A Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise sends a themed ship along the shore of Corfu Town, so the old fortress and the harbour front come into view from the water. Other trips around the country are listed on the home page of tours in Greece.
This page covers what the cruise is, how long it lasts, where it starts, what the coast shows, Vido island, the sea history behind the trip and the questions travellers ask.
What is a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
A Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise puts passengers on a themed ship styled after pirates. The information page says the ship sails a loop along the coast of Corfu Town. The captain tells stories about the island.
The page calls the vessel a themed cruise ship. A themed ship is dressed up to give the feel of a story. Here the story is a sea adventure. The page mentions the ship’s colourful look, its decorations and its interior details. It adds that interactive elements keep up the pirate mood.
On a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise, the page says every guest receives a pirate hat and a sword. The deck gives a view of the shoreline, and the crew keeps the mood friendly and lively. The page calls the format light-hearted and playful, and it says the cruise is especially popular with families with children.
Wikipedia describes Corfu as one island of the Ionian group, in the west of Greece. The island occupies the northwestern corner of Greece. Off its northeastern edge lies the Albanian coast. The straits vary between 3 and 23 kilometres in width. The island measures about 64 kilometres in length. The capital of its regional unit carries the same name.
A Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise gives a view of the town from the water. Wikipedia says the town occupies the wide part of a peninsula, with two castles enclosing it. No other city in Greece is surrounded that way. The article adds that the Greek government officially named it a kastropolis, which means castle city.
The information page says a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise makes the same view look new. The ship rounds the coast, and passengers see the old town with its fortresses and historical buildings as a panorama. In the page’s words, familiar landmarks are seen from a completely new perspective, from the open sea.
How long is a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
The information page says a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise lasts just over an hour. In its own figures, the main sailing takes 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is 75 minutes on the water.
For the whole outing, the page suggests setting aside between 1.5 and 2 hours. It counts the time for boarding and for a possible stop at Vido island on top of the sailing. The page adds that a traveller who goes ashore to walk on the island makes the total visit longer.
The page lists the Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise daily, Monday to Sunday, between noon and 6 in the evening. Trips run throughout the day. It says the number of departures changes with the weather and the tourist season. For the next trip, it points to the pier and to the operator’s website.
The outing follows a simple rhythm. Passengers board, the ship loops along the coast, and it returns to the port. The page says the ship runs regularly. A visitor who lands on Vido can come back on a later trip.
Two numbers matter when planning. The sailing takes 75 minutes, and the page puts the whole outing at 1.5 to 2 hours. The page counts boarding and a possible stop at Vido as the extra time. A Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise is therefore the short part of the outing.
Where does a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise start?
The information page says the Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise starts in the New Port of Corfu Town. The pier sits in the port area, within walking distance of the historical centre.
The Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise has its office and departure point in the port area, the page says. Wikipedia gives the Greek name of the harbour as Neo Limani, which it translates as New Port. Wikivoyage lists a taxi rank in each harbour, one in the Old Port and one in the New Port.
For travellers from further away or from the airport, the page lists bus number 15 and route 2bis. Both go to the city centre. Wikivoyage puts the airport two kilometres south of the town. It says bus 15 links the airport, the town and the port, and runs regularly in season.
The page puts a taxi ride at about ten to fifteen minutes. Travellers who arrive on a cruise ship reach the dock on foot within minutes. Parking spaces are available in the port area for those who come by car.
In peak season, the page advises arriving fifteen to twenty minutes before the Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise leaves. Its stated aim is to take seats on board comfortably.
Wikipedia says the old town has World Heritage status from UNESCO. The cobblestone streets are called kantounia and are sometimes too narrow for vehicles. Because the pier lies close to the centre, the sea trip can be combined with a walk through those streets.
What does a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise show along the coast?
The information page says a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise rounds the coast and shows landmarks from the open sea. From the deck, it lists the old town, its fortresses, its historical buildings and the Old Fortress.
Wikipedia describes the Old Fortress as a Venetian fortress on the promontory that first held the old town. By creating a moat called the Contrafossa, the Venetians separated it from the city. This sea channel runs from the Gulf of Kerkyra to the Bay of Garitsa. That made the citadel an artificial island.
Wikipedia says the town took its Western name from the twin peaks of the fortress, called Coryphe in Greek. It adds that Kastropolis, meaning castle city, is a name for the city dating from the Middle Ages. The name refers to its two castles.
On a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise, the deck views include landscapes that once served as film locations. The page names the film: For Your Eyes Only, from the James Bond series. Wikipedia places one scene at the Old Fortress, where Bond pushes a car off a cliff. The page also names the island of Vido among the sights.
Wikipedia places the New Fortress on St. Mark’s hill, where the Venetians built it. Wikivoyage dates the work to the sixteenth century. Wikipedia counts seven hundred pieces of artillery among its fortifications and estimates their reach as far as the Albanian coast. Its huge walls loom over the landscape for anyone travelling from the New Port to the city.
The old town front is part of the coast that a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise rounds. On land, the Spianada, which Wikipedia calls the largest square in Greece, faces the Old Fortress. The Liston, an esplanade, lies between the town and the citadel.
What is Vido island on a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
Vido is a small island by the entrance to Corfu port. It lies about one kilometre north of the Old Fortress. Travellers on a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise can step ashore there, one information page says. Wikipedia says the island is less than a kilometre across.
The same page describes the landing as a self-paced walk. Travellers explore the plants and animals, then return on the ship’s next trip. Wikipedia names peacocks, pheasants and rabbits as wildlife on the island.
Travellers who leave a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise at Vido step onto an island with a long fortress history. Wikipedia names three forts that once stood there: Fort Schulenburg, Fort George and Fort Wellington. Work on Fort Schulenburg began in seventeen sixteen and ended in seventeen twenty-seven.
The French built two more forts and added tunnels. The British tore down the French buildings and built three new forts. Greece received the Ionian Islands in eighteen sixty-four, and the fortresses were blown up. Traces of Fort Wellington survive today.
The First World War gave Vido a grim role. After the Serbian army retreated in nineteen fifteen, Wikipedia says, the sick were treated on Vido to prevent epidemics. The island was small and its soil rocky, so the dead had to be buried at sea. Wikipedia counts over 5,000 burials in the waters near the island.
In the nineteen thirties Serbs put up a monument on Vido to thank the Greek nation. One information page says a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise lets travellers see a Serbian monument on Vido. Wikipedia says a poem by Milutin Bojić gave the sea around Vido the name Blue Sea Tomb.
What sea history stands behind a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
Sea history behind a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise runs from ancient naval battles to Venetian forts and Ottoman sieges. One information page says the ship looks like a vessel from the distant past but is a modern tourism project.
The theme of a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise has real roots on the island. Wikipedia says the medieval castles of Corfu remain from the long struggle against pirate and Ottoman invaders. Two of those castles wrap around the capital, the only Greek city with such a ring.
Wikipedia says Venice held the island from the early thirteenth century, and it became a bulwark against the Ottoman Empire. The Old Fortress article says the fort repulsed three major Ottoman sieges, in fifteen thirty-seven, fifteen seventy-one and seventeen sixteen. In seventeen sixteen Venice put Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg in charge of the defence.
Wikipedia dates the siege of Corfu from November seventeen ninety-eight to March seventeen ninety-nine. A Russian and Ottoman force under Admiral Fyodor Ushakov attacked the French troops there. The allies took Vido on the twenty-eighth of February, and the French surrendered on the third of March.
Wikipedia says the Barbary pirates began to work out of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli around the year fifteen hundred. Muslim corsairs frequently attacked the coastal towns of Italy, Spain and the Mediterranean islands. The Golden Age of Piracy came later, between the sixteen-fifties and the seventeen-thirties, in the North Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
A Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise draws on that age, says one information page, through interior details and interactive elements. Wikipedia says the pirate of popular culture is taken largely from that age, if not always with accuracy.
What else do travellers ask about a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
How do travellers handle seasickness on a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
Wikipedia traces motion sickness to a mismatch between expected and actual movement. It puts the susceptible share of the population at about one-third.
For a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise, the seasickness section is the useful part. It blames the urge to shelter below decks, where the traveller loses sight of the surroundings. Its behavioural measures are a steady head and a gaze on the horizon. Poor visibility, such as fog, can worsen it.
What weather does a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise meet on the Ionian Sea?
Wikipedia classes the climate of Corfu as hot-summer Mediterranean: hot, dry summers and cool-to-mild, very rainy winters. Compared with the other Greek islands, Corfu has much wetter winters, it adds. Summer days in Corfu Town reach 33 degrees Celsius, with high relative humidity.
A Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise sails on the Ionian Sea, which Wikipedia calls an elongated bay of the Mediterranean. Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada and Ithaca share the sea with Corfu as its main islands.
Which museums stand near a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
One information page points to the area around the port for a walk after the sailing. It lists the Byzantine Museum of Antivouniotissa at 0.6 kilometres. The Bell Tower of the Annunziata Church follows at 0.7 kilometres. Both sit within reach on foot or by transport, it adds.
Wikipedia describes the Antivouniotissa Museum as a museum of post-Byzantine religious art in a former church. The church was probably built at the end of the fifteenth century. The museum opened in nineteen eighty-four, inaugurated by the Minister of Culture, Melina Merkouri.
Where can travellers meet ancient Corfu after a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
The same page names two more nearby places of interest: the Archaeological Museum of Corfu and the Museum of Palaiopolis. The Archaeological Museum rose between nineteen sixty-two and nineteen sixty-five, Wikipedia says. Its first purpose was to house finds of the Temple of Artemis.
Its Gorgon pediment is the oldest stone pediment in Greece, dated to 590 to 580 BC, Wikipedia says. Mon Repos, a former royal summer home, lies to the south of Corfu City. It has housed the Museum of Palaiopolis since the year two thousand and one.
What stands around the Liston on a day with a Corfu pirate ship coastal cruise?
Wikipedia credits the Liston to Mathieu de Lesseps, a French imperial commissioner, in the year eighteen hundred and seven. The Rue de Rivoli of Paris inspired the design, Wikipedia says. The Liston has arcaded terraces and fashionable cafes.
A palace known as the Royal Palace dominates the northern end of the Spianada, Wikipedia says. It began as the home of the Lord High Commissioner, a British post for the Ionian Islands. Today the building holds a museum of Asian art.