Friday – 20 May to Wednesday, 5 June 2019

It was Monday, the beginning of a brand-new week in Corfu. It was mostly overcast so our planned trip to the beach would not materialize. I asked Adri what she wanted to do to which she replied “I want to go to the airport”. I shot her a seriously questioning look to which she responded “I want to go somewhere where it’s flat, no perilous mountain roads today, please”. She does feel strongly about those pesky perilous mountain roads which we have been traversing since we arrived in Corfu.

After driving past the airport, no seriously, we parked off in the lovely Corfu old town for another walkaround. We ambled past the Old Fortress on the eastern side and then on to the northern side where we rested our weary feet and wet out thirsty throats at the Veranda Taverna which overlook the sea. A lovely place to watch the nautical world go by.

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Thereafter we did some more strolling through the lovely little paved streets of Corfu Town and would you believe, ended up at our favourite gyro joint. I simply had to try that chicken and bacon model I had been craving and missed out on when we found this place closed just yesterday. I ordered the said gyro from the man but was met with a blank stare. I shrugged my shoulders in a questioning way, he shrugged his too in an arsehole-can-you-not-see-there-is-no-price-next-to-that-item-which-means-we-do-not-serve-it-anymore kind of a way. Okay, how was I to know, but now I know, I settled for the chicken version sans bacon. Good, but it could have been great.

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After all this hullabaloo I needed to get a fix… so settled in with a Fix beer. Fix seems to be quite popular in Greece though I did not care much for it, tasted too much like all the South African Brewery beers which I detest with a passion. I’ll go back to my trusty Mythos.

Tuesday we chilled at home in anticipation of our drive along the southeast coast on Wednesday. We were scheduled to look at another property we had identified, situated in a small village high up in the mountain, with great sea views. We met Vasso in Mesongi and just as well we did, we never would have tried this arduous little road to the village of Korakades – near Petriti – on our own.

The property was rather nice with amazing views towards the sea and the Greek mainland beyond. Who would not want to wake up to these sea vistas?

Vasso had some time on her hands and decided to show us around that part of the island. We drove all around and ended up at her most favourite beach, Halikounas Beach. This beach lies on the stretch of land between ocean and Lake Korission in the southwest of the island. This is a lovely sandy beach and quite deserted if that’s your thing, also good for windsurfing. We had something to drink and learnt a lot from Vasso about the Greek way of life… a lovely lady she was indeed.

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It was Friday, the start of our weekend, and wanted to spend it on a beach nearby our home and decided on Dassia. No sooner had we plonked ourselves down on Dassia when a young lady, probably 20 and her little sister around 11, started chatting to us. They’re from Chicago and currently on a cruise around the Mediterranean with their parents. Their next stop tomorrow would be the very beautiful Kotor Bay in Montenegro which we visited back in 2017. Wow, how I wished I could stowaway on that cruise ship for just a day. Mom and dad arrived and shooed them on, the ship will not wait for them, and neither will Kotor.

Behind us sat a Vietnamese girl that seemed to take note of our conversation and she began chatting to us. Wee, probably spelt Wih, I hoped, was born in Vietnam but was then adopted by a French couple when she was a few months old, so she had lived in France all her life. She is studying hospitality in France and is currently doing part of her practical at a restaurant situated just behind us. She uses her practical to do some travelling and have done stints in a number of different countries. What a lovely lass she was. One meets the most interesting people on the road… and on the beach.

It was getting late, it was beer-time, so we settled at a lovely spot, oh about 40 metres or so from where we lay. After the first gulp of that beer I realized I was hungry too, so we decided to stay right there for an early supper. The view and the vibe were just amazing.

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Sunday we went looking for a sports bar where we could watch the Giro d’Italia. I had noticed that the cyclists would be riding through an area in Italy in the Lake Como district that we called home for a couple of weeks last year. We just had to watch this stage 15 of the race.

As you may be aware, we stayed in a little town called Sormano up in the mountains that tower above the beautiful Lake Como. Although there is no view of the lake from this town you do get incredible mountain views all around… I could easily live there. The air is clean, crisp and perfectly pure, the scenery is spectacularly green, and the people are great. While there we were visited by two sets of friends which was a welcome distraction indeed, but more about that in a future post.

But, back to the here and now, the sports pub in old Corfu town we found did not have the cycle race on their big screen agenda, but they assured us their wifi was good, and it was. We streamed the whole bang shoot from almost the beginning to the very end on the Ipad.

We watched the race with the odd eyeball now and then but when they reached the mountain stage the eyeballs were glued. We recognised many landmarks as they rode

through Asso where we did our shopping at the local Familia supermarket and then headed down towards the eastern leg of the lake and then up towards Bellagio where the eastern and western legs of the lake meet. From there they rode inland and uphill again and eventually arrived in our town of Sormano… it was good to be back home again.

From Sormano they took the steep uphill battle towards Colma di Sormano, the top of the mountain, a road which is very steep and punishing. At the top is a lovely restaurant as well as the Sormano Astronomical Observatory with amazing views down to the valley below. But, what the commentators failed to convey to their audience was that the cyclists took the road more travelled rather than the one less travelled.

You see, this is the exact spot where you find the Muro di Sormano, the famous Wall of Sormano, a stretch of road with an average gradient of 17° and a maximum of 25°! Adri and I one day walked, by choice I might add, this route i.e. from Sormano, to Colma di Sormano. The road the cyclists took today was a rather easy one compared to the true Muro di Sermano, no comparison, no contest… bloody sissies!

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And by the way, the waitress kept us stocked up with beers and coffee and whiskey… and a steady stream of snackies… this was heaven man.

Afterwards, with more than a couple of beers under my belt, I was force-walked up to the mansion of Mon Repos which is where Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was born on 10 June 1921. This property has beautiful park-like grounds with beautiful views towards the sea, but the lovely villa is sadly in dire need of some serious maintenance… and I was in dire need of some serious sleep.

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Monday and Tuesday I spent some time blogging. I was just about ready to publish the latest blog when I suddenly thought – for some unknown reason – about that amazing album by Bruce Springsteen called The River. I started up the album via the Bluetooth speaker at high volume and memories from yesteryear came flooding back. This man is pure genius.

I remember buying the double album (vinyl in those days of course) essentially for one song, Sherry Darlin’, which always brought a smile to my face, even still today. The working-class rebel in this song resonated with me… not that I was a rebel of course. Over time I got to know the rest of the album very well and I honestly cannot point out even one bad song on there. I finally clicked on the Publish button when The Price You Pay started up.

Wednesday we met Aphrodite again to check out a few more properties, this time a small development near the beautiful Barbati Beach. The developer joined us and proudly showed off all the apartments that were for sale. He used all the available space so well but that also had a negative effect in that some of the spaces inside are rather odd sizes and shapes. But there was no denying, the sea views are amazing… and did I mention that roof terrace?

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We were on the road and decided to explore in a bit more detail the lovely Palaiokastritsa area and its various little beaches like Platakia, Agia Triada and Liapades. They’re all okay, but we still find Agios Spiridon the best and most accessible in this area. We stopped off at Niko’s Taverna for a beer and a light snack, beautiful setting, but we still preferred Vrachos on the opposite end of the beach.

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Ashley and Remko had arrived in Corfu Wednesday evening and Thursday morning were ready to start exploring the island. We visited old Corfu town but this time we also visited the Old Fortress on the eastern side of town and ambled up to the top where the views are just lovely. After our excursion we strolled through the little streets of Corfu town, something I will never tire of.

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That evening the four of us went for supper in the Gouvia Marina at the upmarket Olympia Mare Restaurant where fish was the main event. An amazing evening spent with good friends, what’s not to like about that.

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Friday we did the west coast with Ashley and Remko. We started at Palaiokastritsa as they wanted to see the monastery where we had been before. Adri and I waited at Vrachos for the return of the monastery dwellers, me with a large icy Mythos and Adri with something less interesting.

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Afterwards we visited the rather nice Liapades Beach and then headed for the hills, to Doukades, one of the oldest traditional villages on Corfu. It’s a lovely little village with its small main square which is particularly pretty. Here we shared a spinach pie and also a semi-sweet-sort-of-a pasty containing custard called Galaktoboureko. The latter was particularly delicious.

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We then made our way to Afionas, which has its own beach, sort of, called Porto Timoni. The beach can be reached only by boat or by trudging down a steep and testy mountain path for some 1.5km. The girls started in earnest but decided it would be much more comfortable to wait at the restaurant above and inspect my and Remko’s pictures of said beach afterwards. The walk was certainly worth the effort, the little beach is pretty cool but also not that cool. It’s one of those places that you can tick off and say “been there, done that”. Probably won’t make the effort again, although the walk was pretty good. We joined the girls for a well-deserved cold one on our return.

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We continued in a northerly direction to Arillas beach after which we decided to go back to Doukades for supper, to one of the restaurants on the pretty little square. it was sort of in a roundabout way on our way back home. Supper was traditional Greek food of moussaka and kleftiko and… once again I was fooled by the kleftiko. I specifically asked the lady if the meat was on the bone, she assured me it was. And it was, sort of, the lamb was on the bone, but it was not kleftiko. Either way, it was delicious.

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On Saturday evening we met Remko And Ashley for sunset and supper at Elena’s Taverna on Agios Gordios beach, one of our favourite restaurants and beaches on the island. The food ordered was superb but the sunset we could unfortunately not order. The promise of a magnificent sunset was in the making but a few minutes before the grand finale a few delinquent clouds got in the way. And that reminded me of the song Both Sides Now, as per lyrics below.

But now they only block the sun…
They rain and snow on everyone…
So many things I would have done…
But clouds got in my way…

Either way, a wonderful supper and time was had by all.

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Monday we visited the Achilleion Palace which was built for the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as Sisi, after the tragic loss of her only son in 1889. From here you have panoramic views of Corfu city and also across the whole southern part of the island. The palace is well worth the visit and the entrance price includes an audio guide that provides detailed information and interesting titbits about the palace and its historic inhabitants.

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After visiting Sisi we were ready for supper and continued south along the east coast to Benitses, a pleasant holiday town. After strolling around we settled at the Kahmatapia Restaurant which came highly recommended. Fish of various varieties were gleefully consumed; all was great in this little world of ours.

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Tuesday was Remko and Ashley’s last full day on Corfu. They went south, Adri and I did admin and at 15:00 there was a knock on the door. We left for Kouloura on the northeast coast, a quant and lovely little fishing port. We needed beer but sadly the only taverna in town had already closed, only to re-open for supper. We were really miffed about this; it is such a beautiful spot.

Be as it may, this place was certainly not designed for cars, no siree. There is a single lane road into town which ends abruptly next to the now closed taverna, with no way to make a u-turn. I had to traverse, in reverse, the 100 or so metres out of town. No quick getaway offered here.

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Our search for a beer led us to another one of my favourite spots on the island, the little Agni beach. Not so much for the beach as for Nikolas Taverna, I could sit here all day whiling away the beers.

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It was Remko and Ashley’s last supper so we decided to have it at our apartment. Supper was made up of takeaway gyros – from Gyropolis of course – Slovakis, or rather souvlakis, freshly baked little spinach and feta pies, a huge Greek salad, and for dessert there were baclava and an array of little cakes we selected from our favourite bakery up the road. These Greek bakeries are bad news for my waistline, it will be for yours too.

We said our goodbyes after supper as Remko and Ashley would be leaving early in the morning. No doubt we will see these two again soon, if not in Amsterdam, then somewhere else in Europe.

It was Wednesday and our last full day on Corfu, so we spent the day home blogging and mostly arranging and packing our stuff, it was time to move on.

Adri tried to empty the fridge by feeding me supper of all sorts. First up was a snack, an army of green olives standing in line. This was followed by some chicken with Greek aubergine salad, and finally, another small army of spinikopita, those tasty spinach and feta pies. These things are so delicious. Anyways, I needed to be fed well for our trip further south in the morning, to the island of Lefkada, where we would spend the next month.