In the afternoon we visited the Achilleion at Gastouri, squeezed in between Perama and Benitses. It is a museum now but was once a summer Palace built in 1890 by the Empress Elisabeth of Austria who was a curious woman obsessed with the classical Homeric hero Achilles and with all things beautiful (including herself by all accounts).
The Palace with the neoclassical Greek statues that surround it is a monument to platonic romanticism and escapism and is filled with paintings and statues of the tragic hero Achilles, both in the main hall and in the gardens, depicting heroic struggles scenes of the Trojan War.
The dazzling white Palace has a wedding cake like appearance and the beautiful Imperial gardens on the hill look over the surrounding green hill crests and valleys and the azure blue Ionian Sea.
I had visited before of course and this was the Palace in 1984…
The centre piece of the gardens is a marble statue on a high pedestal of the mortally wounded Achilles stripped of body armour and heroic bravado and wearing only a simple cloth and an elaborate Greek hoplite helmet. This statue was fashioned by German sculptor Ernst Gustav Herter and the hero is without rank or status and seems notably human though tragic as he is forever trying despairingly to pull the poisoned arrow shot by Paris from his unfortunate heel.
His classically depicted face is full of pain and he gazes skyward as if to seek help from Olympus.
In Greek mythology when Achilles was a baby it was foretold that he would die young. To prevent this his mother Thetis took him to the River Styx which was said to offer powers of invulnerability and dipped his whole body into the water, however, as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river and was therefore tragically vulnerable. I have always thought of this to be rather careless.
Oddly today there was no arrow on the statue, it seems to have been removed, maybe stolen or perhaps for preservation and repairs, it was certainly there in 1984…
and in the souvenir tile that I bought several years later, on the island of Santorini if I remember correctly…
In contrast to the painful death of Achilles at the great staircase in the main hall is a giant painting of the triumphant warrior full of pride. Dressed in full royal military regalia and erect on his racing chariot he pulls the lifeless body of Hector of Troy in front of the stunned crowd watching helplessly from inside the walls of the City.
The Achilleion must have been an idyllic holiday home but in 1898 at the age of sixty the Empress was assassinated when she was stabbed by an anarchist whilst walking in a park in Geneva, Switzerland. After her death the palace was sold to the German Kaiser Wilhelm II who also liked to take summer holidays on Corfu and later, after World-War One it was acquired by the Greek State who converted it into a museum.
It is a beautiful place with grand sweeping gardens befitting royal ownership and we enjoyed the visit and even went back later to see the sunset from the Kaiser’s chair which is an area at the highest point in the gardens where Wilhelm would go in the evening to enjoy the end of the day.
On the way out we passed Kaiser’s Bridge which is just two stumps of brickwork now but was originally built for the Kaiser so that he could leave his yacht and walk to his palace without crossing the road. How self-indulgent was that? The road can hardly have been busy or dangerous in 1900!
Two stumps of brickwork now because in 1942 it was ironically blown up by the occupying German troops because it was too low for their tanks to pass below.
And so we returned to Kalami and our short holiday was over, we packed our bags and cleaned the apartment, I always like to clean an apartment in case we get a bad reputation as untidy guests and then inevitably we returned to the same beach side taverna for a final meal. It had been a very good week, beaches, sunshine, long walks, a boat ride and a lot of history. Corfu remains one of my favourite places in Greece and all of Europe.
Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…
It may have been careless, but without it, Achilles’ heel would have no meaning and humanity would’ve had to wait until Superman’s Kryptonite for a useful metaphor.
LikeLike
I am surprised however how many people use the phrase but don’t know the origin.
LikeLike
Sadly, ignorance no longer surprises . . . it’s the opposite that catches me off-guard.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everybody knows something. Just different things.
LikeLike
Hmm . . . that’s a pretty low standard. Plus, that can be interpreted as a specialization which is perfectly fine. General knowledge is another matter, and by that, I mean stuff one almost certainly has been exposed to.
I’m not expecting/demanding erudition, but we live in a world awash with information presented to us in multiple mediums and in many venues.
What I call “Willful Ignorance” (for me) shows a lack of curiosity about things one has most certainly heard or seen or read. Lack of curiosity (for me) is synonymous with “no desire to learn” and that’s a trait I need respect or excuse. But, I’m weird that way.
LikeLike
But people have channels of interest and learning curiosity. Personally I like history and literature but not science. I imagine you too have specific areas of interest?
LikeLike
Yes; that’s specialization. I’m arguing there’ss a broader class of knowledge encompassing stuff that is part of everyone’s sphere of experience.
One need not study it to be exposed to the major themes of Greek Mythology; they permeate the world we live in. Same for Shakespeare; I don’t have to read the boring stories (I haven’t) to be familiar with what they say and recognize references pertaining to the more popular and well-known of the plays.
My wife knows a lot more about quilting than I do, but I’m not ignorant of the basics and if I hear a term I don’t know, I can ask or look it up. If you use a British colloquialism I’m not familiar with, I’ll look it up. I don’t like most sports, but I know enough about them because in 60 years of exposure I’ve absorbed a fair amount of background on them.
I’m not religious but I know a fair amount about many religions (some of the faithful barely master their own religion and then only by hearsay rather than studying it).
And on and on and on. Unless someone is sheltered from modern life, there’s really no excuse for ignorance about a wide range of topics unless they can genuinely say they’ve never heard of a term or concept.
LikeLike
I agree. I expect everyone to know about Achilles Heel.
I know nothing about Baseball of American Football.
LikeLike
Is this Empress Sisi of Austria?
LikeLike
Yes, the same. An interesting woman.
LikeLike
Yeah, the Princess Diana of Austro-Hungarians.
LikeLike
Well that was a great holiday.. I feel as if I’m packing my bags too.. 😉
LikeLike
Thanks for coming along Lisa!
LikeLike
I seem to remember a chap called Siegfried who had pretty much the same thing happen to him, except that it was a leaf that kept the dragon’s blood off his back and the arrow went through that tiny gap. As for the Kaiser, perhaps there was a lot of horse muck on the road and he didn’t want to slip on it.
LikeLike
Donkey doo more likely. Thanks for the Siegfried story.
LikeLike
A fascinating tour and stories.
LikeLike
I’ve much enjoyed your vacation Andrew. Where are you off to next?
LikeLike
Just returned from Berlin so will be writing that up soon. No plans then until the Spring. What about you?
LikeLike
Portugal over Christmas and New Year then Dubai (hubbie’s work) in Feb. Dialling back a bit on travel next year as hubbie wants to ride l’Etape du Tour (around Nice) in early July so he’ll need to train plenty.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah.. good old Sisi. Mad as a box of frogs and quite unsuited for the role she found herself in… It’s a fabulous building though.
LikeLike
Mad but harmless with ultimately a sad ending. Are you feeling better now?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, thank you. It was definitely norovirus. Violent as hell while it lasts, but gone in around 36-48 hours.
LikeLike
We did the palace on a day trip on the island and somewhere in a box we must have a few photos. I remember it as beautiful, but I can’t remember where else we went on that day out. Is there a butterfly valley, or am I confusing that with Rhodes? 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
It was used in the Bond film ‘For Your Eyes Only’. You might have gone to Palaiokastritsa on that day out around Corfu. You are right about Butterfly Valley, it is in Rhodes.
LikeLike
Yes, we did go to Paleokastritsa- very briefly 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person