To save confusion Sidari, Melitsa and the Canal De Amour are in Peroulades.
Peroulades was for many years one of the main villages in North Corfu.
Since tourism however, and having no large beach, Peroulades has slowly
declined in importance. There has however been a drift away from the noise
and pressure of the more popular resorts. There are now new apartment
complexes with large pools and cafe's being built around Peroulades and
miles away from the coast. They are within walking distance of the village
certainly less than a mile. This means hopefully that slowly this beautiful
old village will come back to life. At the moment there is only one taverna,
Yianni's Coffee Shop open to tourists. There are two others but one always
seems to be shut and the other seems to be more of a meeting place for
the elderly. Peroulades does have a general store that reminds one of
a shop out of victorian times. It does not pretend to be a supermarket.
Although Peroulades is not as busy as it was in former times it still
comes to life during religious festivals, weddings, etc. The festvals there
are traditional, unlike so many others whose main reason for being are
cheap imported toys and other items nobody really wants. My wife and I
were there but very few other tourists. The festival was on posters but of
course many of these were ripped down around Sidari. It was still a great
success as many of the waiters who work in Sidari bring their families
after the tavernas, etc. are shut. Several hundred Greeks all letting their
hair down for once. They must have felt dreadful the next day.
Peroulades does need tourism but perhaps those tourists that want to enjoy
Greece and not England in Greece would find peace and friendship here.
Both Yiannis Coffee Shop and Panorama - Sunset Beach cater for English
tourists who prefer English food but these people really do not know what
lovely simple very healthy Greek food they are missing. We like our English
food, roast beef, pork, lamb and Sunday lunch. We like a good English
breakfast as well, but during our holiday in July we never ate anything
other than Greeks food. Did I miss my roast beef, yes, but that Greek
lamb on a spit more than made up for it. As for the lobster and king prawns,
enough said.
Oh Dear! It looks like I have wandered somewhat, sorry about that.
When the hospitality of people gets such that you actually try and avoid
them I think one can say that one is no longer a tourist. One of the good
points about inland villages is that most things seems to cost so much
less than the tourist traps. Or at least you get far better value, quality
and service.
It could be said that Peroulades has almost died because of tourism, it
is time that tourism gave this village the kiss of life - Greek style.
