All language subtitles for The Greek Islands With Julia Bradbury Series 1 Part 2 Corfu 1080p

'The Greek islands
are held with great affection

'in the hearts of us Brits.

'Every year, three million of us
head there for our holidays.

'And it's easy to see why.'

This is Greece. And look at that.

'I have a strong affinity
with the islands. My mum is Greek.

'Although she despairs
that I still can't speak the lingo.

SPEAKS GREEK

CORRECTS HER

I'm proud of my Greek heritage,
my Greekness.

Look at my nose.

Look at my nose.

'But I've only holidayed here.

'And I've never really explored
beyond the tourist trail...'

Here we go.

'..Until now.

'I'm going to see the hidden side.'

Wow. It's so beautiful.

Hello, everybody!

Look at it. It's so lush.

'From the historical and rugged
terrain of Crete...'

Oh! I think I've pulled!

'..To the glamour of a sunset
in Santorini.'

Isn't it gorgeous?
Thank you. Oh, look!

'But I'll also be taking in
the lesser-known islands.

'From the architectural splendour
of Symi,

'to the natural wonder
of Skopelos...'

Oh! It makes me proud
to be just that little bit Greek.

'..Before ending my journey
on the island

'where my family story first began.'

This is a voyage of discovery.

And I'm taking you with me.

So, as you arrive towards Corfu...

it's very impressive.

Beautiful buildings.
Very structurally imposing.

And very Italian-looking.

'They say Corfu is the least Greek
of all the Greek islands.'

I was talking to my dad
before I left for this trip,

and when I mentioned Corfu,
he said,

"Oh, yes. I think you'll find
they have their own cricket club."

But I'm expecting
the British influence

to be quite strong, I think,
here in Corfu

because Brits have been coming here
on holiday since the '50s.

So I'm sure they've left their mark,
good and bad.

'And so have many other countries.

'Corfu has spent seven centuries
under foreign rule,

'making this island
a cultural melting pot.

'Located off the west coast
of northern Greece,

'Corfu has only been a Greek island
since 1864.

'Its capital is Corfu Town.

'And it really doesn't look Greek
at all.'

Oh, come on. Seriously.

It's as if I'm in Venice.

Honestly, if you hypnotised me

and then plopped me down here
and said, "Where are you?"

I would bet good money...
that it was Venice.

It's like San Marco Square.

'That's because Corfu was ruled by
the Venetians for four centuries.

'And my dad Michael was right.

'They really do play cricket here.'

MAN SINGS IN GREEK

'Just as surprising as cricket

'is the abundance of kumquats
everywhere.

'A fruit that's more at home
in South Asia.'

And in case you don't know what a
kumquat is, it's this little thing.

It's a tiny...

It's, like, this big.
It's a tiny little citrus fruit.

I do know what it is

cos I happened to taste one
when I was 20, and I love them,

so I'm quite excited that
it's such a big deal over here.

'They make everything out of it.

'Sweets, marmalades, liqueurs.'

Definitely a good little gift idea.
Look at that.

Who wouldn't like that
gathering dust

in their drinks cabinet at home?

'And not forgetting
the kumquat ice cream.'

Efharisto poli.
Parakalo.

Happy face.

MAN SINGS IN GREEK

Mmm! That is an exotic flavour.

It tastes...

...like an orange mixed with a lemon,
with a bit of grapefruit.

And it was a Brit that brought
kumquats to Corfu,

a British botanist.

Mmm! I really like them.

'It's Corfu's location
on the major shipping route

'that's responsible for oddities
like the kumquat.

'And another Corfiot obsession.

'Spices'!

Smoked sea salt, veggie mix,
fish and seafood,

sweet and spicy potato.

Why? Why so many Spices?

'Now, the Greeks like their spices,
but this is a whole new level.'

Hello, Katarina!
Hi, hi, welcome.

My nostrils are tingling.
What a lovely smell.

'This aromatic shop is owned
by Katarina, and it's her passion.

'She's a real life spice girl.'

You've got spices
from all over the world here.

Well, all of the blends that you
see, I personally make them.

So, tell me a little bit
about the history of Corfu

and why there are
so many spice shops here.

Well, we were blessed
to be part of the Venetian era,

over 400 years
that the Venetians had Corfu...

They give you the lovely buildings.
Yes, yes.

Corfu was probably the first island

or the area in Greece
that had spices.

So, this was on the spice route,
the Silk Road.

The Silk Road, exactly.
The famous Silk Road. Yeah, yeah.

So, they really are spices from
all over the world. Absolutely.

And now... the Corfiots?

The Corfiots, yeah. The Corfiots
have adopted... Absolutely.

Most of the names of the dishes
that they have here in Corfu

are Italian names
because of the Venetian era.

So, what are some of the spices
that are particular to Corfu

that you won't find anywhere else
in Greece?

There's a blend that we have,
the most famous one,

which is the pastitsada blend.

Pastitsada?
Pastitsada.

That's the tricky bit
cos it's a sound...

It's like a ♪-♪.
Yeah. ♪-sada.

Pastitsada.
Bravo, bravo.

You're good. Bravo, good.

And please tell me that that
bubbling over there is pastitsada.

Oh, yes, it is. I cannot have you
here and not taste pastitsada. Oh!

'Pastitsada is a 100% Corfiot dish,

'the signature dish of the island.

'They eat it at family gatherings on
a Sunday,

'kind of like our Sunday roast.

'And it's heavy on the spice.'

Oh, good Lord.
I know.

Inside, there is cinnamon,
clove, nutmeg, allspice,

bit of salt and pepper,
some chilli pepper, paprika, OK?

And I also add a pinch
of cumin inside.

In another nod to the Italians,
they serve it on a bed of pasta.

It's kind of a hassle,
this type of pasta,

but that's the whole fun part.

OK, this isn't gonna be pretty.
I apologise now.

There you go.

How is it?

OK. I can tell by the look in your
face you love it.

Mmm! Oh, my gosh.

I'm haPPY-

The flavours, Katarina,
are incredible.

The aftertaste is incredible, yeah.
You know what I can taste? Hmm?

I can taste the love.

KATARINA LAUGHS

Corfu on a plate.

'Well, now I need to work off
that pastitsada,

'and a good job that Corfu
is a great place for walkers.

'There's a 220km path
called the Corfu Trail

'that zigzags through the heart of
the island

'from the north to the south.

'It takes hikers into landscapes
untouched by mass tourism.

'In the north of the island,

'it's brought me to one of Corfu's
best-kept secrets.

'The abandoned village
of Old Perithia.

'Hidden in the valley of Corfu's
highest mountain,

'this Venetian wonder
is a 14th century time capsule.'

Julia!
Hello, Mark.

Hey. Great to see you.
Good to see you as well.

'Mark is a Brit who runs a B&B in
the village with his wife Saskia.

'They're the driving force behind
the restoration of Old Perithia.'

Saskia and I kind of happened
upon it about 12 years ago.

And we came up here, not really with
any intention of doing anything.

We just read about a ghost village
and wanted to have a look.

So, this, essentially,
was an abandoned village.

Yeah.
Why?

The tourist trade kind of started up
in the '50s, '60s.

Until then, there wasn't tourism.
People didn't want to be by the sea.

And at that time,
the sort of old culture

was that you gave land by the sea
to the daughters

because it was worthless.

It was salty or you couldn't grow
anything there.

The villages would be for the sons.

And of course, that all flipped
around when tourism started.

So they just walked away.
So they just walked away.

And then nature pretty much
took over the whole village.

'During the 14th century,
Corfu was constantly being raided,

'so the Venetians built Perithia
as a hidden village,

'where you could see
but not be seen.'

Because of pirate attacks
on the island...

Pirates? Like, real-life pirates.
Real-life pirates.

Turks, Saracens, that type of thing.
Yes.

...people who were in the houses
would have chambers underneath

where they could hide like this,

and they would either put their
possessions or themselves down here.

This was the hiding spot.
It made it safe.

'In its heyday, this village
was home to around 1,500 people.

'But that's hard to imagine,
looking at the buildings today.'

I've got a bit of form,
renovating old properties,

but I have to say,
I haven't taken on anything quite...

quite as challenging as this.

'When Mark arrived, there were
only two permanent residents.

'Now there are up to 20 people
who call Perithia home.'

If you look back here, you start to
see how big the village is. You do.

And actually, a lot of those
buildings don't look derelict.

Don't look so bad.

'Of the original 130 houses,

'a third of them are now restored
or in the process.

'Properties sell here anywhere
from 100,000 euros to a million.

'But it's not just the houses

'that have been given
a new lease of life.'

This church has only recently
been restored and reopened,

and it had its first baptism
after 60 years just last year.

How old is the church?

I think it dates from about 1300.

Because the village records
go back to 1357,

and all of these frescoes
were covered in lime,

so it was a painstaking process to
pick everything off the walls here.

Aren't they beautiful?
Quite special.

It is very special.

'The rejuvenation of the village
has even begun to entice back

'some of the original residents.'

Kalispera.
How are you?

I'm good. How are you?
Julia, Vasilis. Nice to meet you.

'Vasilis is the local beekeeper.

'He's recently returned
to his ancestral home,

'selling his honey
to passing tourists.'

How are the bees today?
Are they feeling happy and calm?

The bees?

You're happy, they're happy.
Everybody's happy.

If you love your job,
you make a lot of honey.

'Vasilis spends his clays tending
to his seven million bees,

'who live in the 90-year-old
pastel blue hives

'he inherited from his grandfather.'

Oh, look at this.

You see the queen?

Isn't that just magical?
Astonishing, yeah.

That is the queen bee.
Yes, this is the queen bee.

She likes us, the queen bee.
She's hanging around.

'There was a one in 80,000 chance of
seeing the queen bee. Amazing!'

I grew up here with my father
in this place.

We have the bees
from my grandfather,

my father, me,
and we continue with my kids.

How old are your children?
Eight and five.

Amazing.
Yes.

So you're handing this through the
generations. Yes, they work with me.

Yeah. We continue, I think.

What a life. What an existence.

It's beautiful.

'Perithia was built as the village
that couldn't be seen.

'But now,
thanks to the love of these guys,

'it's finally getting the audience
it deserves.'

What a special...

...magical place.

And, ironically, it was tourism

that drove the original settlers
away from this village,

made it a ghost town.

They were chasing
the tourist dollar,

heading to the coast,
heading to the sea.

And now it's tourism
that brought everybody back.

And breathed new life
into this place.

'With a heavy heart,
I'm saying my goodbyes to Perithia.

'But the south
of the island beckons,

'and another majestic
Venetian import.'

'I'm in the Greek island of Corfu
and it's not what I was expecting.'

If I told you
that I was standing here,

looking out
over the island of Corfu,

I wouldn't believe me.

Look at it. It's so lush and green,
and as far as the eye can see,

those are olive trees.

'I followed the Corfu trail south

'to the wild west coast
of the island.'

This is the tranquil side of Corfu,
the peaceful side.

Still steeped in history
and tradition...

...but not invaded by tourism.

'The landscape here
feels like one endless olive grove.

'The Venetians brought them here
in the 16th century

'and now there are as many as four
million olive trees on the island.

'Not surprisingly, today,

'olive oil is the most important
product of Corfu.

'Brothers Spiros and Giorgos Dafnis

'were born into
the olive oil business

'and they're the architects of an
olive oil revolution on the island.'

I didn't understand until now

how important the olive tree was
to Corfu.

And there are
so many olive trees here!

The olive tree, for the Corfiots,
was and remains a living symbol.

The majority of the trees around us

are between 200 and 500 years old,

while the oldest olive trees
are more than 1,500.

And you know, Julia,

the... incredible feeling,

even for us,
is any time we go for harvesting,

to realise how many persons
and how many generations before us

did exactly the same thing
to the same tree

and how many times this tree
gives back again and again and again

with generosity with its own fruits.

It's like a contract
between human and nature.

So, Julia, let me show you,
actually, our real mother.

Well, it's actually...
This is your real mother?

Yes, yes.
I like her already.

Oh, it's just like steps.
Yes. Yes.

I can do that.

'This wonderful, ancient tree

'was where the boys would play
as youngsters,

'and as adults, work together now
on business ideas.'

If I say that we have
a great duty today,

not only to continue this tradition
but to develop it,

to deliver something better
from what we receive.

'When the two brothers took control
of their family business,

'they inherited
a struggling product.

'Years of prioritising
quantity over quality

'had left the reputation
of Corfiot olive oil on its knees.

'They produced a lot of it,
but it wasn't very good.'

It was like a bet for us, to make it
something better, to change it.

So it's like we sail
in unknown waters,

so we started with a great vision
and a passion that we will succeed.

MOTOR WHIRRING

'Spiros and Giorgos
turned the rulebook on its head

'and completely changed the way
olive is harvested.'

What happens in the past
is simply sitting under these trees,

these black plastic nets

and waiting until the olives
fall alone on the ground.

We have to show everybody else
that there is an alternative way

of collecting the fruits...
And this...

...where they are healthy and fresh.

We are using the machine that
my father right now is working with,

or... the, er...
SHE LAUGHS

...old, er...

Old style.
..old but simple way

of collecting the fruit.

Julia, would you like to try?
Of course.

Let me make you produce it
for a minute. Yes.

There we go. We've got
lots of young, lovely olives.

I mean, it's very rewarding,
but it takes a long time.

I need to have a go
with that machine.

Will you try, really?
Yes, of course! You sure? I'm sure.

PETROL MOTOR STARTING

MOTOR RUNNING

'This clever bit of kit gently
tickles the olives from the trees.'

I'm getting a lot of leaves,
I'm not sure about the olives.

'The brothers' philosophy
is all about freshness,

'harvesting the olives
when they're alive,

'when they're young
and full of flavour.'

Oh.

I'll tell you what,
that is hard work.

I couldn't do that for 12 hours.

Respect.
Thank you very much.

'Once they're collected,

'the olives are brought here
to the processing area.

'They're washed, squeezed

'and the olive oil is extracted.'

It's a really nice process to watch.

And it smells...

...just very earthy.

'Within a few years,

'Spiros and Giorgos
have turned Corfu olive oil

'from a product
with a dreadful reputation

'to one of the very best
award-winning oils in Greece.'

What I want you to do, Julia,

is I want you to take one last
deep breath from the olive oil,

just like this...
Yeah.

...and then I want you to take
an olive oil drop in your mouth,

close your lips, keep it closed,

and then for two...
That's hard for me.

...two or three seconds,
I want you to turn it around

and feel it everywhere
in your mouth.

And between your teeth,
take a fast and deep breath like...

INHALES SHARPLY
"like that.

I've been to yoga classes
that are less complicated.

THEY LAUGH

OK.

Take on olive oil drop.

Close your lips.

Perfect. Let it slowly go down.

INHALES SHARPLY TWICE
Take a deep breath.

INHALES SHARPLY

LAUGHS

0h!

Ah, you must feel, er,
a bitterness...

I do, I'm feeling the bitterness!

...and a spicy sense in your throat.
Yeah. All of that.

Something...
Very spicy, very bitter.

...something I forgot to tell...
Thought you were my friend,

I thought we'd bonded today.
'It certainly packs a peppery punch,

'but olive oil is also thought
to have health benefits.

'In fact, the legendary
Greek physician Hippocrates

'described it as
the perfect medicine.'

Ya mas.
Cheers. Ya mas.

'I'm not ready to leave
this corner of Corfu just yet.

'I came here to discover secrets
of the Greek islands,

'and one particular local secret

'has definitely
caught my attention.

'Eva, who works at the olive farm,
has offered to tell me more.'

It's beautiful. The sunset is
just lovely here.

Ah, OK.

This isn't
quite what I was expecting.

Eva, what are we gonna do with that?

It's mud, it's clay.

Clay.

OK, so what do we do?
Where do we put it?

Ah, OK. And it's good for you?

'This clay comes from
the cliffs around us,

'and the locals swear
it's the best thing

'to draw toxins from the skin.'

That's a good noise. Am I going to
look ten years younger after this?

I love you.

I'm gonna go for the face.

I'm gonna try a bit on the face.

Let's get the blood running.

I didn't really picture
doing anything like this

on my visit to Corfu.

You've got to. Do what
the locals do. Embrace it!

'I've seen a lot on this island
that's been left by other cultures,

'but this is undeniably Corfiot.'

The water is just...

so lovely, so warm

and, obviously, after the old clay,
look at me.

I'm, like, 30 years younger
at least!

LAUGHS

'I'm really sad that my time's
come to a close here on Corfu.

'It may be the least Greek
of the Greek islands,

'but it's no less special for that.'

Getting off the beaten track here
in Corfu has been a real surprise.

I wasn't expecting it
to be so lush and so green,

and the Corfiots aren't embarrassed
by all the other cultures

that have left their mark
on the island.

'In fact, they've embraced
those influences

'and made them their own.

'And that's what makes Corfu
so unique.

'Next time, my journey
takes my journey to Santorini,

'the supermodel
of the Greek islands.'

impossibly scenic, gorgeous views.

'I'll be on the hunt
for the locals' tip

'for the top spot
to see its famous sunset.'

Oh! In the memory bank.

'And escaping the crowds
for a walk on its wild side.'

This is definitely unspoiled,
this island, isn't it?

It's quite mad, really.

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