Читать книгу Walking and Trekking on Corfu. The Corfu Trail and 22 outstanding day-walks онлайн

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Extensive oak forests once cloaked the hilly island, and were widely exploited by the Venetians who used the wood for shipbuilding. They were partially replaced by extensive and profitable olive groves: the Venetians paid the farmers to plant them, and accepted taxes paid in oil. An estimated three million graceful olive trees now thrive on Corfu. In early spring tiny sprigs of round, creamy blooms appear between the tiny blue-green leaves. A story narrates that the island’s patron saint, Spiridion, appeared in a vision forbidding people either to prune the trees or pick the fruit; this may explain the abandoned look of the majority of the groves (cutting down trees is still prohibited by law), but not the fact that each winter families painstakingly collect the tiny black olives and press them to make fragrant oil.

Wildlife

The island is not heaving with wildlife, but a number of delightful sightings are on the cards. The magic flickering of fireflies is hard to beat of a summer evening. Another treat are the 83 species of butterflies. Freshwater terrapins are not uncommon inland, in or near streams, while yellow-and-black tortoises may be heard moving around in the undergrowth. Exported as pets in the 1960s, nowadays they are thankfully protected.