Ian Fleming's James Bond is well known on Corfu from the time Roger Moore made his guest appearance on the island in the Casino scene of "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY". Two other famous scenes from the movie, the spectacular car burning, also staged on the casino grounds, and the mad car chase as Kristasos's henchmen chased the heroes down the winding roads of Achilleion in a Citroen CV-2, were all witnessed by crowds of islanders fascinated by the art of movie-making. Unfortunately, our arrival on Corfu was a rather sedate affair, with crowds gathering for a more traditional reason. It was to watch the making of an action film, but to witness the traditional ceremony of Epiphany, where a gold cross is thrown into the wintry waters of Corfu and retrieved by one of the town's youths.

Corfu, or Kerkyra as it is known by the Greeks, lies on the west coast of Greece. Just across the water from Italy, the lifestyle depicts an interesting mix of Greco-Italian themes. After a short one hour flight from Athens you are greeted by dusty, concrete architecture set amongst dense lush greenery which is quite out of character when compared to the usual arid Greek landscape. Whereas many areas boast both Italian and Greek histories, Corfu's past also includes a brief respite as part of the British Empire.

Even in the middle of the Greek winter, we are blessed with sunny, albeit cool days during our visit. The still, blue waters which are so characteristic of the Greek Islands, change to an emerald green in destinations such as Paleocastritsa. A drive around the island highlights the contrast between north and south, and east and west on Corfu. Apart from the more typical tourist destinations, we are told seasoned gamblers and aristocratic revellers are regular visitors to Greece's most attractive Casino in the Achilleion.

Driving up a narrow winding road lined with village we head for the Casino sitting high in the hills of Achilleion and overlooking the Kanoni where a Greek monastery sits atop a small islet. Amidst the splendour of a unique period in Greek history, it has rekindled the flame of a aristocracy for which it was formerly known, as a summer palace of Elizabeth of Austria. Today, the Casino sits with evidence of the construction that regularly takes place, including the re-painting and re-plastering of the neo-classic style built originally as a tribute to the heroes of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey, much admired by the Princess. Large, landscaped gardens and courtyards with spectacular views and immense Grecian statues line the walkways around the palace. The familiar crest of 'Man with Dolphin' is present on every doorhandle, and the impressive murals capture the eye as the large glass and cast iron door swings wide to reveal this most spectacular hallway.

Giorgios, the museum curator, waits patiently to escort us through the downstairs museum where e explains a little of the history. "This neo-classical style building was originally built by Empress Elizabeth of Austria who was also the Princess of Bavaria. At the age of sixteen, she married her first cousin, Franz Joseph I. A few years after her wedding, she began to experience health problems and so he took a long trip around the Mediterranean islands to enjoy a change of climate. She arrived in Corfu in 1861, when the Ionian islands were part of the British Empire. She stayed at the summer residence of the governor of the island near Kanoni in a place called Monolopole, where England's Prince Phillip was, born.

"In 1889 she lost her only son Rudolph who died in mysterious circumstances in Mayerling, near Vienna. In her state of melancholy, she decided to purchase some land in Corfu and build a Greek Villa, decorating it with Grecian artifacts to remind her of her heroes of the Iliad and Odyssey. She commissioned an Italian architect from Naples, Raphael Carrito, and charged him with the responsibility of building her summer residence. Carrito requested a considerable sum to be paid up front, and chose to ensure that the cost of the project would be high, taking advantage of the fact that Italy was part of the Austrian Empire at the time."

As we walk through the grand rooms furnished with original period pieces and artwork, a tradesman restoring a mural spies our tape recorder and decides to add to Giorgios' story. "My name is Nicholas Thimis," shouts the tradesman as he climbs down to take centre stage.

"What damages the paint is the humidity," he declares. "Restoration is a full time job. I first scratch the surface, then I seal it and repaint it." Nicholas tells us that he learned his trade from a Serbian and has been restoring buildings such as this one for fourteen years. "Did you know that some of these murals have up to thirty colours in each drawing?"

Giorgios is singularly unimpressed and ignores the speech of the enthusiastic tradesman. He continues his story as we walk into the next room. "Elizabeth came to Corfu every spring until 1898 when, whilst on a trip to Switzerland, she was stabbed by an ltalian anarchist as she waited to cross to the other side of Lake Leman near Geneva. The anarchist was planning to kill Albert, the King of Italy, but instead found Elizabeth an easy target. Nine years later, her grief-stricken husband Franz Joseph sold the palace to the Kaiser of Germany - William II, who came to Corfu every spring to celebrate victories with his generals. After the First World War, the Kaiser was forced into exile in Holland and the palace fell into a state of disuse.

"Then, in 1925, the then equivalent of the Greek National Tourism Authority took over, only to see the palace destroyed during World War II whilst being used as a hospital by the French. During the period 1944 - 1950, it was used as a strategic base for the Greek Civil war.

"In 1962, the Greek Government was approached by a German Casino company chaired by the infamous "Red Baron" von Richtoffen, who leased the building with a twenty year contract and went about restoring the entire complex to its former glory, including finding many of the lost and stolen treasures and artifacts, and returning them to their former home." Giorgios looks at his watch and escorts us upstairs to the casino to meet with the manager, Mr Dimitris Vrionis. Vrionis sits behind a large desk at the end of a narrow, windowless room and offers us a Greek coffee. As we are seated, he begins to recall the origins of his own connection with the casino.

"After finishing my army training, I came here and started as a croupier in 1962," he recalls. "In those days it was run by a German company and was the first casino in Greece. I've been here since it started and took over as manager when the licence came up for renewal in 1983."

"On the first floor there is a museum which sees up to thirty thousand tourists visit each year, especially during the summer months. The casino itself is visited by sixty thousand people every year but the people of Corfu itself are not permitted to paly in the casino, except for certain festival days of the year. fifty percent of our customers are Greek with the remaining half being tourists from all over Europe and the world. Tourists come mostly in summer where we see our biggest players arriving by yachts or Lear jets. By day they swim at the beaches and then spend their evenings at the casino. It is against our company policy to give out names of our players but I can tell you that we have an interesting cross-section of international celebrities, including actors and politicians.

"People tend to change casinos depending on their luck; if they are luck they return, if not they may try other premises. Unlike the early days, when only aristocrats used to frequent casinos, nowadays more people without millions of dollars come to the Corfu casino to play."

Giorgios adds some amusing anecdotes that illustrate the unusual variety of players who regularly frequent the casino during the summer months. "There were some Italian gamblers who had such a disregard for money that one morning, when I was coming into work last summer, I found them sleeping at the gate because they didn't have enough money to pay for a taxi home. We are sometimes surprised with some of the international jetset who one would expect to be chauffeured to the front door in a limousine. One such chap arrived alone and had his car door fastened with a piece of string! The appearance of their cars is no way to gauge the amount of money that someone is willing to spend."

There are of course, some billionaires who prefer to behave perhaps a little more like Ian Fleming's notion of the very monied, as Girogios recalls. "last month, Adnan Kashoggi won six million drachmas (US$60,000) here. He made the croupier at his table considerably happier than he should have been with such a loss to the casino, by giving him a rather generous tip for his troubles.