We left Argostoli, mid morning and crossed the low-lying causeway that connects the capital to the far side of the bay, as we have done so many times over the years. Half an hour later we had crossed the wide, fertile central plain and were beginning the slow decent from Mount Einos towards Sami following the long, snaking road beside the gorge. On the outskirts of ther town we turned the bend and came face to face with the Panzer tank hidden in the quarry beside the road, its muzzle swinging to protect the main road and the approaches to the harbour.......
But this is no wartime reminiscence. The tank was mounted on a very English low-loader. The crew were wearing t-shirts reading: "James Bond. Once is Not Enough. Special Effects Crew." And the accents were from Manchester not Munich. Welcome to summer on the Greek island of Cephalonia - and Captain Corelli Land where time has begun to run backwards.
The problem starts with the fact that Louis de Bernières story of the Italian Captain and his love for the young Greek woman Pelagia - and of course his mandolin- is set in a land that no longer exists. Of course, Argostoli and Lixouri,where Corelli's garrison were based and the home to the wartime German divisions commanded by Colonel Barge are still there.
But the world that the captain would have know came crashing down one night in August 1953 when an enormous earthquake hit Cephalonia and the neighbouring island of Zakynthos. In destroying almost all of the pre-war buildings it meant that the true setting for de Bernières story was lost for ever.
There was talk of the film being made in Corfu and Albania last year but, for whatever reason, that fell through. So star Nicholas Cage and Director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) now find themselves recreating the pre-war setting on Cephalonia itself. Argostoli is just too modern, too big, too busy, and too full of tourists to play itself. That role has gone to the likeable, but unglamorous port of Sami on the far side of the island.
One whole section of the town has been taken over and the buildings re-fronted to recreate the Argostoli of 1943. Sure, the purist can argue that the obelisk to "the glory of the British nation" is in the wrong place, on the quayside and not halfway across the causeway - but who cares?
The Greek navy are in the harbour with an assembly of old landing craft and motor torpedo boats having fake superstructure fitted, ready to play the part of Axis warships. And there are polite signs on the coast road apologising on behalf of Corelli Films Limited and warning, in both Greek and English, to beware rifle fire.
As we drove from the town, across the headland to the beautiful white-pebbled beach of Anti Samos we passed elegantly constructed machine-gun emplacements beside the road with the tarmac surface, that was only laid last year over the dirt track, carefully restored to its previous sun-baked mud appearance. And as we reached the bay we discovered that the scrub covered field at the back of the beach was now transformed into the Italian army base - complete in every detail - even down to the four seat toilet in which Corelli and his compatriots sang opera during their morning ablutions!
The film has brought much needed work to the less-fashionable eastern side of the island because, apart from the of English crew they've brought over, there are scores of Greek fitters, carpenters and electricians employed on the set. And every young man between 16 and 30 has already had part as an extra, or is perfecting his tan just waiting for the call!
The Corelli industry is already in full swing. There are Captain Corelli wine bars springing up, Captain Corelli tours on offer. And for those of us who have been visiting the island for years there's the game of spotting people reading the book on the beach (one point per person but 5 if you cop a husband and wife both reading the book as I did this year).
Filming is believed to continue until August which is when the island, once again, becomes invaded. The popular beaches of Makris Yialos and Platis Yialos, Skala, Lourdas and Myrtos will be crowded with Italian holidaymakers who have made the short trip across from Brindisi.
But I can't help wondering just how many of them ever visit the small memorial to the Brigata Alpina Julia on the hillside above the Aghios Theodori lighthouse - the memorial to the real life Captain Corellis, all 9,000 of them who refused to surrender to the occupying German 996th regiment after the Italian capitulation in 1943.
Those who fought on, alongside the local resistance fighters, were eventually overcome by air attacks and two reinforcement battalions and having been captured were massacred on Hitler's personal orders just below where the memorial now stands.
Although Louis de Bernières has attracted a great deal of criticism for the way in which he has portrayed the communist resistance, one may hope that this turning back of the clock on Cephalonia may, at least, put a new generation back in touch with their past.
email: phil-cox@dircon.co.uk