The town of Corfu stands on the broad part of a peninsula, whose termination in the Venetian citadel (Παλαιό Φρούριο in Greek) is cut off from it by an artificial fosse formed in a natural gully, with a salt-water ditch at the bottom, that serves also as a kind of marina. The old city having grown up within fortifications, where every metre of ground was precious, is a labyrinth of narrow streets paved with cobblestones, sometimes tortuous but mostly pleasant, colourful and sparkling clean. These streets are called "kantounia" (καντούνια in Greek) and the older ones sometimes follow the gentle irregularities of the ground while many of them are too narrow for vehicular traffic. There is promenade by the seashore towards the bay of Garitsa (Γαρίτσα), and also a handsome esplanade between the town and the citadel called "Liston" (Λιστόν in Greek) where upscale restaurants and European style bistros abound. The name Liston came from the American "List on" meaning the list of the vendors' fare, in other words the menu.

Just to the North of "Kato Plateia" exist the "Palaia Anaktora"  literally "Old Palaces which is a large complex of Roman architecture buildings used in the past to house the King of Greece. Today they are open to the public and they form a complex of halls and buildings housing art exhibits including a Museum of Chinese Art unique in Southern Europe in its scope and richness of Chinese and Asian exhibits. The lavish Gardens of the Palaces complete with old Venetian stone aquariums, exotic trees and flowers and overseeing the bay through old Venetian fortifications and turrets are a place where anyone can have an "espresso" or "frappé" or even Greek coffee with "ouzo" at the garden café after a dip in the local sea baths at the foot of the fortifications that surround the gardens. The palace café comes with its own art gallery where one can take in exhibits of local and international artists and it is aptly called Art Café. At the same time and from the same place one can gaze at the majestic cruise ships passing through the narrow channel of historic Vido island  to the north, on their way to Corfu harbour, sometimes announcing their arrival by blowing their horn. High speed retractable aerofoil ferries from Igoumenitsa, hovering above the water at high speed, impatiently leave their frothy wake on the blue Ionian sea , to remind visitors to the Gardens that this is the 21st century. There is also a beautiful wrought iron aerial staircase, closed to garden visitors, that descends to the sea from the gardens and was used by royalty as a shortcut to the baths. Rewriting history, the locals now refer to the splendid old Royal Gardens as the "Garden of the People.