Services in Corfu Town.

No other Greek island has a capital like this. Corfu Town's UNESCO-listed old quarter is a Venetian city intact — tall shuttered houses the colour of apricots, laundry strung across kantounia alleys, campaniles above the rooftops, all held between the Old Fortress on its sea-rock and the New Fortress on the hill. The French added the Liston's arcades; the British added a palace and a cricket pitch, both still in use.

It is a city for walking with no plan: espresso under the arcades, the church of Saint Spyridon and its silver-cased patron, backstreet workshops selling kumquat liqueur and olive wood, a climb up the Old Fortress for the panorama across the strait. The dining has depth beyond taverna standards — old-school pastitsada and sofrito on marble tables, and a rising set of chef-led rooms in the old quarter.

For the Beyond Riviera journey, the town is also the hinge. Its port sends the fast ferry to Saranda in about thirty minutes, making Corfu Town the grand, civilised gateway to the rawer shore opposite — the last Venetian evening before the newest coast in Europe.