EXPLORING
CORFU
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Arriving
at the Island
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We
traveled to Corfu by ship from the port city of Patras
where we had backtracked from Athens. Patras is not
a destination town, but it will be someplace you probably encounter
on
your way to
and from Corfu to the mainland if you take a ferry from Italy.
The city is not large, but has nice people and offers decent
restaurants
while
you
await
your ferry departure.
Transportation
by ferry is a real treat compared with air travel. You will
be treated graciously, your luggage will be handled with care
and all along the way you can breathe fresh salt air and have
an ever changing panorama of things to see. Truly, it is a
delight! |
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Hotels
in Corfu range from inexpensive to luxurious and costly,
but almost everywhere
you will find something comfortable for you and your budget.
On the right is a port area hotel that we thought perfect for
an overnight before setting off for Venice.
What turned out to be totally Greek in character were the
old fellows in the restaurant below playing backgammon until
late in the evening. The game doesn't have to be loud, but making
noise is is a food group for Greeks.
We
rented a car at a good price in the port area with no advance
reservations. When we returned it after a hair raising ride through
the center of the city, the rental agent offered us herbs
for calming while he twiddled his worry beads, offering us
a wonderful window on Greek culture. |
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PELAKAS |
We
arrived in Corfu early in the morning by ferry from the mainland
so we had
time for coffee before the nearby car rental agent offices opened.
When they did, we were there and soon after we were on our way to Pelakas,
the beach where my American Greek husband had fallen in love with Greece
so many years ago. At that time everyone slept on the beach and dined
when
locals
descended from the town above with pots of hot edible fare fresh from
their wives' kitchens. I wished I'd been there at that time too! |
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We
stayed at the little hotel on the beach in the photograph on the
right below
where there were piles of wooden shipping palettes. We thought it peculiar
and asked what they were used for. We never would have guessed that
this beach is so extremely crowded in the summer that the palettes
are used as lanes so that folks can get to the water without stepping
on anyone. Maybe 7 billion people in the world today really are too
many. Instead of buying toilets for the poor, maybe Bill Gates
should provide all of us with full and free family planning services.
Maybe I'll write to him and Melinda about funding for Planned Parenthood,
maybe you'll want to as well. |
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SMALL TOWN
CORFU |
After
just one night we moved on to another small and exquistely beautiful
beach
town, Paleocastritsa. Keeping the sea to our left we drove north enjoying
the small town quality of Corfu at that time of the year, before
the hoards of visitors descend. |
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PALEOCASTRITSA
Small
town Paleocastritsa is a magnet for visitors to Corfu. As you can
see in these photographs it provides wish fulfillment to
all who find their way there. In many ways it is breathtaking. We
stayed a few days in the hotel pictured below where the key to our
room worked in many other locks, but then who's worried? We're in
Greece to forget our troubles and our fears, right? In one of the
ground floor shops, a bakery, they produce chocolate croissants
that one could simply eat and die happily. We didn't die, but we
were very happy a few times a day.
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Driving
the Mountain Road Overlooking Paleokastritsa
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Below in the
photograph on the left you can see the Paleocastritsa monastery from
above. It's a very nice piece of real estate. Tours to this Greek Orthodox
Monastery are as popular as the cave tours and a lot more substantive. |
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This
is a
very private and beautiful beach just a few minutes drive from
Paleocastritsa.

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TOURS
IN PALEOCASTRITSA
As
is always essential, guided tours are offered and cave tours
top the list.
The cave tours are a good way to get out on a boat and see all
the coves and beaches that make this area so popular. The caves would
like to be more than fifteen or twenty feet deep, but they aren't. |
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PALEOCASTRITSA
MONASTERY |
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GREEK
GARDENS
By now, I'm sure most of the traveling people in the world have seen
the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" so you have some idea of Greek
extravagance. Gardens you will see in Corfu will be no less extravagant,
nor will
window gardens as you can see below. |
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FIXER
UPPER FOR SALE
Leaving Paleocastritsa
we were ready for some back country driving and Corfu did not disappoint
us. It is a beautiful island with much to see and experience beyond
the immediate visual gratification of the developed tourist areas. We
drove up into the central hilly or mountainous areas of the island
and were delighted with everything on each curve of the tiny
narrow road.
Below
is yet another of our dream real estate purchases. Just by the
side of the road this little beauty was just waiting for some folks
with cash and dreams. There are many of these real estate treasures
in Greece and many of them are to be found in Corfu.
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DISCOVERING
OIL -- OLIVE
I
never would have thought that olive oil production would have been
a significant activity on such a small island, but there you
are. Ignorance is just that, not thinking. We drove by small plantings
of olive trees with black nets spread on the ground beneath. Each
time I asked
poor Stassi, Greek by birth, what they were for and we finally figured
out that the nets catch the olives and of course the leaves, bird
feathers and more, animal spoor and whatever else comes their way
during the month or so the nets lay on the ground.
What
is magical is looking into an olive grove. I wish I were an artist
and could capture even a little bit of the magic. We drove on a
narrow winding road and suddenly came upon an olive oil processing
plant, a building no more than a hundred feet wide. We pulled in
and hoped to find a welcome. The photographs below will tell a
story
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I offer you
the opportunity to guess which of the men below is my American Greek
husband and which is the Corfu born Greek. |
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KASSIOPI
A
decidely upper end resort town in Corfu, sail in and enjoy the
ambiance. |
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Below
on the right is the view of Albania from Kassiopi. It was so
near and yet
so far as Stassi put down his foot to anymore countries. I was heart
broken at the missed opportunity. On the left is the lovely woman
who rented us a room in her flower bedecked guest house. |
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A
CORFU LANDMARK |
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These
were just a few of the seeds I collected in Corfu. I write a website
on plants, cooking and curing and never cease collecting the seeds
of plants I encounter around the world. If you are interested visit
the site at GreenGardeningCookingCuring.com.
I'd
love to hear what you think of it and if you find it useful. |
Your
Author on the right in Paleocastritsa with Stassi |
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If
you still have a bit of wanderlust when leaving Corfu, maybe you
would thrill to an overnight ferry to Venice as we did. Loading the
ferry was exciting in itself realizing how many goods traverse countries
in Europe. Once the dozens and dozens of huge lorries were loaded
in the hold, we were off and there was another delight. Leaving Corfu
by ship heading north gave us a moving view of Corfu's coastline.
Seeing it as the evening fog rolled in was just perfect. |
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Corfu
City Fortress, Paleo Enetiko Frourio

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Corfu
City Seascape

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Corfu
City Seascape

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