Two scarecrows, two swans, two chimneys.

Three of my own photos.

I am reminded of the lyrics of the great Blind Lemon Jefferson song, "See that my grave is kept clean":

"Lord, it's two white horses in a line (x 3)
Going take me to my buryin' ground."

Porta Riala, another destroyed Corfu monument...

This was Konstantinos Theotokis' poetic lament on the 1893 destruction of Porta Riala by "barbarians".

Lorentzos Mavilis also wrote a strong poem on the subject, which finishes with a curse on the Corfiots who destroyed Porta Riala. He wants his verse to live on, both as a reminder of the destruction they caused, but also in the hope that the island's despoilers will burn for their sins!

It was the British who'd destroyed the Porta Remunda (Raimonda) gate, in 1837. All in a good cause, of course...to open up the seafront (Strada Marina) road down to Garitsa.

The Fate of Corfu's Municipal Theatre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Du5oS

Watch the moving YouTube elegy about the fate of Corfu's demolished Municipal Theatre, and about the building that replaced it.

It could have been restored, it's often said, in spite of the devastating effect of the German incendiary bombs dropped on Corfu after midnight on 13 September 1943 (until around 4am on 14 September) and the destructive fires that started. The Ionian Parliament and Ionian Academy buildings were eventually restored.

Corfu had no John Betjeman at the time.

Corfu, Strada Reale

Corfu, c. 1850

Ortelius map of Corfu, 1595, 1601, 1602