Aerial photographs of the area, see the mountains of Stavros and Agioi Deka which surround Benitses, the bay of Koutsomaroula in the Chontrakia area, the pier in front of Stadium club, the old village overlooking the harbour, several hotels, and details of the yacht marina and shelter where tourist boats which go to Paxos and the mainland stay for the night.
All these photos were taken by our friend Nick Mezitis
On this page there are 18 photos that can be used as wallpapers.
The Shots were taken one morning of August 2011 on the beach of Laopetra, at the time of sunrise.
All photos have resolution of 1920×1080.
Here are dozens of Benitses photos in large size, Photographs of landscapes and everyday life.
It is a collection of about 150 recent pictures separated into two groups, photographs were taken both in winter and in the summertime, there are people fishing, swimming and sunbathing.
Here is the second group of photos in large size of Benitses landscapes and Benitse’s everyday life.
it is a collection of about 150 recent pictures separated into two groups, photographs were taken both in winter and in the summertime, there are people fishing, swimming and sunbathing.
Here is another group with 50 more new photos of Benitses landscapes and the area around.
Here you will find dozens of photos in large size of many hotels, apartments and most stores in Benitses.
In order, we see the inside and outside space of Sunshine bar, the Chinese restaurant “flower garden” in the old village, Hotel Riviera and the beachfront of it, the hotel Recency south of Benitses, shots outside the pub Rainbow in the village center, some souvenir shops, photos from the rooms and gardens of “Passas apartments”, oriental dances at the restaurant “Nikos”, pics from the restaurants “Laopetra” and “Mythos” opposite the harbor, from the reception of the hotel “Loutrouvia”, shots from the grill shop in Lotza neighborhood, and finally pictures from the hotel “Lemirage”.
More photos in large sizes for many hotels, apartments and many stores in Benitses.
Photos from “Lacey’ s pub” the Benitses apartments “Kerkyra island”, the Pizza house “Kavouras” with great Italian style pizza in wood oven, the club “Casanovas”, the restaurant “Kaizer bridge” at Kaiser bridge with a stand in the sea, the apartments “Galini”, the pizzeria “Flogas”, which offers home pizza delivery, the hotels “Eros”, “Potamaki” and “Corfu Maris” and finally from the grill “Christos” in Benitses center.
Even more photos in large sizes of hotels, apartments, clubs and other stores in Benitses.
Here there are dozens of Corfu photos of a great variety of places in Corfu, there are pictures of Corfu Town, and of major beaches, also aerial photographs of the old fortress in Corfu, the Venetian shipyards at Gouvia, the Byzantine castle in Gardiki at the southwest of Corfu island, Angelokastro in Paleokastritsa, photos of Gaios harbor on the island of Paxos and much more.
The second group of full-size pictures from various places in Corfu, there are pictures of the major beaches, aerial photos of the old fortress pictures from Liston, photos of Old Corfu town, photos of City Hall, of the Serbian museum, pictures of the Palace of Saints Michael and George and others.
The third group with dozens of full-size pictures from various places of Corfu, pictures of Esplanade square, of the buildings inside the old fortress, images of the canal d ‘amour at Sidari, from the Mouse island, aerial pictures from the airport and the fortress, old prints of Corfu, beautiful beaches and much more…
Rulers and especially important people may write history, but ordinary people are the ones who actually make it, and to begin to write about the habits, lifestyle, and obvious difficulties of society in the early 20th century we would need many pages and it would be very difficult to write clearly and accurately.
Everything becomes easier with these old photosΒ of Corfu whichΒ reveal to us the life in that distant era.
Observing facial expressions, their dress,Β or watching them working hard in the fields, we understand many things about their way of life, we discover that their world and their character was very different.
We see ordinary people trying to survive in a difficult environment, where the work was hard and lasted almost all day, material possessions were very limited and only enjoyed by a narrow circle of wealthy people.
Their faces show innocence if we compare them with modern people, lacking greed and consumerism, mostly poor but happier, it seems to look at the prematurely aged but cheerful faces, than their wealthier descendants
The women were especially worthy of admiration, it is more than obvious that their life was very hard, they worked hard and were socially oppressed both by the social environment but mainly from their family, to such an extent that makes us wonder how they managed to live, something that today’s women certainly could not put up with.
Fortunately, the world is changing, and development solves many of the problems of the past but it also creates new issues and divisions.
We simply present these old Corfu photos, so everyone can draw their own conclusions.
The Philhellene Swiss photographer Fred Boissonnas(1858-1946) was the first foreign photographer who traveled so much in the Greek land from 1903 and for nearly three decades following.
Fred Boissonnas was born in 1858 in Geneva from a family that moved from Marseilles in southern France to Switzerland.
Due to the origin of the family, Fred believed that he was a descendant of Greek navigators, this may explain his interest and love for the Greeks, especially those of the countryside …
Fred Boissonnas first stepped foot in the Greek island of Corfu at 1903,Β from where chronologically his first photos are, after this he went to Athens which had visited numerous times and from there he wandered across the entire Greek territory and also in the new under Greek unification countries as Macedonia, Thrace, Epirus, Aegean islands, etc..
Generally, he did not leave an inch of Greek soil without recording it with his camera.
Towards the end of his Greek adventure shortly before 1930, he spends some time in Mount Athos where he photographed many details of monastic life and the monasteries.
He died in Geneva in 1946.
His work was innovative and proved decisive in the development of Greek photography during the 20th century.
Through photos and albums, he presents a panorama of Greece during the interwar period, also helping to shape the European public opinion of Greece for the same period.
The work of Fred Boissonnas, although known in Europe in the early 20th century, now needs a second showing.
Progress in technical issues, the discovery of color, easy to use cameras, plus the ease with which we travel, may make the project appear obsolete, but to the historical glance it has great value and it also shows modernism in comparison with other photographers who wandered in Greece at that time.
The artist has recorded things that have disappeared, but also gives us a picture of Greece that extends beyond simple ethnographic pieces of evidence.
His great faith and admiration for this country are transmitted through his work with tenderness and love which can be seen through his work even today after so many years.
These characteristics give soul to these pieces of paper, which otherwise could remain simple pictures …
Streets of old Athens. Pictures from Athos showing the difficult life of monks. Rural in Greece of another era. Corfu as Fred’s first stop. Peloponnisos with places like Akrata, Korinth, and Andritsaina. Crete and Epirus. All Greece regions are here.
Here are some elder Greek pictures from 1900 to 1930, photos from the period before the First World War.
In the following photos we can see what Benitses like in 1950.
We can see the two characteristic creeks, the Port and Koutsomaroula bay, as they appear from the hill of Agios Stefanos.
We also see the beach, the boats with the lamps, and generally how early tourism coexisted along with other economic activities since we see hotels and water sports and on the other side residents continuing to fish professionally.
In Benitses in the 50s, there were several fishing boats which we called gri gri.
Two of them were the larger, Saint Demetrios or “red” because of It’s red color and the Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) which also had the name “Binitsiotiko” or “grey” due to its grey color.
Every evening they left the harbor, towing behind them their large utility boat called “pisino” followed by the small boats with the lamps (pyrofania).
Fishing was as follows, the small boats were scattered in prominent locations to enable their lights to attract the fish when sufficient fish were in the area of light, the small boats called the mother ship, which arrived in the spot and surrounded the area with nets.
Depending on the size of the shoals of fish, there were some nights when the nets were being cast and pulled in several times.
In these two fishing boats, most of the people worked who were involved in fishing and also other fishermen from neighboring villages.
Of course, there were also many other boats too that were operated by their owners.
The grey gri gri Agia Triada had a stocky shape and was bought by the residents with resources from the Marshall plan for reconstruction after World War 2.
These fishing ships finally stopped their operation just before 1980, by which time most of the inhabitants worked in the tourist industry.
In the following photos, we see scenes of the departures of these ships, also there are scenes showing how other fishermen landed the catch on the shore.
At this time, famous actors and several wealthy foreign visitors had started to visit Benitses, the island of Corfu after all was always attractive to the international elite, long before any other part of Greece.
And who has not been here then, read about on the page for tourism development.
There are no pictures of most of them because only a few people had cameras at that time.
But the wealthy Manessis family had cameras and so thanks to them we have a few pictures of celebrities of the 50s, regular visitors to Benitses as the older residents remember.
See below some photos, mainly with Vivien Leigh and the English artist and set designer Roger Furse, pictures were taken in 1960.
Among the economic activities, it was also beekeeping.
Many residents had hives scattered in various parts of Benitses.
On the farm of San Stefano, among other agricultural activities, there was a well-organized beekeeping unit with several hives.
Occasionally, the residents gathered to learn new methods and the secrets of the bees, that were almost seminars on beekeeping.
In the following photos, Stefanos Manesis explains to people new methods and also helps the youngsters to learn the job.
Mouse island in the 1950s, the islet guarding the entrance of Chalikiopoulos lagoon, where the port was in ancient times.
Thanks to these old photos we see why it has become the trademark of Corfu, a beautiful and magical virginal scene without hotels and buildings in the surrounding area, only the sky, the sea, and the endless green of the landscape.
This is the ninth group on old photographs with some people and landscapes from Benitses of the past, most in black and white.
This is the eighth group on old photographs with some people who were young in the 80s, there are also some old pictures from exotic places of the west coast of Corfu during the 50s, photos of Mirtiotissa nudist beach, Paleokastritsa and more.
The photographs have not been processed like the other groups and they have all scratches and signs of time…
This is the sixth group on old photographs especially with people, all photos after digital processing to remove the signs of aging.
The photographs are mostly of the decade of the ’70s, for those depicted in the photographs have not only consent but also the desire of relatives to include them on our site.
In the future, there will be more pictures added.
For persons shown in the pictures we have their consent, and for those who are not alive the consent of their relatives.
Here we add some more photos showing how Benitses was before 1930, were taken from the farm of San Stefano on the northern hill of Benitses, and are kindly offered to us by the Manessis family.
Truly unique images, showing mainly panoramic views of Benitses from that hill.
Many others are to follow that will probably go into the history section in new pages which will include historical data for both the farm of San Stefano and the laborers of that era.
Also, images mainly with hard-working women from all over Corfu in another page, showing the ragged and difficult conditions of that distance era, also pictures with events and landscapes from all over Corfu of the early 20th century.
All photos are from 1900 until 1930 and show a completely different world, a world from another planet …
This is the seventh group on old photographs mainly with people, all photos have been digitally processed to remove the signs of aging.
The photographs are mostly of the decade of the ’70s In the future, there will be more pictures added.
In this 5th group of our Benitses old photos collection, there are mainly people of the families of Martzokas, Kontos, Kapsokavadis, Spinoulas, and others.
Also, photos of the house of Parmenides and several others recently collected, all digitally processed to remove the signs of time.
There is a unique perhaps photo of Mr. Parmenidis and his wife, taken long before 1940.
The fourth group of Benitses old photos collection.
Pictures from landscapes, the old port, the elementary school at different times from 1933 to 1980 and photos from some celebrations.
50 photos which are the third group of our old photos collection of Benitses with images of women workers in the groves of the last century, photographs documents of the construction of the old port in 1960, photos of old fishermen and several others.
The second group of our large collection of Benitses old photos, mainly with photos of Benitses landscapes and religious events.
This is the first group with 50 photos of the large collection of Benitses old black and white photos.
