Whilst there are certainly touristy places on Corfu you’d want to avoid (…Kavos/Κάβος…), the island has not been spoiled by tourism. You just have to know where to go.
Just 3 km* from Agios Geiorgos Argyradon lies a forgotten little corner of Corfu. To the North is the built up section of the East coast – the villages of Moraitika (Μοράτικα), Messongi (Μεσογγή) and Benitses (Μπενίτσες). To the south is Kavos (Κάβος) – the 18/30s town.
In this “forgotten little corner” of Corfu lies the small fishing village of Petriti (Πετριτή). And it really is a proper fishing village – one popular with the Greeks, as there are many who are in to their seafood. This part of Corfu is like another world – driving down from Argyrades you pass people transporting goods with their donkeys.
In the harbour of Patriti you’ll find lots of fishing boats – and the fisherman sat next to them selling the freshly caught fish. We parked in Petriti and walked around a bit – we walked past all the fisherman, as the shouted what they’d caught that day.
There are a number of fish tavernas offering fresh fish every day – there’s the Stamatis (on the beach) whose menu we looked at. There’s rather a lot on the menu ranging from sardines and mackeral to sole (Γλώσσα/Seezunge). There must have been between 10 and 20 different types of fish on their menu – amongst other things, of course. I think my best advise would be to walk around the village and see what you can find – its certainly not been spoiled by tourism so is a good way to get away from the crowds.
There is a beach at Petriti – the sea is very calm and there’s no sunbeds on it. Its not as sandy as Agios Geiorgos Argyradon. Although its not a bad place to have a quick swim, we prefered the beach at Notos.
Notos Beach (Παραλία Νότου) – meaning “Beach of the South) is just a little way up the coast from Petriti – not far from Agios Nikolaos (Άγιος Νικόλαος). Here, there are just a couple of tavernas and a couple of beaches. You can get to the larger one by walking down the steep road, and just sit on the beach.
OR, walk through the gardens of one of the tavernas (I’m not sure what its called – but its not the one with the car park opposite). This will take you down to the smaller beach, by the jetty where small boats do daily trips over to the mainland. There are some sunbeds (free of charge I think) in their large garden – not a massive amount though as it’s not a massive beach. At one stage we were the only ones there!
The sea is very calm because the East coast of Corfu in general is sheltered. Its like a swimming pool, and its great for snorkelling. I’m not a massive fan of beaches, but I quite liked this one; we also went back the next day.
Use the interactive map below to work out exactly where I’m talking about – it might make it slightly easier to picture it when you’re there yourself…
View Corfu 2011 in a larger map
* 3km is distance from one side of the island to the other. Note that the distance on the road it works out as further. You know what Greek roads are like!
