Our first proper day in Corfu after our late night arrival - it was raining and thunderstorms earlier in the morning but then changed to a beautiful sunny day - lucky us. We had breakfast and talked to Nancy the owner. She has continental breakfast and makes you eggs if you want them with the delicious greek gouda or feta cheese in it. She was telling us they completely gutted the 3 floors and started again- we notice a lot of slightly dilapidated buildings here, would love to have one and do it up!
We have room 6 the family room on the top floor, which has a little mezzanine floor with 2 kids beds. The raked ceilings make it feel spacious - we have seen the others and ours is definitely the best in the little quaint hotel. - 90E p.n. But I see it has gone up to 120E pn for the summer period from here on in. Very well priced given it is in the heart of the old town - walkable to everywhere, but just off the main drag and noise.
We went out exploring and walked over to the old fort– Which was initially a Venetian fortress, but had also been used for many other conflicts, such as the germans during the second world war. That had a very unusual Greek church on it with long columns at the front that was added later in the 1800s by the British- it just seems so out of place but very pretty by the sea it also had a big british hospital and barracks. The hospital has been used by the Germans during World War II when they made all the Jews arrive at the fort on the 8 June 1944 for deportation. Many went to Birkenau and of the 1800 Jews that left only 120 returned 🥺.
We climbed all the way to the top of the hill where there is a large cross planted on the crest. It was lovely not to have it so crowded like everything has been in Rome and Athens. We have walked and walked and walked today. Just enjoying the sunshine. What’s the rain has cleared in the morning. We stopped and enjoyed a late lunch of tzatziki with pita bread, Graeme had a local beers and I had an ouzo- my fav drink.
In the evening, we stroll down the Plaka out with a beautiful evening light, Then stopped to sit on the wall that had Greek style columns at the town hall, with some music playing and a couple of drinks we had taken with us. As we sat there, a few people started to arrive in the open air porch of the hall and started to play swing music. It was obviously a dance class, so we sat and watched as we had also done this type of dance classes – was so lovely, and a spontaneous thing that we were just in the right place at the right time to listen to and enjoy
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Next we walked back into the main part of the old town and was strolling down the streets then heard the Corfu philharmonic orchestra playing. They had all the windows thrown open as they practiced up above the street. It was quite something to listen to. We actually stopped and danced in the street together. It was that nice. Further down there was a man playing a saxophone, so we stopped and danced in the street together to that as well – those other simple memory making things♥️♥️
Day 40, 18th May Corfu
We decided to just walk again today- went over to the new fort on the edge of town then wandered back and through all the little streets- love that Corfu old town is all pedestrian. It’s interesting how all the shops are grouped according to what they sell. The jewellers are all together, clothing shops etc are where you can go and look at what everyone has. We bought a couple of pandora charms for my bracelet in Athens and here in Corfu as it’s been stretching a lot and wanted to add charms to stop it falling off! Graeme also found a very pretty dress ring that has the blue coloured opal with a the ‘meander’ style maze under the opal.
We are averaging 14,500 steps a day, which might help offset all the food we have eaten! We are both feeling the overeating compared to home but kept it to 2 meals today. We went back to our hotel and sorted our check in for tomorrow’s flights - we have 2, but they will send our bags through from Corfu - Frankfurt- Split Croatia. It is pretty much across from Corfu but there are no ferries or direct flights….seems funny having to fly up to Germany then back down to Split!
We went out for another walk through he gorgeous cobbled streets - cobbles are very old and slippery though, you have to be so careful. Bought Graeme a couple of clothing items- a T-shirt with a hipster Pythagoras on it and a light hoodie. The material here is so soft and better made than home. Nancy had recommended a good restaurant so we went there for dinner. It was called Christomallis- the owner Spiros was a lovely guy. He was front of house and his wife in the kitchen. Food was very well priced.
I had to laugh…I have found out that when you order an ouzo - my fav, instead of coming as an ouzo and coke they way I drink it at home , It comes as 1/2 a glass of straight ouzo!!! Learnt that one yesterday when I ordered an ouzo and coke, could tell from the colour straight away that there was very little coke in it😂!! So I bought a separate bottle of coke and diluted it over 2 drinks. Meant you got 2 glasses worth and it was still strong! for 3.5E plus the coke which is the same price actually! They obviously drink it on the rocks since they are in the home of ouzo!
We had a very enjoyable meal sitting out on the cobbled street with the sun dappling everything. Plus the philharmonic orchestra were practising again today upstairs with the shutters thrown open. Pretty cool. We had tzatziki with pita bread, then 2 slow roasted lamb with veggie mains. Omg, falling off the bone - I love the strong taste of the Greek lamb. So we had all that, 2 drinks each and it was only 62E which is pretty good given we are in the heart of the tourist area.
Wandered the streets for a bit and bought a delicious cherry yoghurt gelato then back to our hotel to pack up- we need to be really careful with our weights as we are just putting through 2 suitcases. We had prepaid for a 3rd bag for the last flights and used the duffle bag - think that was $80 but looking at the weights, if we take more in our backpacks we won’t need it for tomorrow - had a look and its 70E for a extra bag with Lufthansa!
Rolled into bed -Graemes not feeling great as the lamb was pretty rich, so good to lay down and rest. We have loved Corfu though.
The ouzo is so strong I got extra coke and made it into 2 drinks!
The tomatoes were huge!
Done and dusted!
That’s the ouzo before I added extra coke!!
2 comments:
All sounds very nice.
Far out I can smell that drink from here. Haha that’s a lot of ouzo! 😍
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