An Untouched Paradise in Greece Under Threat

An article on Erimitis from our friend Alex Sakalis

“On his last visit to Corfu in the 1980s, Lee Durrell tells me, Gerald was so depressed by the rampant development on the island’s coast that he would turn his back to it while out on his boat. Just a few kilometers south of Erimitis, the headland of Dasia has recently been decapitated by a hotel development, replacing the woodland with a large concrete runway. On the island’s west coast, the famed beauty spot of Palaiokastritsa—where Odysseus is said to have disembarked and met Nausicaa—is now predominately car park.

The Corfiot coast still has a lot of beauty, but it’s getting harder and harder to find, squeezed in between the megahotels, villas, and tourist towns that seem to expand with each passing year. At this rate, it’s not hard to imagine the coastline of Corfu becoming one long conurbation. And when that happens, what will be the point anymore?”