The Liston is a long arcaded colonnade running the length of the esplanade between the Old Fortress and the cricket ground — one of the finest examples of French neoclassical architecture in Greece. The ground-floor arcades house a row of cafés where Corfu Town's residents take coffee and watch cricket matches on the square below: an utterly disorienting combination of Greek, Venetian, and British cultures that is entirely Corfu.
The Esplanade (Spianada) is the main public space of Corfu Town, a wide green square that was created by the Venetians by demolishing the medieval buildings between the town and the Old Fortress to create a clear field of fire. The British planted it with grass and established the cricket ground (still used) during their protectorate. The combination of the Liston, the cricket, and the coffee culture makes for one of the stranger public squares in Europe.