I was very happy that our Mediterranean cruise stopped at Corfu, an island that I associate closely with Gerald Durrell's classic book My Family and Other Animals. I was even happier when I found some lizards at our first stop: the Achilleion, a mid-19th century Ancient-Greece-styled palace with a colorful and dramatic past. It seems that the grieving empress of Austria built it in honor of her late son, who had fulfilled a murder/suicide pact whose ramifications led directly to the start of World War I. But whatever -- lizards!

More of these colorful lizards basked on rocks and pavement at the Esplanade Square, a nice grassy park between the shoreline and Old Town proper.