Kanoni

Kanoni's famed vistas encompass the open sea separated by a long, narrow causeway lining the lagoon of Halikiopoulou, with the intensely green slopes of Mt. Agia Deka as a backdrop. A shorter breakwater leads to the white convent of Moni Vlahernes on a tiny islet. Beyond, tall cypresses guard Pontikonisi, or Mouse island, a rock rising dramatically from the clear water and topped by a 13th-century chapel—one of the most picturesque set pieces in all Greece. Legend has it that the island is really Odysseus's ship, which an enraged Poseidon turned to stone: the reason why Homer's much-traveled hero was shipwrecked on Phaeacia (Corfu) in The Odyssey. June to August a little motorboat runs out to Pontikonisi every 20 minutes. Keep in mind, though, that while the view of the islets has sold a thousand postcards, the view from the islets (looking back at Corfu) is that of a hilly landscape built up with resort hotels and summer homes and of the adjacent airport, where planes take off directly over the churches.