We are staying with the most helpful, kind family. Our room is small, but very quaint, and the lady so helpful. We have a little fridge, now stocked with cold water and white wine, and one working plug in which we juggle camera battery, iPod and iPad recharging, a fan and hairdryer. Last night around 1am I woke up, and as I was switching out the iPod for the iPad I stuck my finger in the socket. THAT woke me up!
The bus stop is across the street, right on a curve. We are warned to keep our eye-out for the bus, as it zooms around the curve and might not stop, but I notice that I can see well around the curve by looking at the reflection of the shop window across the street. So we grab the early bus into town, then a cappuccino at a corner café with WiFi. So, after breakfast we did the tourist thing: climb to the lighthouse above the old fortress and look over the old town to the new fortress and the harbor beyond. At 9:00 we were sweating buckets as we did this simple climb. We got lost in the cool shadowy maze of streets and ended up in one little square that looked, just a little, like Venice. Then out to the port to pick up our tickets for tomorrow, (The lady who sold them to us said, "and do you want to return at..." and looked at us very surprised when we insisted on one way tickets. "OK, €19 each. Cash." with a shrug.) and back into town to shop a little. By 11:30 it was 37 degrees so a gyro and beer stop was called for. Watching the people and traffic in downtown Corfu reminded me of Athens, but the gyro wasn't as good.
It was getting hot and on toward the afternoon, so grabbed the bus back, changed and headed out for an afternoon on the beach. We literally just walked out the door of our pension, across the street, and picked a spot. We had mats, an umbrella and towels from the guesthouse, and we ended up with free beds on the beach once again. The hot sun, so warm on our skin; the saltwater sticky kind of feeling. Reading, sleeping, drinking, swimming (water warm like bath water, even Gail went in more than once) drinking, listening to music the whole time; the crowd gathers, leaves, new people arrive... seems everyone now is speaking Italian around us. The gentle cooling late afternoon breezes gently cool and caress us. We called it a day around 20:00 as the sun was going down behind the mountain ridge. Many of the Italian and Greek families were still there.
A shower and glass of cold white wine, and we strolled out through the town for dinner. The families retreated from the beach as dusk gathered and the beach darkened.
Across the street to Big Bite, right on the beach, (as in sand in toes on the beach dining) our table has an oil lamp now complemented by a litre of red wine and water. I am having beef stifado (beef roast marinated in red wine with onions: yum!) and Gail got a Greek salad. Now this is a vacation!
Tomorrow we leave Greece and catch the 9:00 ferry to Albania.
All afternoon on the beach, when I look up at the northern horizon, I could see the Albanian coastline, and now I see lights twinkling in the distance.
Albania. This should be an adventure.
Three weeks into our trip now and we are finding the rhythm.