Merlin's Mansion
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In the south fringe of Dassia, coastal and extensive, is the property Merlin, a ranch that has a villa and auxiliary buildings, and which was at its pick mainly at the beginning of the 20th century. It took its name from a British Olympic champion, Sidney Merlin. Son of Charles Merlin, diplomat and later chairman of Ioniki Bank, who settled in Eptanisa in 1939, Sidney was born in Piraeus on the 26th of April 1852, took part in the 1896 Olympics and won the golden medal in shooting. His brilliant and short athletic career stopped with the middle-Olympics in 1906, where he won a third place.
In Corfu, he bought from the Theotoki family, a part from their immense property, on the south and got married to Zaira, daughter of Georgios Theotokis – Prime Minister of Greece, with whom he had a daughter, with the name Maraki. Zaira, gave later birth to Georgios Rallis -her son from her second marriage- who also became Prime Minister. Merlin, who was an experienced botanist, devoted himself to the development of his property and in 1925, he transported the brand of a Californian orange variety, the Washington Navel, which remained in the greek terminology as “Merlin”, and also the small Japanese citrus fruits, that became one of the emblems of Corfu, the Kum Kuat. Merlin died in 1952.
