Embracing The New Kontokali
by David A. Ross
Embracing The New Kontokali - Corfu Magazine - Vol. 4, No. 3, March 15, 2009
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I first visited the Corfu village of Kontokali in 1992 ― quite unplanned and quite by accident.
I had been traveling in Northern Italy for several weeks when I developed a severe cold. It’s never fun traveling while one is ill ― it puts a real crimp in your style ― so I decided that a week or two of warm weather and sandy beaches was just what I needed. I boarded a train in Bologna bound for Brindisi, my ultimate destination, Greece.
The truth is that Corfu was neither on my itinerary nor in my thoughts, but upon arriving in Brindisi, I noticed a sign that promised to have me in Greece in just three hours’ time. Since I’d made the trip to Patras from Brindisi once before by ferry, this claim sounded silly if not impossible, but having plenty of time until the next ferryboat left for the Greek mainland, I decided to investigate the claim.
At an ever-so-convenient ferry-booking office I was told that it was not only possible to reach the Island of Corfu by catamaran in three hours, but that it was easy. Better yet, the boat was scheduled to depart not at ten o’clock that night, like the ferry, but rather at two that afternoon. The agent assured me that if I wasted no time, I could be in Greece by dinnertime. Since warm weather and a quiet place to recover from my cold was my primary purpose for going to Greece, I decided that Corfu was probably as good as Santorini or Mykonos, and I bought a ticket then and there.
Of course, such a problem encountered in Greece is far less serious than one encountered almost anywhere else in the world, and before I’d even left the harbour, a very polite and enthusiastic man approached me with an offer of lodging in his village. When I told him that the boat had arrived late, and that I’d not had a chance to exchange money, he even offered to loan me a few drachmae until I could go to the bank the next day. Having no better offer, I decided to trust kismet. Off we raced in his beat-up car to the village of Kontokali.
In years past, before tourism came to the island, Kontokali existed mostly as a fishing village. (I have been told a few fish stories by older residents of extravagant catches in Kontokali Bay; apparently fishermen had simply to put out their nets as the fish came in with each favorable tide, and an abundance of food was assured for everyone.) Of course, those times are long gone; the building of Gouvia Marina in Kontokali’s deep-water bay changed all that. No longer did the tides guide the fish into the bay, and fishing as a way of life and a means of support for the village residents became a fond if distant memory. Today, the last vestige of those times exists in the old and dilapidated fishing village that can still be seen (and is actually still inhabited) across the water from the marina on the shores of the jetty that defines Kontokali’s perimeter.
As promised, the catamaran left Brindisi at precisely two o’clock in the afternoon, but three hours later it seemed we were not much closer to Greece than when we’d left Italy. Understanding that exaggerated claims are more the norm than the exception in most tourist offices, I tried to sleep in my seat as we bounced along over the waves, a tissue wadded up in my palm, and a hope in my heart that the agent’s claim would not prove to be as ludicrous as I’d originally thought. Alas, that hope soon turned to resignation as the catamaran’s engines failed halfway across the Adriatic, stranding us at sea for more than three hours while repairs were made. I finally arrived in Corfu around ten o’clock that night, frustrated, flush with fever, and with no Greek money in my pocket.
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Modern Day Kontokali
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Kontokali Bay Hotel Complex
Dancing at Takis Taverna &
Romantica Night Club ca. 1968
Photo courtesy of Pamela Wells
Early visitor to Kontokali ca. 1971
In background GnM's Bar
which still exits today in a somewhat different form.
Photo courtesy of Pamela Wells
By 1992, as it was for several years prior to my first visit, Kontokali had become a village teeming with tourists. To accommodate the needs of the many visitors each summer, businesses were established ― sometimes seemingly overnight ― including tourist apartments and studios, a large campground that accommodated hundreds of tent campers, restaurants of every style catering to every taste, cafes, bars, bakeries, grocery stores, motorbike rental shops, car rental agencies, tourist and ticketing agencies, gift shops and nightclubs. At times, during the peak of the summer tourist season, it was actually difficult to navigate through the crowds on the streets of Kontokali. A few of the better known businesses of the time included Taki's Taverna, where young people danced away the night (and the day) underneath the gazebo behind the restaurant and schemed with
new friends about continuing their backpacking journeys to such exotic places as India or Egypt or Morocco; Harry’s Taverna, once a stable and a way stop for travelers on their way to Corfu Town from the mountain villages, became a popular magnet for young and adventurous travelers (Spiros Gerekos offered food, lodging and a party every night of the summer); Navigator’s Pub, where hundreds were served every day by a staff of a dozen; and GnM’s Bar, where the music and dancing went on every night until sun-up. It was indeed a boom time for the people of this venerable village who adapted well and rapidly to the sudden onslaught of foreign visitors.
It is said that ‘every dog has his day’, and this axiom has proved no less true for the village of Kontokali. During the late 1990’s and the early part of the current decade, tourism gradually declined as higher profile resorts developed on both the north and west coasts of the island. These resorts included the villages of Paleokastritsa, Pelekas, Sidari, Kassipoi, Nissaki, Benitsas, Mesonghi, Cavos, Ipsos, Dasia, Acharavi, Agni, Kalami, and even the neighboring village of Gouvia, not to mention others. Once a Mecca for young, independent travelers, Kontokali slowly slid into relative obscurity as the faithful matured and moved on to more developed vacation destinations. Businesses closed by the score, and shop fronts were boarded over. Only the most ardent devotees continued to come to the village each summer on holiday ― a club of sorts, most of whom knew one another from the ‘old days’ and who continued to visit much as one attends a class reunion or makes a yearly pilgrimage.
Of the many establishments that lined Kontokali’s streets in its hay day, those that still remain seem to exist in a state of somnolence, their proprietors remembering brighter days and hoping for their return. Both Takis Taverna and Harry’s Taverna have been around for more than a hundred years, though the mood in both restaurants is no longer frenetic but rather relaxed and perhaps even a bit retrospective. Now gone are the backpackers, the hippies, and the carefree itinerants. Without question, a fondly remembered (and sometimes not so fondly remembered) era in Kontokali’s history has come to an end. Yet with each ending there surely comes a new beginning, and if one looks through the lens of the present tense, he might well detect the beginnings of a renaissance for this venerable village.
Nowadays, Gouvia Marina has in fact become Kontokali’s defining tourist facility, offering berths for more than eight hundred yachts (now one of the Mediterranean’s premier mooring facilities). Support businesses in the marina include an administration office, two full service restaurants (both excellent), five café/bars, two chandleries, estate agents, yacht charter companies, the Port Authority, maintenance companies, a jeweler, and an Olympic-size swimming pool that is free and open to the public. The marina is also home to Corfu Sea Planes, an aviation company that flies three small aircraft not only on sightseeing trips for tourists, but also to regional destinations for local residents. Thousands of sailors pass through this facility each summer, not to mention those who live year round aboard their boats. What’s more, the development and continuing enhancement of the marina has led to a substantial expatriate community living in and around Kontokali, and it is now as common to hear English being spoken as it is to hear Greek ― even by many of the Greeks! Kontokali is now home to English, Dutch, Austrians, Germans, French, Polish, Czechs, Canadians, Italians, Australians, New Zealanders, and Albanians. It is truly an international community.
But even as Gouvia Marina has breathed new life into a once vital and now faltering tourist village, a highly significant second development now dominates Kontokali’s horizon (or is it Kontokali’s skyline?). Of course I am referring to the so-called ‘new’ hospital (at present under construction for fifteen years, more or less). Corfiots have watched first with enthusiasm, and then with fits of anger and disgust, as this edifice has finally risen from concept into monolith, albeit in fits and starts, and amidst philandering and corruption. Still not quite finished, the projected completion date is now 2010, which might bring one close to tears of laughter if it were not obvious by appearance that the project might just become a reality in his lifetime.
All sarcasm aside, the new hospital is sorely needed. It will replace the old and outdated hospital in Corfu Town, and it will serve not only Corfu, but also the entire Ionian region. Once online, the facility will employ a staff of over 500 for each of three shifts round the clock. Not only will Kontokali benefit from the presence of a new workforce of more than 1,500 people, but it will no doubt welcome a hole host of support businesses, from medical suppliers to uniform companies and dry cleaners, from florists to administration offices, from private medical and dental practices to linen suppliers, not to mention the so-called social businesses, such as restaurants and cafés and apartments, that will be needed by the hospital staff. Already the village has seen a wave of speculative building, new modern structures that remain untenanted for the present but which will certainly be in high demand once the hospital opens. Even though the construction of the new hospital has been excruciatingly slow, Kontokali must count itself lucky for its location. Once up and running, the hospital will transform this now lethargic village into a vital suburban satellite of Corfu Town. Property values will increase, goods and services will become more available, and the overall quality of life will be enhanced for all who live within the greater environment.
Having first come to Kontokali in 1992, and now having lived there since 2001, I have personally witnessed many of the changes here described. From my apartment window, located about half a kilometer outside the village and perhaps a hundred and fifty meters above, I can see both the marina and the new hospital. To me, both features represent the new Kontokali ― one that I wholeheartedly embrace. Both developments are substantial and presumably long lasting, and offer the village a future that is progressive, uplifting and positive. One might wax nostalgic for simpler times (and those times are certainly valuable and in many ways appealing), but time inevitably marches on, needs change, places undergo renovation. Evolution is the nature not only of our natural world, but of our social and cultural world, too. Which is why I am embracing the new Kontokali…
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