion is to the photogenic islets of Vlaherna and Pondikonissi.
North from Corfu Town, brash or prestigious resorts are interspersed with fishing harbours and backed by magnificent scenery. Southwards lie the site of the ancient capital, Corcyra, and some large resorts.
Then a winding coastal road reaches some quieter beaches. The west coast boasts long stretches of glorious sand, a backdrop of green mountains – and some of the largest hotel conglomerations. Even here, more peaceful coves can be reached by boat, or a scramble on foot.
Inland, traditional villages offer shade and good food. Corfiot cuisine, unusually, has no Turkish influence, and often seems more Italian than Greek. A stroll and a climb in scented mountain air amid ancient olive trees rewards with views over ethereal greenness towards the heavenly blue sea.
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Part of the Mascarene Islands, the Republic of Mauritius is off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, 900 km (560 mi) east of Madagascar. The republic consists of five islands: St Brandon, Rodrigues, two Agalegas Islands and Mauritius itself.
The latter was originally uninhabited, but the Dutch named the island and established a colony that was seized by the French in 1715. They renamed the place Ile de France and built a prosperous economy based on sugar. But the British took the island in 1810 and it reverted to the original name.
Independence was granted in 1968 and this Commonwealth country is a stable democracy with one of Africa’s highest per capita incomes. This might be guessed by a visitor to Port Louis, who finds a sophisticated place with a cluster of high and medium rise buildings that might be mistaken from afar as the downtown area of a small American city, were it not for its location beside the azure Indian Ocean, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation.
Tourism has become an increasingly important sector of the economy, which had hitherto been based on sugar plantations and off-shore financial services.
The effort to attract visitors is proving successful, and might not even need the boost of a move to duty-free status. Mauritius is the most accessible island in the Indian Ocean, with wonderful beaches and crystal-clear waters.
Important though these essential ingredients of every tropical holiday destination may be, Mauritius has something extra, friendly people and a vibrant cultural mix that will leave a long-lasting impression.
There is a festival or fiesta practically every week and a tempting variety of ethnic food choices. The place must be good. Author Mark Twain remarked that Mauritius was made before heaven, and heaven modeled on Mauritius.
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