There is no better place to listen to the pulse of the old city than the place where its heart beats: the Spianada Square. A huge square, the largest in the Balkans as one will be told with pride by the locals, with fountains adorned with the lion of the Serenissima, gardens modelled on the British Royal Gardens and, of course, with its stone arches- the “Liston vaults”. Spianada is separated to the Upper and Lower Square, two adjacent squares/parks that welcome all visitors to the daily ritual of Corfu residents. A Walk in the Upper Square will lead you to the Peristyle of Maitland with its Ionic columns- a plain, circular monument erected in honour of the first English Commissioner Thomas Maitland. You will also hear it being called “the cistern”, as the monument covered an older Venetian cistern. A little further, on the circular platform, the Easter service takes place on Good Saturday every year, and some summer evenings the city bands play music here. In the Lower Square, you will see the famous Liston and the green, covered with grass, cricket field.