Old town — the Liston and the Old Fortress

Corfu's old town is Venetian to the bone: tall shuttered facades in ochre and terracotta, washing lines between balconies, and lanes — the kantounia — that narrow until the light falls in slots. The Liston arcade, built by the French to echo the Rue de Rivoli, runs along the great Spianada esplanade, its cafés under the arches facing the Old Fortress across the grass.

Morning is for the kantounia, when the lanes behind Agios Spyridon are empty and the high sun has not yet flattened them; the arcade itself is best at dusk, lamps on, café tables glowing under the vaults. The Old Fortress on its double-peaked peninsula gives the wide shots: from the Spianada with the moat bridge leading in, or from the fortress walls back over the town's rooftops to the mountains of Albania across the strait.

It is a walking session — arcade, esplanade, lanes, fortress — inside one square kilometre, with no vehicle logistics at all. In cruise season, check the port schedule; the town absorbs one ship gracefully and three badly.