Corfu, Greece

I am losing track of the days of the week.  I cannot remember the date.  And now, I can’t even remember what we did at what port.  Oh my, I think it might be time to go home.  If it’s Tuesday, where the hell am I?

I wasn’t going to, I really wasn’t, but I couldn’t help myself….  We had housekeeping deliver a scale to weigh our bags and I had previously decided I was going to wait until I got home to weight THIS big bag.  Oh my, with trepidation, I disrobed and quickly stepped on the scale.  I shut my eyes and was ready for a big surprise.  And my surprise was --- after four months of eating cookies, rich food, and god knows what else, I only gained 5 pounds!  I can breathe again, but my pants still feel tight.  Memo to self:  this summer, it is time to get back in shape.

I must say, the weather on this trip has been absolutely fantastic.  The water has been fantastic.  I cannot recall a trip where the weather and water have been this great.   I guess the sea gods have decided this was the year to be kind.

So what it is about Corfu, Greece that I can’t remember what we did?  We didn’t have an excursion.  I didn’t take notes.  And we went the long way.

The eastern shore of this northern most Ionian Island faces Albania and mainland Greece.  It is dotted with curved bays and secluded beaches, while the western coast is more dramatic with high cliffs and long stretches of sand.  This is a town where time has stood still, yet the modern world invades.  It is a contrast in the old, traditional ways and values with the intrusion of progress.  About 110,000 people live on this idyllic isle; many of them have never travelled beyond its shores.  Instead, the world has come to them in ever increasing numbers from cruise ships who release large numbers of passengers from all over the world. Our neighboring ship in the port disgorged over 3,800 people!  Despite this, Corfu retains a fresh open simplicity, and their friendliness is legendary. 

The town of Corfu is very old.  Over 500 years of Italian, French and British occupation have left their mark on the city. So like all old cities, the interior streets are little narrow warrens winding this way and that.  We took a shuttle from the ship to the esplanade, and were dumped there with no instructions on where to go.  A passenger, one of our bridge players, said he knew the way to the old city, so we followed.  Up and up we climbed along the sea.  Knees said a prayer, hoping that they would survive the flat but elevated climb up the hill (note to self:  get some serious cardio workouts this summer).  We finally made it to the town, and we found a very friendly bunch of storekeepers, who did not hassle you.  That was so refreshing. 

The Old Fort, Palaio Frourio

You can't get away from stairs in these centuries old cities

We found a lot of flowers growing out of the rooftops

A typical narrow medieval street

Candles outside of the church

Residential houses

Another fort

Walking up the street along the seawall

There was nothing we want to buy so we just wandered around.  Always walking uphill.  We ran into some folks from the ship who told us about a little train that tours around the city.  We got to it just in time for some guy sitting in one of the train’s seats to yell out, we don’t want to wait for you, let’s go.  The driver saw the train was full enough so he took off with us just standing right there.  GRRRRRRRR…… some people are a$$holes.  The next train wasn’t for another hour, so we sat on a bench under a large shady tree in the square to watch life go by.  After waiting around for half an hour, Michael was ready to leave and I begrudgingly went along.  We retraced our steps back down the hill to wait for the shuttle bus back to the ship. 

Only to find out that we took the long way to town!  If we had just done a little more homework, we would have found that if we walked straight ahead from the bus, through a stone gate, we would have been in the old city and would not have had to walk up the hill.  Lesson learned – don’t follow someone else blindly, do your homework.  You will save much time and aggravation.