The first cave we went inside of.
The heart-shaped bay looking down on Paleokastritsa
Andy and me with the Paleokastritsa bay and Mediterranean in the background.
A photo of the main town on Corfu, called Corfu Town....very original huh?
The beautiful blue water that looked magically illuminated just by the sun shining into the water and lighting up under these rocks.I found another nice little surprise just sitting there waiting for me to explore in the Mediterranean today. It is called Corfu and it is the northernmost of the Greek Islands. It does not have the same feel as most of the Greek Isles. It feels very European due to the island being ruled by the Venetians for many hundreds of years. This place is about 36 miles long and 18 miles wide. It has a population of about 400,000. The main agricultural product is olives, and there are 4 million olive trees on the island. The olives here are too small to be used as table olives, so they are mainly used to make olive oil. The wood of the olive trees is used to make decorative and useful items for the home.
Our tour guide today was Elani, who took us on a panoramic view of Corfu. She gave us lots of information about the island and the people. The Corfuan people are very friendly and almost always happy. Sometimes it seems when they are speaking to one another that they are angry, but they are really just very robust and jovial people. We saw many houses that were partially constructed but looked abandoned. Actually, we saw this in Santorini as well. Elani explained this is because people do not borrow money to build a house. And they do not marry until their homes are built. Therefore, many couples are engaged for 5-10 years until they can complete the home construction as they have money to do it. When couples do marry, the girl’s family has a dowry that is given to the bride. On the Sunday before the wedding day, all the family and friends come to help move the dowry from the bride’s home to the new home of the couple. The groom is responsible for bringing the bed and the bride brings the mattress. The bringing of the dowry is somewhat like a parade. The couple’s bed is made with linens which are handmade by young unmarried girls to represent purity. The families throw coins and bills onto the bed to ensure the couple always has wealth, and a young boy child (about 2 years old) is tossed onto the bed. This is to ensure the couple’s first child is a boy…which of course does not always happen. But it is very important to the Greeks that they have at least one boy child. When asked “how many children do you have?” A typical reply would be “I have two children and one daughter.” Elani also talked about education here. It is similar to that in the United States. Children are required to attend pre-school and kindergarten. They begin primary school at age 7 and they progress through 12 grades. To become a teacher, university is necessary for 4 years after which time you make the equivalent of $1200 per month.
Our tour guide today was Elani, who took us on a panoramic view of Corfu. She gave us lots of information about the island and the people. The Corfuan people are very friendly and almost always happy. Sometimes it seems when they are speaking to one another that they are angry, but they are really just very robust and jovial people. We saw many houses that were partially constructed but looked abandoned. Actually, we saw this in Santorini as well. Elani explained this is because people do not borrow money to build a house. And they do not marry until their homes are built. Therefore, many couples are engaged for 5-10 years until they can complete the home construction as they have money to do it. When couples do marry, the girl’s family has a dowry that is given to the bride. On the Sunday before the wedding day, all the family and friends come to help move the dowry from the bride’s home to the new home of the couple. The groom is responsible for bringing the bed and the bride brings the mattress. The bringing of the dowry is somewhat like a parade. The couple’s bed is made with linens which are handmade by young unmarried girls to represent purity. The families throw coins and bills onto the bed to ensure the couple always has wealth, and a young boy child (about 2 years old) is tossed onto the bed. This is to ensure the couple’s first child is a boy…which of course does not always happen. But it is very important to the Greeks that they have at least one boy child. When asked “how many children do you have?” A typical reply would be “I have two children and one daughter.” Elani also talked about education here. It is similar to that in the United States. Children are required to attend pre-school and kindergarten. They begin primary school at age 7 and they progress through 12 grades. To become a teacher, university is necessary for 4 years after which time you make the equivalent of $1200 per month.
The first stop on our tour was a resort town called Paleokastritsa. Oh my!!! I could scarcely believe what my eyes and brain were taking in! This place is amazingly gorgeous. We had a 40 minute stop here, so Renee, Jackie, Charles, Andy and I took a boat tour of the caves around the bays. This water is the clearest, bluest, coldest water I have ever seen! The boat captain took us actually into the caves. We saw beautiful pink coral, stalagmites (are these the ones growing down from the ceiling?), fish, and the harsh crags that have been carved into the rocky mountainous areas of the shore here in Paleokastritsa. Our next stop was way high above Paleokastritsa in a place called “Bella Vista—or Good View”. Good? No, this word is not was I would use to describe this place. Our bus driver was extremely skilled to get us here. Several times, cars coming toward us had to back up to a spot where they could pull over to let the bus go by, and several times I thought we just might end up back down in Paleokastritsa by way of falling off the side of the mountain with the hair pin turns being tackled by a huge motor coach bus!!! We were overlooking the resort town below and we could see several bays, two of which were heart shaped. Here we had time to sit in the walk up coffee shop, so we had traditional dishes of baklava and iced coffee. Just delicious! Next, we made our way back down the mountain via a different road, not much different than the first. We saw beautiful countryside, olive groves, grape vineyards, cypress trees and very rural homes. All the while, we could still see the Mediterranean and the country, Albania, in the distance! Back down the mountain, Elani drove us by some of the highlights in the old town, including the old and new forts (both of which are very old), a nunnery, and the main town square. It was a lovely day with very nice weather. Each day, I think it just can’t be any more beautiful than today…then the next day comes…and it not more beautiful, but it is just as beautiful in a different way.
Since the ship didn’t arrive until 12:30, we didn’t come back to the ship until about 7:00. We went to the Viking Crown lounge, which is on deck 11 (the only thing on deck 11) to have a drink and watch the ship leave port, which is where we stayed until dinner. Tomorrow is a day at sea. We are looking forward to sleeping in a bit. I am planning to participate in the “Walk for Wishes” which is a charity fundraiser for Make-a-Wish Foundation. The guys are going to try to get their putt-putt dollar a hole game in since the crew had the course closed for maintenance on our other “at sea” day. And I hope the weather is nice so that I can lie up on deck for a bit….I am losing my tan!! And the rest, we will just take as it comes. Goodnight and love to all…Cindy :o)
Hey Girl,
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have gotten on that donkey or that bus winding around those hills,lol!!! The pictures you are posting are gorgeous. I know after today ya'll were ready for a drink!! I got tickled watching Andy and the guide helping Jackie on her jackass!!! Be safe!
Love u