I’m writing this at about 6pm, on our
verandah, overlooking Corfu harbor. I’ve
been watching local ferries come & go, taking people, trucks and other
stuff off to the other Ionian islands around here – very peaceful, but a
constant buzz of shipping to keep me occupied.
We’re leaving in half an hour.
Given that we’d pushed ourselves pretty
hard over the last week or so & because we had no burning desire to visit
every church and castle on Corfu we decided not to take any tours here but
wander and take things as they came. I’m
glad we did, because we both woke at 3:30 am & read for a bit. In fact I read until 6:00 & then went
back to sleep, missing the early part of the arrival into Corfu. But we were out on the verandah to take in the
glide past the town and get our bearings regarding the port & city
etc.
We saw that we are one of 3 ships here
today – so assumed that it will be crowded.
In parts this was true, but in some parts of the old town it was quite
quiet.
We’ve been keen to walk a bit, so decided
to walk into and back out of town as part of our exercise regime – that and the
cruise line wants $16 each for a return trip of about 3 kms each way. All up we’ve looked at the map & reckon
we walked about 10Kms today. But I don’t
think even that will have compensated for the calorie intake of the last few
days. We’ve been very restrained, but…
Our walk took us around the coastline past
two forts & out into another bay – all beautiful. We then walked back through the bustling
heart of Corfu where the locals shop and conduct business before branching into
the really old historic part of town.
While Corfu is now part of Greece, it has been ruled by various empires,
including the French, English and Venetians.
All of these conquerors have left their mark on the architecture. It is a pleasant jumble of styles that hang
together to provide a vibrancy which is delightful.
On our way out we’d walked past a couple of
cafes that were perched between the sea & the road & about 10M up on a
stone wall. A bit hard to describe. But the kitchens for these cafes are on the
other side of the road. We went back to
one of these for lunch & had the most delightful antipasto. Oven baked feta cheese with chilli (we’re
going to try this one when we get home), meatballs with yoghurt and mint, and
some mushrooms grilled with oil, lemon and garlic. All beautiful & off set by magnificent
scenery and washed down with some local (and very nice) beer. Not that we’re counting our pennies, but
there was a certain satisfaction in knowing that the money we had saved by
walking into town was almost equivalent to what this small, exquisite lunch had
cost.
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| A panorama of Corfu as seen from the ship Click on it to expand it |
During the last few days Rhonda has managed
to get to see two movies – the new Stephanie Plum one, and the Marigold Hotel
one with Judi Dench and Bill Nighy in it.
And I have borrowed a book from their library called The price of loyalty by Ron Suskind. (Can you believe that they have a library –
and a librarian?? I want the job.)
I wont get too political, but it is a well
researched & verified account of the 1st 2 years of the George W
Bush presidency as seen through the eyes of Paul O’Neill the Secretary of the
Treasury. It confirms in appalling
detail the dysfunctionality and ineptitude of that White House. Its one thing to have an opinion from afar,
but to read it in intimate detail is scary.
But I think that is my political fix for the holidays. I’ll now read trashy novels for a while.
So – off to dinner. We’re going to check out one of the options
which is a Mediterranean bar b q.
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