Contemporary Lefkimi

Nowadays, Lefkimmi is a traditional and picturesque little town, with its beautiful river running through the town and eventually meeting the sea at Bouka beach. There are approx 6.000-7.000 residents in the town and almost 10.000 in the wider area. Rhythms of life here are quite slow; for locals being in a rush is definitely not their thing.

One can find almost anything they might need here, from doctors and pharmacies to schools, super markets, taverns, coffee shops, banks and book shops, among others.

A delightful first exploration of Lefkimmi is to stroll around its little stone alleys, with the old stone houses and the traditional olive presses, the old churches and the kovolado streets, as we call handmade pebble roads in Lefkimmi, making you feel that this town still lives in another era. One immediately observes how original the architecture is, dating back to the 17th, the 18th and the 19th centuries - some buildings even earlier than that.

In the middle of the town runs Lefkimmi river, or Potami, with its picturesque little fishing boats leaving and coming back every day with their catch. Also with the beautiful local taverns and coffee shops, on both sides of the river, where the locals usually gather to have their coffee or wine, and of course, fresh fish.

A few meters away from the river, one will find the village of Aghii Theodori, a historical settlement in the middle of Lefkimmi. The historical church of St. Theodore is absolutely worth a visit, as are the tiny alleys with the old stone houses and pebble roads.

Uphill in Rigglades one will definitely admire the church of the Patron Saint of Lefkimmi, Aghios Arsenios, who is majestically celebrated on the 19th of January.

Rigglades is also home to the beautiful Aghii Anargyri, a church of particular architectural interest and certainly worth a visit.

Further down the road, the way takes you to Alykes or ''Alatia'', as the local people used to call it; the old saltmines. In the past decades, a large population of Lefkimmi, and especially of the area of Rigglades, made a living by working at the salt mines. Many documentaries have documented the methods used and the daily labour of people who used to work there.

a beach with a body of water and trees on the side

Nowadays, the former saltmines is a beautiful Natura protected park, where one can visit the Environmental Centre. Also, Alykes is the habitat of the flamingos for some periods of the year, and observing them from a safe distance is also a once in a lifetime experience.

Very close to the old saltmines you will find Molos, an immense olive grove with enormous perennial olive trees, which are considered as some of the tallest in the Mediterranean.

a dirt road with trees on either side of it

Around the centre of Lefkimmi, one can easily admire the hundreds of acres of olive groves, and observe the cultivated land and vineyards that produce vegetables, fruit, olive oil and of course, wine.

Very often, in the middle of the fields katikiés can be seen, or little rural huts, where farmers store their tools used for the cultivation of the land, the nets for live picking or their hens and eggs.

A few kilometres off Lefkimmi centre, one must definitely visit the southernmost point of the island, Arkoudilas, a lush forest surrounding a mountain on a surface of approximately 250 acres.

On the top of this mountain stand the imperious relics of the Monastery of Virgin Mary of Arkoudilas, built in the 17th century and owned by a family of nobles.

a rocky beach with a body of water in the background

Underneath the top of the hill, lies a dramatic cliff that results in a dazzling beach of unparalleled beauty, considered by many as the most beautiful beach of Corfu island and the Paradise of the South.

a beach with a body of water and a sunset

The beach of Arkoudilas is long, sandy, with crystal clear sparkling waters, and with unhindered beautiful views to neighbouring islands of Paxos and Antipaxos. Just to make this unreal natural treasure a little richer, Arkoudilas beach is also home to sea turtles that settle in to make nests and lay their eggs.

A few kilometres off Lefkimmi centre one can also find the so-called Choria, ie a group of villages consisting of Kritika, Neochori, Palaiochori, Dragotina and Spartera.

The last one is renowned for the magnificent views of the Ionian Sea and Paxos island, while the second one hosts famous ''Pontiglio'' vineyard, a visitable winery that produces an excellent wine of the local grape, Kakotrygis, or Lianoroido as it has been always called in Lefkimmi.

a group of bottles next to a framed picture

The winery specializes in unique Corfiot varieties of grapes (Kakotrigis, Petrokoritho, Skopelitiko) and makes unique wines with them. Nowadays, Pontiglio Winery owns 60 acres of land and is still saving abandoned vineyards in South Corfu.