Kalami Corfu History
Corfu is the ancient Phaiax, according to Homer, the island that Odysseus found the hospitality and warmness during his adventurous journey to his home Ithaca. Corfu is the island of beautiful Aphrodite, of Love and Romance. People adored it throughout the years, as princess Elizabeth of Austria, who built the Achillion Palace. Corfu is the link to Greek and European civilizations, which are reflected clearly to the architecture and the way of life.
Corfu is unique, because every part of the island has a different natural beauty and charm.
In the northeastern Corfu, there is a scenic horseshoe-shaped bay, laying every visitor under its spell. In Greek language, Kalami means reed and the name is given to this seaside village because of the reeds in the centre of the beach in front of the houses.
Kalami is a traditional fishing village, which combines the scenery of the countryside amongst the mountains with lush of greenery and the crystal waters of Ionian Sea.
Kalami is characterized by two coves, Kouloura and Cavo Kefali.
In the past, Kalami was a thinly populated village with a police station and an olive press. Fishing was a way of families’ living, but the main income for the locals was the sale of the olive oil. The people were collecting the olives one by one and they carried them with a horse or a donkey to the olive press. A very difficult and hard work.
In the one side of Kalami beach, there was a small pier, which is still preserved, for the taxi boats to Corfu Town. The boats were the only transport for the village people to go to Corfu Town and sell the olive oil.
Kalami started to be well known when the famous, Nobel Prize nominated writer, Lawrence Durrell found this beautiful bay as the perfect spot to concentrate on his writing. He built the White House on a promontory, on the side of Cavo Kefali, just a few steps from the sea. His inspiration leaded him on writing the best seller Prospero’s Cell and guided the readers to discover Kalami. Durrell lived here between the years 1936 – 1939. When the 2nd World War started, he left Kalami.
Lawrence Durrell’s words, describing the White House:
“…set like a dice in a rock already venerable with the scars of wind and water. The hill runs clear up into the sky behind it so that the cypresses and olives overhang this room in which I sit and write. We are upon a bare promontory with its beautiful clean surface of metamorphic stone covered in olive and ilex.”
“The rooms look lovely and gracious with their white-washed walls, and the few bright paintings and books. The windows give directly on the sea, so that its perpetual sighing is the rhythm of our work and our sleeping. By day it runs golden on the ceilings, reflecting back the bright peasant rungs – a ship, a gorgon, a loom, a cypress-tree; reflecting back the warm crude pottery of our table…”
In 1970 Corfu met the tourist development initially with the Club Meditteranee in Dassia, which welcomed French tourists. In 1974, a kafeneion (traditional local cafι) opened on the ground floor of the White House in Kalami. Trekkers or boats with French tourists were stopping at the kafeneion for a drink. Then tourists from other countries started to visit Corfu spending their holidays in some of the most attractive resorts of the island. The village people were letting some rooms, which were available in their houses, as their children had left the village, living in Corfu Town for work or education.
In 1977 the tourist demands were becoming more and more. Kassiopi was a big attraction with a satisfactory capability in accommodation, just 7km from Kalami village. More and more tourists from Kassiopi and neighbouring resorts were visiting Kalami discovering its unique beauty. A quiet unspoiled village.
Georgotzis family owned a small house on the beach, which was used before the war for housing the Albania workers for the gathering of the olives.
In 1980, Georgotzis family decided to redecorate the small house to a snack bar. In 1985 the little snack bar turned into the taverna Kalami Beach offering home cooked Corfiot and Greek food.
Corfu was already a popular tourist destination and the locals were occupied in tourist businesses for a qualified way of living. It is preferable for someone to work in a taverna, bar, travel office, hotel, apartments, club, socializing happy people who enjoy their holiday than working hard for the collection of the olives.
The explosive tourist development turned the little fishing village of Kalami to one of the most popular resorts of Corfu with a dynamic of 1000 beds, three tavernas, three mini markets, 3 bars, 3 travel offices and 2 tourist shops. Kalami is still the beautiful horseshoe-shaped bay with the shingle beach and the clear cobalt-blue sea. Ideal for swimming as the beach is awarded with the blue flag.
This is Kalami, my village, where I was born, I live, I work and I have the privilege to meet people with different cultures, making friends every year. Even though Kalami has changed, it is still an unspoiled village. Each one of us, the people who work in Kalami, have the care, the love and the respect to what we do, as we cannot forget from where we have started.
The visitors who come year after year prove that Kalami is a unique paradise. Kalami promises unforgettable, relaxing holidays in Corfu.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Kalami!
Nikos Katsaros
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