Serbian Historical museum, Corfu

[Sgt Stripes]

Hi. I have recently visited the Serbian Historical museum in the town of Corfu. It is dedicated to the Serbian Army and refugees who made the trip over the mountains in terrible conditions to Albania. The museum tells the story of the invasion of Serbia and how it ended up in Corfu and then was transported to the Salonika front. There are photographs and story boards in English, plus medals, uniforms and other artefact's. The museum also tells the sad story of the Island of Vido where sick soldiers and refugees were sent to prevent epidemics. Sadly the medical facilities on the Island were inadequate and around 10.000 soldiers and refugees including children died. Due to the limited land on the Island, the dead were taken out to sea and deposited there. The area around the Island is now known as the Blue Tomb. If you are planning a visit to Corfu and have any connection with the Salonika Campaign I can really recommend visiting the Museum and the two Serbian shops nearby that sell books which cover the Serbian Army in the Great war.    

Edited 12 July , 2019 by Sgt Stripes

[bushfighter]

Well Done Stripey on an excellent, concise and informative post.   Harry

 

[BullerTurner]

The island of Vidos is worth a trip, if you have the time and can manoeuvre through the ferry timetables from Kerkyra (Corfu Town).  The first impression is how small the island is, relative to the troops who were quarantined there.  Quarantine being something of a misuse of the word, if you assume it was planned as part of a treatment and recuperation plan!

 

theres a couple of interesting memorials on the island, a great and very authentic taverna and fooling thousands of pheasants!   It is a bit of a wildlife preserve and really rather a surprising oasis of calm, sitting alongside the main ferry routes to and from Kerkyra.  Apart from its fascinating Great War history it is really rather peaceful.  We swam ashore from our boat and to this day I’m not entirely sure whether we were “allowed”!