Friday, 10 May to Sunday, 19 May 2019
Having arrived safely in Corfu we needed to start exploring and what better place than in old Corfu town. Not knowing the place yet we went in blind, found a parking spot, was told by the shop owner it was fine to park there, as long as you park on the right-hand side of the road… but only if you’re heading east, got it. The parking turned out to be perfect as it was only about 50m away from the start of the old town.

We strolled along the main promenade, wistfully walking down narrow side streets and alleyways that are just waiting to be discovered. We agreed, we definitely needed to spend much more time around these alleyways and bars and restaurants and…

We needed to be fed and since deciding to come to Greece I had been slobbering at the mouth just thinking about those delicious gyros (pronounced hero, and it certainly is), the most famous comfort food of Greece. We stopped off at a takeaway doing brisk Greek business, always a good sign, and received our two pork heroes which we had at one of the small tables outside on the sidewalk. Man, the anticipation to dig my teeth into this thing was so all-consuming, I forgot to order a beer, and even worse, I did not miss it.

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Saturday found us driving all around and about on the island, we needed to get to know our new home and we were not disappointed with what we saw. It was as fertile and leafy green as we expected, with that beautiful blue sea always as a backdrop not far away. We found that the beaches on the east coast are primarily pebbly and the ones on the west coast sandy. South Africans are used to beautiful white sandy beaches and generally detest pebbly beaches. We have gotten used to the pebbly kind; I suppose it’s just a mind-thing.

We drove from our home – which is 10 minutes north of Corfu town in a residential area called Potamos – towards the east until we hit the sea 1km away and drove north. We explored each little beach we could find such as Gouvia, Limni, Dassia, and went as far as Ypsos. All pretty and pretty touristic.

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From there we drove to the west of the island to a well-known area called Paleokastritsa where we visited the monastery with its amazing views around the area. One can either walk up to the top of the steep hill or drive up on the one lane road. Guess which option we took. Clue: We waited about four minutes for the traffic light to turn green.

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This exploring thing usually brings up a working man’s thirst and once we traversed back to sea-level, we got comfortable at Vrachos restaurant. I asked the waiter what I wanted, he looked me up and down and firmly replied “an ice-cold Mythos”. I said “a big one”, he replied “of course”. I liked this place already. We sat there – Mythos and frappe at close quarters – staring out towards the most beautiful bay. Man, if this wasn’t life, what is?

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Once we had finished discovering life, we drove in a southerly direction mostly trying to do so along the coast which is not always possible, too many mountains. We reached the lovely sandy Glyfada beach where we spent a while before retiring for a brannas and Coke on the balcony back home.

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It seems we were lucky to have had two lovely sunny days because on Sunday the rain set in and would be prevalent on many days during our month’s stay on Corfu. Apparently, according to the locals, the weather was not normal for this time of year; it was not yet summer although it should have been.

Not wanting to be homebound we took our chances and went to Corfu old town again for another look-around but it being Sunday, much like in France, most shops were closed. But, unlike France, many of the restaurants were also closed. Even our takeaway pita place was closed and I was so ready to try their chicken and bacon gyro.

Emptyhanded we drove back home but found a takeaway called Gyropolis along the main road that was clogged with locals, yes, it had to be good. Adri also wanted a Slovaki. I had to think about that one for a while… Either she was a closet cannibal or in her temporary dyslexic speak she meant to say souvlaki. I’m happy to report it was the latter. And man, were those pork gyros and Slovaki a feast!

The rain continued in waves, it reminded me of the tropical showers we would get on Koh Samui. We caught up on plenty of news and whatnot over the next few days.

It was only on Wednesday morning that we found enough sun outside to drive south along the east coast. We drove through the lovely Benitses town and further still through Messongi, Petriti and Lefkimmi, all the while with the greenest of hills and mountains to our right and the bluest of seas to our left. We finally reached the party town of Kavos at the most southern tip of Corfu.

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Now Kavos feels like a whole new country, read UK. Suddenly all the signboards and directions and menus and everything else were in English. This, is where the young ones come to party and I remembered Paul – whom we met in Split – telling us that his young one who had just finished school would be coming here for a week of partying. It was not yet high season but one could sense the nervous excitement in the air of the young ones that had already arrived, it was palpable.

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We were toiling with the idea of having a drink there but decided we were not in Greece to have a drink in the UK, so we did a BREXIT. We pushed on from there and drove up along the western coast – stopping off here and there and at Marathias Beach for a look around – until we reached a point where the thirst and hunger pangs became too pronounced to be ignored.

This point was at Agios Gordios, a lovely coastal town, rather touristy but somehow still manages to have an authentic feel to it. There is a great sandy beach which we will certainly return to for a few rays, but for now we had to be fed.

After a quick scout around we decided to indulge our senses at Elena’s Greek Taverna and man, did we have a feast. After a half litre of beer and a half litre carafe of retsina were delivered, we turned our attention to the menu while taking long glances over its rim to the very blue outstretched sea beyond. Life was still good.

First off we shared a Nagasaki, sorry, a Saganaki, a hard rubbery white cheese, grilled, delicious. My main was lamb kleftiko which I am used to getting on a big bone, as per this link, but mine came in a kind of a stew with aubergine, carrots and potatoes in a clay bowl cooked in an oven. Wonderful, but not what I expected. I would in future again order kleftiko and get yet another version, but more about that in a future post. I was starting to doubt my kleftiko skills but I was later on told by a local that all other version other than the one I know are fake, they’re not the real Greece. The search continued for a real kleftiko, on a big bone.

Adri had the pastitsada, which is a typical Corfiot dish of, in this instance chunks of beef that fall apart at the touch, over penne pasta with a delicious tomato based sauce. Man, that was good. Finally we just had to share a sweet treat of baclava. Now I’ve had baclava many times in my life, but this one was special, surely one of the better ones I’ve ever had.

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Thursday morning we had a lady come in to clean our apartment, and she would come every Thursday while we stayed there. This was a first in our monthly Airbnb rentals and came as a welcome surprise. The Airbnb norm is that you do all the cleaning yourself and pay for a final clean once you leave.

The lady entered the apartment with a jassas! and we immediately thought we were in big trouble; the apartment was probably in a worse state than she expected. Now in Afrikaans jassas, or rather jisses, is similar to the English word jeez, although it seems to have an extra blasphemous connotation to it and its use is mostly frowned upon. It may be used for e.g. jisses, maar hierdie plek is vuil (jeez, this place is dirty). We were relieved to find out that jisses, or jassas in Greek is just a friendly greeting which can be a hello, goodbye, good day, etc. Now Adri and I have no problem to declare, for e.g. “Jassas, maar hierdie gyro is lekker” (Jeez, this gyro is delicious).

The lady left a sparkling clean apartment an hour later and Adri tried a Ευχαριστώ (thank you, pronounced efgaristoh, or at least something like that) which she clearly appreciated. I threw a jassas at her which she returned in kind.

As we always do whenever we are in a new place or country, we look at a few properties for sale to familiarize ourselves with what is available and compare that to other places or countries. It’s a fun thing to do. And so it was that we were scheduled to meet up with Aphrodite to check out an apartment in the village of Spartilas. On the way there I was wondering how old Aphrodite was if Demis Roussous and Vangelis from Aphrodite’s Child fame were indeed children of hers.

Aphrodite, who lived in Canada for many years, showed us two apartments with spectacular views, all the way from Spartillas down the east coast to Corfu Town. Man, I could surely live a lifetime with this view.

After spending an enjoyable and informative 30 minutes, kicking the tyres so to speak, we were on our way further up the mountain to visit the Monastery of Pantokrator, which happens to be on the highest peak on Corfu.

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During our trip up the steep roads to Spartillas Adri had already started sounding the “drive safely” alarm. But that alarm now increased in volume and intensity as the roads – in bad repair I must admit – got progressively steeper and narrower and worse as we got closer to the top and the monastery. Adri had read somewhere that people park somewhere along this road and walk the last few hundred metres. We were 5km from our destination when she started suggesting that we stop and walk the rest of the way. Finally, a few hundred metres away, Adri suggested, or rather demanded, that she walk the rest of the way.

When I reached the top – now in solo mode – there were already many cars parked alongside the wafer thin road and it just so happens that a car at that point was coming my way. The road is wide enough for two cars, in other words, the parked ones and either him or me… and he kept coming, and I had nowhere to go. I was forced to inch close and closer and even closer towards my right, no barriers, with the abyss right there. But, with a fraction of a millimetre to spare we finally got past each other. Okay, I thought, maybe Adri had a point there.

The monastery is well worth the visit, if not for the monastery then for the 360-degree views of the island and surrounds, truly spectacular. To get to the actual monastery one has to pass under a steel monstrosity. It being the highest point on Corfu it is unfortunately also home to an array of radio masts etc. which tends to be a bit of an eyesore, but one has to look past that.

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Our next stop was what Aphodite described as her favourite beach, Barbati – which lies on the northeast coast – and we were certainly not disappointed. Here we stopped for a beer and to drink in that clear turquoise waters mere metres away. You can rent a set of two lounge chairs and an umbrella there for the day for €5, certainly something that should be on one’s agenda. Sadly, we never did make it back there.

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We continued up the east coast and dipped in and out of some lovely little bays. One of these was Agni Beach which is one of the loveliest little coves on the island. There you will find Nikolas Taverna, a place where I could just sit and sit and sit and drink beer. Unfortunately I had already had my fill for the day – I was driving you see – so I had to pass up on this spot. The restaurant has a Greek evening every Thursday with live music and Greek dancing (think Zorba the Greek), so maybe a place we could come to when Remko and Ashley visit us from Holland next week.

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Passing by Kalami and Kerasia we ended up in Kassiopi, which seemed like a very pretty village, albeit rather touristic, which I guess should be expected. From here we continued west along the north coast and must admit to not liking this area much. Too many package tour tourists, and the beaches are less than ordinary, the ones we saw at least.

We stopped off at Loggas Beach which is supposed to be best on the island for sunset watching. I am sure it could be but it was way too early for me to prove that.

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We drove through Agios Stefanos and stopped in Arillas, a lovely enough beach village. From here Google took us along treacherous non-maintained little roads heading in the general direction of home past Afionas, Agios Georgoios, Pagoi, Agios Anna, Doukades… and so we soldiered on home.

We’ve seen many beautiful and also some ordinary beaches during our stay thus far on Corfu, there are too many to choose from so you have to decide amongst the great, the good, the bad and the ugly. To get an idea of all the available beaches take a stroll to this link.

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There was a dog that lived downstairs, a real ugly one, in fact it was shit ugly, so much so that we ended up calling it Beautiful. And funnily enough, it answered to that name. We had pork chops for supper and decided to throw the dog a bone and tossed it down from our balcony to old Beautiful. He searched and searched and finally, gratefully, found it and chomped it down.

The second bone landed with a clunk on his head and bounced a metre or so from there onto the ground. Again he searched and he searched and almost gave up when he seemingly by chance found it, crunching it to bits with those powerful jaws. I realized that there must certainly be something wrong with his eye-sight. It was the next day when I was outside on the balcony breathing in deeply on the fresh Corfiot air, that he came running out from underneath the balcony, probably awaiting a morsel or two. I moved very quietly on the balcony so was rather struck by his immaculate hearing.  And that reminded me…

A colleague at work struggled with his eyesight over many years, it getting progressively worse and worse over time. People would sometimes say something in his vicinity which he was not meant to hear and he would quip “Daar mag dalk fout wees met my oë, maar daar’s fokkol fout met my ore” (There may be something wrong with my eyes, but there’s f-all wrong with my ears). And that in turn reminded me of old Beautiful downstairs. Never call Hennie Beautiful behind his back!