Kassiopi

Kassiopi or Kasiopi (Greek: Κασσιώπη, Κασσιόπη), also with the o accented is a village, and a resort on the north east coast of Corfu. It is in the municipality of Kassopaia which is also known as Kassiopi and is not a confusing name. The town itself has been heavily developed and the more expensive villas are now outside it, but it remains a summer social centre much appreciated by the English, and above all by their teenagers. During August the Italians also arrive "en masse".

Population

About Kassiopi

Uniquely on this coast, as well as the ubiquitous "tourist shops" and every kind of eating and drinking facility, there are banks with cash machines, doctors and pharmacies, internet cafes and supermarkets, a school and a church (where sightseers are welcome, as long as they respect the traditions), travel agents and a police station. Amongst the numerous waterfront restaurants and bars, the Harbour Bar.

Motor boats, which can be driven by children or adults during the daytime only, are available for hire by the day or week, at prices from 70 Euros (US$90) per day. Excursions run daily from the harbour to all parts of the island, and via Corfu Town to Albania. Scuba, a giant dog who belonged to the dive school, patrolled the whole town when not on a dive boat. He was knocked down and killed by a car in 2005.

The road runs through the edge of the town, and a loop takes buses as far as the village square, some 229 m (250 yards) from the harbour. One or two taxis (which run 24 hours a day all over the island, and also function as ambulances) are based here. Both town and country are very safe, at all times of the day.

History

The town is said to have been founded during the reign of Pyrrus, King of Epirus in the 3rd Century BC, as a supply post during his war with Rome. After the Roman conquest of the island in 230 BC, many Emperors visited, most prominantly Emperor Nero, who visited a Temple to Zeus here.

Much of a small headland to the north of the resort is taken up by a Byzantine castle. The castle was subsequently fortified further by the Venetians, and survived sieges from the Ottoman Turks in the 1500's. Today the castle is mainly ruinous, but parts of the walls can be seen from the coastal road around the headland.

Much of the houses were stone built until the 1960s. Electricity arrived in the same year. Vehicles arrived in the 1970s, the pavement of the main road and television arrived in the 1980s and computer and internet have inhabited the town in the last 10 years.

Other

Kassiopi has a school, a lyceum (middle school) a gymnasium (secondary school), churches, banks, shops and a square ("plateia").

ee also

*List of places in the Corfu prefecture

External links

* [http://www.kassiopi.info/ Kassiopi Experience]
* [http://www.kassiopi.org/ Kassiopi Corfu]
* [http://www.salcoholidays.com/ Low cost holidays to corfu]