After being
trapped in England for over a year we finally escaped to the
Greek island of Corfu for seven days of sun, sun, sun.
At such
short notice a package tour seemed like the easiest idea. We
were keen to not do the Manchester by the sea deal so we choose
Thompson Gold, which is a package for couples only. Flight times
were hideous but that's what you get for booking a month in
advance.
6am on Saturday
morning and we were just getting to bed in our lovely air conditioned
room. We had to be a breakfast before 10am as we had our welcome
meeting. And what a welcome. It was really just a run down of
all the extra tours we could purchase during our stay. Tracey
the tourist reared her ugly head at the mention of tours, but
this was supposed to be a relaxing holiday and with 33 degree
temperatures plus the idea of sitting in a bus all day was enough
to tame the beast and as a result we only booked two tours instead
of the recommended ten in seven days that Tracey the tourist
was gunning for.
Rugby calling
we ventured into Corfu town to find a pub playing the deciding
game of the Lions test, with little luck I might add. I don't
think I've ever felt so hot. Corfu town is divided into the
new and old town, and actually has an intact new and old fort.
The streets are amazingly tiny and old and really cool. Luckily
they are living in the 21 century and we found an Internet cafe
to see the result of the game.
We had lunch
on the Liston (just a fancy name for a tree lined area), and
for lunchtime entertainment we got to see a cricket game. It's
a reminder that Corfu was yet another English colony for a while.
In fact Price Phillip was born here. We caught the bus back
to Agios Gordios and I again enjoyed the lovely scenery and
the three point turns the bus needed to make to negotiate the
tiny mountain roads. The island is the most green of all Greek
islands despite October being the only month of rain.
Sunday was
pool day, so with all the other Brits in our hotel, we nabbed
a sun lounger each and baked for a while. It was at this stage
we realised our sun cream was rather good, and we were going
to go back to England as white as we arrived if we didn't remedy
the problem. After a lazy day including participation in the
afternoon quiz by the pool we walked through the town and had
dinner at a restaurant on the beach. Even when we got back it
was still really hot and sunny so we sat on our balcony and
stared at the beautiful view.
Enough relaxing
yesterday, meant we were keen for more exploration of the island
on Monday. We took a bus to Corfu town, and then we had intended
to go to to the east coast to Gouvia but the man at the bus
station couldn't have been less interested so we ended up at
Glyfada, a beach north of Agios Gordios. Oh well. We spent ages
in the water as it was so warm. The clear water and beautiful
sandy bottom meant it was a lot less scary for the wimps amongst
us also.
Back in
Corfu town and an hour to spare before the bus to Agios Gordis
saw us in an olive oil soap shop. I found it by accident really
as it just looked like a warehouse with an open door and being
nosey I peered in. I decided to purchase some soap and as a
reward we were shown out the back and given an explanation of
the processes. The man was obviously very passionate about his
craft. It is a traditional Corfu craft but not one that is carried
out often today due to machines taking over. The soap he made
is known as stamped soap rather than pressed soap which is what
you mostly buy today. He made two types, white and green. The
white soap was made from pure olive oil and did not lather very
much making it an ideal soap for the face and people with sensitive
skin. The green soap was used for everything, including clothes.
It is made from the chlorophyl of the olive tree. There were
three advantages of making this soap. It lasted a long time,
as it does not lather much, there are no additives and it was
easy to make as everyone had olive trees. The process involves
it being boiled for two to five days, then poured into a tray
for five to ten days to set. It's then stamped with the craftsman's
stamp and put into the drying rack for four months before being
packaged and sold. The ingredients include, olive oil, caustic
soda, sea salt to wash out the caustic soda and water.
Tuesday
was another pool day with a lovely dinner at the A La Carte
restaurant at the hotel. We decided to try the hotel's after
dinner entertainment as Tuesday night was local night (they
normally had entertainment flown in from Britain) and so there
were Greek dancers on display. They were not the most professional
but once they got us to join in it became a lot more fun, particularly
after a few cocktails.
On Wednesday,
I decided we should walk to a village called Sinarades, nearby
our hotel. I had seen the sign for the walking path so assumed
it was possible to walk there. We should of guessed that it
would be a mountain climbing exercise due to our surroundings
but at the hottest part of the day I guess we weren't thinking
that clearly. The first part of the walk was reasonable but
after a wrong turn we ended up back on the beach rather than
inland to the village. The beach was deserted, not surprisingly
after the steep path we had climbed down. So after a rest we
climbed back up and find the right track which took us in a
zig zag manner up the mountain. It took about 20 minutes of
climbing before seeing a welcome site. I bet the cafe at the
top of the hill does very well in the water selling stakes.
Luckily the village was now only a few minutes down (hooray
down) the road. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch in a very sleepy
town. The streets were more like little tracks up the hill,
and there seemed to be only one road for cars through the town.
Neither of us were keen for the return hike so we took a taxi
home to get ready for our first paid for tour.
Sinarades
Click to
enlarge
Tour one
was out for a night of Greek food and dancing. We piled on the
bus and after a forty minute drive arrived in Korakiana. Unfortunately
we ended up being seated at the back, but I guess the view wasn't
too bad. It reminded me of a cabaret show in the way we were
seated around the stage. The food was good as was the company
of another young couple who were seated opposite us. While I
enjoyed all the dancing I think the Mandolin player was the
best. People were asked to join in at two stages during the
night and it was a lot of fun, and a lot more professional than
Tuesday night.
Tour two
followed tour one with a very early start to be ready for our
island cruise. The boat was quite large, probably holding about
200 people. The tour took us to tree Ionian islands, Paxos
and Antipaxos and Parga. Read more
about these islands and what we did here.
Friday was
our last full day in Agios Gordios so we planned a day by the
beach. It was very windy and we lost our umbrella a couple of
times. As a result we did not swim but simply relaxed on our
sun loungers. We had an incredibly long night ahead of us as
our bus was due to arrive at 2 am on Saturday morning. We enjoyed
another night of hotel entertainment before falling asleep on
the foyer chairs at 12am. The rest of the trip was the usual
airport nightmare just happening at a worse than usual time.
We didn't get home until 8am on Saturday morning.
Apart from
the horrible flights it was a great holiday. We both really
loved Corfu, and I can't wait to go back to Greece, with all
the twisted olive trees, unfinished houses, and rusty cars by
the roadside. Its a really special place.
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