Corfu, Greece... The ( other) Emerald Isle...the Long and Winding Roads and the Good Life under the Grecian Sun

With jet lag behind us and the warm Ionian Sun greeting us daily we set out to explore Corfu in our 5-6 day stay here.

The island of Corfu (Kerkyra) is green, lush and beautiful with rolling hills. The Irish we've met here remark it's rather like their emerald Isle, same great beaches, but with warmer waters and better heat.

East across the narrows lies mainland Greece and Albania. Albania is only about 3 kms away, at the narrowest point - an easy swim for some......

 The views around Corfu are stunning, magnified in the brilliant blue skies. The waters around; esp on the east side, are a boater's paradise. Small villages dot the island.

Corfu town,  is a vibrant place. The old part, Venetian- influenced, with narrow lanes, is a hum of activity. Shops & cafes dot the cobblestone streets. This is a cruise ship port; the dreaded tourist hordes embark daily, "to see the island", some with only 2-3 hrs to spare. These floating people movers, the size of small towns dictate a lot of economic activity. From tours, buses, shops etc..$$$ change hands, but little really stays on the island.

Local buses run all over and are easy to use to get around the island. Many of the roads are like the Hardy Mtn switchbacks (for those back home) tight, narrow corners. And, really fun for the tour bus sized behemoths to navigate, as passengers come close to cliff edges.

 Some roads have stoplights that allow only one-way traffic up, down, or  around corners. Drivers navigate seemingly impossible roads and corners with mere centimeters to spare!!  Haha! Just like in Mexico!!

This particular bus driver in Kassiopi (in the northeast), had to wait in the middle of his turn until the car driver could be found so he could turn left while cars were lined up behind him. Not a single car horn was heard!!  It is what it is.  Ha!

The Adriatic, Ionian Seas that surround Corfu are (for the most part) like molten silver in their clarity. The waters, bathed  in brilliant sunlight are smooth against the skin. It feels like being in a giant aquarium, although one sparse with sea life. Swimmers' bubbles glisten, reflect the sunlight above. The bottom, resembles the Sahara desert as if seen from the vantage point high overhead; rippled, clean, devoid of life and vegetation.

                                              Glyfada Beach

Paleokastritsa Beach

In early May, the waters of Corfu feel like early season in our rivers back in our hometown.... cool, refreshing and cleansing.. If you like to swim, the lanquid, clear waters invite one to swim forever.
Here are some more images of the stunning beaches we have been to on this beautiful island...

                                These are all from Sidari Beach.

Food and drinks are expensive here..... (In euro $$) draft beer $5-$8, Greek salad for $7-$10, rum n cokes $8-$12, meals $12+.  Our Airbnb was about $60 with breakfasts. We've taken to eating a main meal in the early afternoon (European way?) with a snack in the later evening.  Probably eating less this way...

Messoghi Beach meal of grilled sardines, calamari, salad, fries and beer all for $25.

Meal at Sidari Beach town - chicken giro, garlic toast, Greek salad                                          and calamari.  So good!

Gas is about $2.00 a litre - we have nothing to complain about!!

The flora is also quite beautiful!  This particular shrub is seen everywhere with its vibrant red bottle-scrubber-style flowers.

Then, there are these 20-30cm wide flowers. All stunning!

The people of Corfu have been wonderful. They smile and laugh as we struggle with a few Greek words and phrases we try to learn and use on a daily basis. While the tourist industry knows their English well, the older shopkeeper appreciate our efforts.

On our last full day, we end up staying in a tiny, seaside village of Kassiopi. The coastline of Albania is clearly seen to the east.

 Just our luck, the village is celebrating a festival in honor of a miracle some 500 years ago. Lots of Greek music, dance, traditional outfits and good street food; whole lambs roasting, chicken kebabs, beer, retsina.

End up finding a great room on the water, 30 seconds from the action.  Ours is on the bottom left for $65.

Here are a few more random shots of our time on Corfu...

At a monastery

Mosaic on the monastery well

Lemon trees

                                   View from the monastery.

We move on the next day to catch a ferry for Albania. We want to stay another day exploring the northeast corner where Kassiopi is, but island buses don't run Sundays to any great extent.

We head back to Corfu Town, assured by our research and our B&B hosts phone calls, that, YES!!, there are ferries in the am and pm to Albania. Back in town, and in plenty of time for the pm sailing, we find that the reality is otherwise...no ferry and only one the next morning.... So, what to do...??

With that, we make lemonade... We find out there's a ferry (2hr ride) to mainland Greece, which arrives south of Albania. Then there's an hour bus back to the Albanian border... after that, it's a mystery...haha!

 So.....so much for the research and plans we've thought about over the past several days. It would be such an easy 30 minute hydrofoil ferry to Sarande, Albania, then a quick 20 minute bus ride to the coastal town of Ksamil, on the Albanian Riveria, where we had planned to be!

We decide, what @#$%, just do it, and decide to take the ferry to mainland Greece, rather than spend another night in Corfu. We buy a ticket and catch the ferry, literally the last to get on, as crew are untieing lines and waving us on board...hurry, hurry!!!

Goodbye Corfu!!!

Corfu Fortress from the ferry

Next post from.....mysterious Albania......

"Oh, don't go there," people warn us.

"Why, we say?"

"It's not safe, the people are_____, watch out for______!!!!!" (Just fill in the blanks with everything you've heard that's bad about Mexico or Cuba)....

PS....we'll let you know how it really is.....

We welcome any feedback and comments.

Jet Lag and Flying High....the art of staying awake for 36 hours ...

Welcome back to another road trip with us. So, glad you could join us...we left Canada May 1 and flew to London direct. Great flight, plenty of room...we had 3 seats for the 2 of us.

Once we landed in Gatwick, we were faced with a 2 hr line-up through customs. Almost seemed as long as the flight! That's the worst we have ever had!

We left the airport and hopped onto a train to London Bridge.  Brrr...was it cold and windy here.

After a few hours of wandering around we headed outside of London by train for a one hour ride north to Bishops Stortford where we would spend the night at Latchmead Inn.

                                           Scenery around our Inn!

Had a huge fish and chips meal at the 500 year old neighborhood pub, The George.  The locals were extremely friendly and wanted to talk to us. They all would love to come to Canada.

After a well needed sleep, we left the Inn in the rain to Stanstead Airport for our next flight to Corfu,Greece in the Adriatic Sea between Italy and the former Yugoslavia.

                                      Leaving England on Ryanair.

Our B & B host picked us up after our 3 hour flight to take us to Corfu Town where we would start our Adriatic adventures.

Shayne in front of our place.  Ours is on the very top floor with a slight view of the sea across the street.

The walkway across the street looking towards old town and the old fortress on the right.

Our first day on Corfu with 22 C, we spent exploring the wonderful old town. Finally, some blue skies and heat.

Hhmmmm...

The Old Fortress

Looking north

Part of the Old Fortress

View of Corfu Town

View of the bay from the Old Fortress looking south. Our B& B is at the left point in front of the forest.

Looking south

View of the Old Fortress from the north side.

Then we went home to sleep in the late afternoon, as jet lag was still hanging around. It is rather nice to sleep parts of the day away. Haha!

That's it for now.  Do take care and drop us a line when you can.

Hugs from Yvonne & Shayne

Back on the Road.....(yea, we are!)

Well, after a few months at home tending to house and yard, we've decided to hit the road.

So, we are leaving on a jet plane....heading off the continent.....come along on our next adventure as we explore a new destination...new countries, languages, people and food.....should be fun!

Return to Zee-what.......It's been a Hard Days Night (when you could be sleeping on the ground) and other fun in our final days in Mexico

After several days on the surf-crashing beach of Troncones, we returned to Zeewhat for the final several days of our 4 months in Mexico.




                                                      Troncones

We booked into a beach front hotel, steps from the centro. Rooms were big with our own semiprivate giant, balcony with views of the bay. It was quiet with the gentle melody of the waves breaking on the beach below us. Cost us 700 pesos...and worth every penny for the quiet night's sleep.

Zee-what has a pretty diverse music scene...jazz to rock. We enjoyed one young Mexican band, who nailed the Beatles and other rock tunes.

Lazy days at Playa La Ropa, Los Gatas and even took a day trip to Barra de Potosi.. Nice big, quiet beach, some food services and a giant lagoon where locals catch crabs using a long pole with a small net attached.

Zee-what played host to an International Guitar Festival. We managed to catch the opening show where all acts performed several songs. Loved the 3 Hombres (from Texas).

Decided to invite our son/daughter down for the final days. Kasondra was able to get the time off, while Scott couldn't. Was great to share with her a bit of our time in Mexico. Maybe next time, Scott!

On our 2nd last night in Zee-what, after bar-hopping and dancing, we returned to our hotel, only to find the doors closed, gated and locked by chain. ....generally, when the hotels are closed or locked late at night, all it takes is a key or ringing the doorbell to get us in. Not this time!

After nearly an hour of  banging, yelling, phoning, getting the police to help, asking the bartender at the bar we had left earlier to translate... we are stuck. S had found a comfortable spot on the hotel steps and was trying to sleep. It seemed that's where we might spend what was left of the long night.....our bartender thought there'd be several hotels still open, so we headed off. We found a room and crashed onto the beds for several hours of sleep.

Returning to our locked out hotel in the morning, we discover several other guests had the same thing happen to them.  Once the owners/managers had come in, they settled everything and even gave us the 400 pesos for the room we paid for.

Anyway, that's it! We are writing this on the plane home. The trip has been fabulous!



                                          Zihuatenejo in the distance...

.....4 months later and 30+ different beds/hotel rooms we are both well and healthy. Haven't had any real issues with food or water or eating veggies or having ice cubes in drinks......

It has been a blast and we are plotting the next trip! Shhhh! You will be the first to know..(well, possibly 3rd or 4th) haha!

Final random thoughts...

....when do Mexican children get to bed? They are always up late....

....Mexicans love to celebrate at anytime, for anything with parades, music, food and explosions.....

....wildest celebration had to be the San Blas festival and Chinese New Year in Mexico City...

.....we think we are 'free' at home; but after traveling through Mexico, I'm not so sure....

.....the bus system is fantastic! It is for the people and runs very efficiently. Clean, safe and on time.....

.....family fun and time together is important. Add a weekend and a beach and you have lots of sand in all sorts of places and some really tired kids and grandparents on the long ride back home....

.....restricting your trip to only coastal Mexico/resorts and saying you've seen Mexico, is like thinking that little, slow Mars Rover inching along, centimeter by centimeter (ok, bilingual measurements) collecting data, is able to paint a full picture of the planet......

........Go inland, see old towns, go to mountain towns, visit different states/areas.....

.....having a little bit of Spanish helps, but don't let that 'little bit' stop you from traveling around..... trying not to improve your language skills after repeated visits is just plain lazy...

...,..similar shops are located in the same areas. For example if you are looking for men's or women's clothing, house lighting, car repair, electronics, shoes, grad dresses,  they are all located side by side in the same street. You can just go from one to the next rather than traveling all over town to price compare!  Huh!...

....,there's constant garbage collection, sweeping and mopping in subways, streets, parks...we have often seen dozens of workers in uniform doing these tasks.  Funny, it is often hard to find garbage cans.

.......Mexicans value education....... elementary and secondary schools in small and large centers are fenced with barbed wire on top, locked gates with security guards.  At the end of the day, parents wait at the gate until the guard lets the children out......

......roadways and highways always have vendors selling a variety of good from window washing service to fruit, sandwiches, smokes, gum, peanuts, sweets and really anything you can imagine......
.......see them at intersections and they walk down the middle of the lanes. On one toll section we saw about 50+ vendors weaving in and out as the cars were slowly moving along.  When buses stop, vendors get on trying to sell fruit, drinks, sandwiches, yogurt, candy, pastries...

..... some restaurants  allow you to bring in drinks and sometime food too if you only go in for a drink.  Vendors also enter restaurants freely trying to sell their wares as do beggars.....

.....Zee-what had the most town/beach pedlars of any place we've been. Constant stream, wanting you to buy an endless variety of stuff!......

....getting hot, sweaty, and dirty has happened a lot..sometimes it's only one or 2. Sometimes, when they all happen together..it is a travelers nirvana, the ultimate trip high...and those 25 peso chilled beers make getting there, all the sweeter! Haha....

....we've met great, fun and honest people constantly during our travels.. both local or tourists.. Tom, RoseAnn, Phil, Nina, Bill and the rest of the Isla Mujeres sunset gang, Eliana, Gil, the Chacala crowd, Martha, Tim, Oso,  Pat & Julia, Richard, Monique, Jerry, Ricardo, Dana & Robert, Gord & Linda, the Arizona crowd from La Ropa, Oscar, Eugenia, Valdemar and more. You know who you are...Plus, friends and family back home thanks for sharing in our travels and fun....

During our 4 month journey, we:

......used planes, trains, automobiles, ferries, boats, taxis, truck-buses, collectivos, buses

...have visited 14 states in Mexico out of a total of 31 ........     Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Huatulco, Jalisco, Nayarit, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Mexico, Puebla, Guerrero.......

.... haven't cooked a single meal but did help cook one in a hacienda in Guanahuato, and enjoyed one other home-cooked meal.......

......have had at least one beer every single day ( Sol, Indio, Victoria, Tecate, Corona, Modelo, Leon, Pacifico, Bohemia)

Adios Shayne & Yvonne...we know we've missed many others, you are with us in spirit..

PS.....now back in Vancouver to enjoy family and friends before heading home.  It's been a great adventure!!