Corfu

Athens to Corfu is a short flight. We were a bit disappointing and used taxis at both ends for transfers. 

Corfu town is charming. We're staying 10 minutes by bus beyond charming in Kontokali. It has a large marina and a small beach with a big supermarket and plenty of Tavernas. In fact we are staying in a Taverna but the Taverna bits are mostly closed over Easter. The area is slightly schizophrenic, one side of the road is palacial villas and resorts, the other side looks like a landfill. Often properties and businesses look like people just up and left and the cats have moved in.

When we were planning our trip we had a four day gap. We were a bit constrained with our next destination being Paris. We also realised it was Easter, so we picked Corfu thinking it might shelter us over the holiday period. On the way to Athens airport, our driver told us Corfu is Greece's most popular Easter destination because of its famous celebations. They welcome 1000s of extra visitors from around the world. So it's very busy here. Yeah, we knew that.

An upside to this was that Good Friday is National Monuments Day across Greece, so the Old and New Fortresses where open to the public.

Towards the Old Fortress from the New Fortress with the old town in between.

Good Friday Epitaph Procession heading towards us, quite a solemn affair.

Corfu is slightly unruly. They have rules, but the locals don't always take them too seriously e.g. wearing helmets on motorbikes, parking on footpaths. Some lines you shouldn't cross though. Many streets are taped off for the various Easter events. We've seem number plates ripped off vehicles and then towed away for ignoring this.

Easter Saturday has a special celebration called smashing of the botides (clay pots) by filling them with water and tossing them from balconies. We witnessed this alongside thousands of others.


Pot on its way down (middle right of this photo)

When this was over we caught a bus to Paleokastritsa, a well known beach area on the other side of the island. Even though this area has beautiful beaches and matching refreshment areas, we chose to walk a donkey trail to a small village 300 metres above sea level. 

Paleokastritsa is pretty but Kaiteriteri gives it a run for its money.

The village at the end of the donkey trail was postcard Greece

The marina in Kontokali 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30 years and counting ..

It's been thirty years now since Vicki and I went for an offshore adventure like the one we are about to embark on. We thought we could share our experiences (good and bad) using this platform. We came to this decision following our trip to the book shop and deciding 1B5 was just...  Bags have been packed, weighed and re-packed and all contents are now "fully committed to" as we leave first thing on 4 March 2025 a.k.a tomorrow. Kieran
Read more

Singapore

Our day started just after 5:00 am. Singapore wasn't quite ready for us.  After breakfast we took our big bags to the airport and left them with the storage service. This gave us 14 hours until our flight (54 holes of golf?). We visited China town, had lunch, walked around Gardens by the Bay (in the rain), walked around the city (not in the rain) and eventually back to the airport. Singapore excels at food, shopping, tall buildings and public transport. We would definitely visit again. The locals are pretty relaxed and welcoming. It feels clean, safe, modern and a bit not-modern. Our hotel was in the Geylang area which felt non-touristic. Street markets sold cheaper everything and push bikes ruled the pavement. Fail 1. Our Wise card refused to tag off at one of the stations. The attendant just opened the gate for us as he quickly pegged us as non-locals. He said Wise cards had previous on their network. An unsolved mystery.
Read more

Alhambra

Image
Boarding our train in Madrid was more straightforward than Barcelona but not without it's challenges. Trains leave from three different platform levels. The information desk solved this problem for us. We arrived to rain in Granada but stuck to our backpacking and walked to the hotel. The receptionist was an ex-pat American and was very helpful in solving our planning oversight. We hadn't booked Alhambra. The no. 2 visitor hotspot in Spain apparently, just behind Sagrada Familia. I'd looked while we were in Madrid and the only online tickets were well after we left Granada. Anyway, the current pattern is that they periodically drop tickets. We were advised to check at 12:00am, much like booking a rock concert. I randomly checked for today and tickets had been released so we jumped on them.  My lasting memory from visiting Granada nearly 40 years ago with Kay and Sharon was that I wanted to visit again. Walking to and through the Alhambra did seem familiar. Our visit has bee...
Read more