Corfu
We arrived in Corfu after a 9
hour ferry from Brindisi and jumped in a taxi to get to the town of Agios
Georgios North. The taxi driver
was great and gave us a history of the island and a running commentary of any
interesting sights we passed along the way (although it was dark so we couldn’t
actually see them) and things we should do on the island during our time
there. Once we arrived and finally
found our hotel, Pension Vrachos, there were big hugs and kisses as we met up
with Georgia (who we haven’t seen since we left Perth in February), Emma and
Mark (who we haven’t seen since February last year), and finally met Jeff and
Petra (Georgia’s dad and his wife).
The bay was beautiful, with a
nice sandy/pebbly beach and not too many people. The hotel was right on the
beach front, and has a restaurant/bar (convenient!) - - bliss! We spent the next four days eating,
drinking, lazing on the beach, occasionally swimming (the water was pretty
cold!), and catching up on all the goings-on since we last saw each other – it
was great to be back among friends!
A couple of nights we walked up the hill to restaurants and had some
fabulous local cuisine and beverages.
Veal was a popular one (usually slow cooked with a tasty sauce) and the
tatziki and stuffed peppers were to die for! As expected, the Greek salads were also pretty good! The standard beer here is Mythos which
is very drinkable. We also drove
into the nearest large town a few times for money and internet access… finding it full of Brits and souvenir
shops we were quite glad to be staying somewhere quieter. Corfu itself is pretty, very green and
full of olive trees (5 million according to our taxi driver!), and cute towns
with narrow streets.
After 5 nights on Corfu we were a
little sad to leave… Jeff and
Petra were staying on a bit longer, Emma and Mark were heading to Paris, and
Georgia was coming with us for 2 weeks of fun around Greece and Turkey!
Athens
We flew into Athens with the
mission of visiting the Acropolis and surrounding the sites that afternoon, as
we had to catch a ferry to Santorini the next morning. The plan got slightly interrupted by
our day wallet getting pick-pocketed from Abe’s pocket on the train on the way
to our hostel! Straight after we
realised it was totally set up, with probably half a dozen people working
together to jostle and distract while someone took it – Abe was very impressed
with the speed and light-fingeredness!
Luckily it held only a couple of credit cards and a little bit of cash
(no passports thank goodness), and we were totally prepared for something like
this to happen, so we got straight on the phone and the cards were cancelled
within half an hour. As for the
cash… well, sh*t happens and we’re lucky it wasn’t too much!
SO… after that small interruption
and activating the back-up credit card, Abe Georgia and I set off for the
Acropolis, keeping a close eye on personal possessions! We spent a few hours wandering around
the various temples and monuments of the Acropolis, as well as other nearby
ruins (Temple of Dionysis, Ancient Agora, Roman Agora, etc.), which were all
AMAZING. The views from the
Acropolis were spectacular, we could see way out to the Mediterranean Sea as
well as the entire expanse of Athens.
Dinner that night was a cheap one at Goody’s (a fast food outlet that
does burgers, pasta, salads, etc.) before trying to get an early night in order
to make the ferry the next day… I
say trying, but it was a little difficult as our room was right next to the
hostel bar which was rocking till at least midnight!
Santorini
On Friday morning Abe, Georgia
and I caught the metro to Piraeus, the port of Athens. We bought our tickets and jumped on a
very flash-looking ferry that had escalators, internet and our new favourite
(“ahem”) food place, Goody’s! We
grabbed a spot near the front under cover and entertained ourselves with
sleeping, playing cards and reading books while the ferry sailed its way
through the Greek islands, stopping at Mykonos, Naxos and Ios before finally
docking at Santorini. The views coming
in to Santorini were absolutely stunning… white Mediterranean style houses
hanging off the side of cliff tops, it really was beautiful. Our accommodation at Pension Livadaros
was awesome, we had a big room and balcony with a great view, pool, and really
friendly hosts.
On Saturday we walked into Fira,
the main town, which took about half an hour, and wandered through the laneways
admiring the architecture, looking in the shops and taking heaps of
photos. The afternoon was spent
back at our hotel in the pool, before heading back to Fira for sunset and
dinner in a restaurant overlooking the sea – life doesn’t get much better than
this!
On our
last day we hired a scooter and quad bike between three of us and raced around
the island, visiting Perissa (a volcanic black sand beach), the lighthouse at
the southern end of the island, and Oia at the northern end of the island. Georgia has a funny story to tell but
you’ll have to ask her about that J That night we caught a midnight ferry to the Greek island of
Kos, and then a 9am ferry on to Bodrum in Turkey!
