Old Fortress of Corfu

Rising from an artificial island severed from Corfu Town by the seawater-filled *Contrafossa* canal, the Old Fortress embodies centuries of formidable Venetian military engineering. Originally fortified by the Byzantines in the 6th century, the stronghold was overhauled by the Republic of Venice in the 16th century following the brutal 1537 Ottoman siege led by Admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa. Crossing the modern steel footbridge, visitors pass through rugged stone ramparts guarded by the massive Martinengo and Savorgnan bastions. Inside the lower parade grounds stands the striking Church of Saint George, erected by British forces in 1840 and styled uniquely as an ancient Doric temple with six heavy limestone columns fronting its austere facade. Cobbled ramps flanked by rusted Venetian cannons and British barracks lead uphill toward the citadel’s twin rocky heights—the *koryphes* that gave the island its name. The climb along switchback paths through pine-shaded rock terminates at the western peak beneath a 19th-century lighthouse. Standing at this windswept summit, you are confronted with a breathtaking 360-degree panorama: below, the pastel Venetian rooftops and bell towers of the Spianada unravel into the Ionian Sea, while eastward across the cobalt straits, the barren gray limestone ridges of the Albanian mainland loom starkly on the horizon.