Green Island

Although we have now returned, an interesting fact is that Corfu gets as much rain as London. It is not called "the green island" for nothing.

Going Home

Despite all the strikes and unrest in Greece our plane left not too late on Friday evening. Our hotel gave us a day room (424) so we could use until our taxi came at 5.30pm Greek time.  We arrived in Norwich a bit late and got home at 11pm (1am Greek time!).  The week went very quickly.

It is now Saturday and we have unpacked, washed our clothes and it is hard to believe we have been away.

Dinner

The Greek government has just announced further austerity measures and there were violent protests in Athens, so we hope our flight is not cancelled on Friday evening.

Last night, we ate at a different restaurant on Guilford Street in Old Corfu Town. The food was good.

Earlier Lis and Rosemary went shopping and got lost! They arrived back at the hotel about 1pm.

Another Slow Start

Today we are having another lazy day - we go home tomorrow. Breakfast was a slow affair at 8.45am. This hotel has some famous guests, although I'm sure most come for a quiet, sunny holiday. This morning, Lis went into town with Rosemary whilst I stayed to read in the garden.

We ate lunch in the hotel gardens. I had a Greek salad and Lis an omelette. There were 2 large lizards on a tree trunk not far away.

The alpine swift's nest on the adjoining balcony was visited earlier. Despite waiting for about 15 minutes I was not able to photograph the bird.

Into the Mountains

Yesterday we did a Tui trip into the mountains and northern Corfu. We visited Kassiopi on the coast as well as Old Perithia which is one of the oldest villages in Corfu. We went past the house, on the coast, once lived in by one of the Durrells.

Rain

The weather was quite different today. Whilst at breakfast it rained and continued until well after lunch. It felt about 10 degrees Celsius cooler. We needed the umbrellas we brought. We walked into the New Town for a snack lunch. Lis had a toasted sandwich and I had an omelette and chips. This was indoors in a café not far from where the blue buses went from. Later we went into M&S to see what it was like. Then we walked back to the hotel along the main road to avoid wet stones on the path down to the hotel.

A Quiet Day

After the trip to Albania yesterday, we are having a quiet day today. Lis's brother and his wife arrive tonight. We are having dinner together. This morning we went to Old Corfu and had crepes for lunch. This afternoon we are reading our books. By the way, we got permission to use the photo of the gypsy with her child.

David and Rosemary arrived in the evening. We ate dinner with them at 8.30pm.

Albania

We visited Albania on Sunday. Well, what a surprise!

Sarande

We were expecting this to be grim, but certainly southern Albania is beautiful with clear blue rivers, trees, mountains and lakes. Yes, there are a lot of new buildings going up in Sarande, but we left there with a totally different view of the place. Everyone was kind and helpful, the countryside very beautiful. The country had been freed from its yoke of communist "grimness". You get the feeling it is yet to be discovered.

We were picked up from our hotel in Corfu at 8.30am. Our first impression of Greek organisation was going through customs. A Greek lady said we must have 3 things in our hands. Firstly our passports, secondly a boarding pass and thirdly  a small piece of paper the police would scan. Of course, they did not have enough of the latter to go around! The other Greek oddity was the scanner. Both leaving Corfu and arriving back my bag and body were scanned. Both times it bleeped but no-one checked! It was a total waste of time. The hydrofoil to Albania took 35 minutes. Both going and returning,  the seats were faulty. Greek!

Butrint

Albania was great. The site at Butrint was amazing, the Blue Eye spring had clear, clear water. Sarande was like any seaside resort on the Med. There was a lot of new building going on. Who pays?

We left with a good impression of Albania. It was much nicer than we had expected. We were able to use Euros and it was much less expensive than Corfu.

There appear to be 2 sorts of swifts and swallows about. There are alpine swifts and "our" swifts as well as red-rumped and "our" swallows.

We got back to our hotel about 7.30pm after a long, but good, day. The weather was perfect.

Lunch

We ate lunch in the hotel grounds today, after a lazy morning in Old Corfu Town. I had a Greek salad and Lis a tuna salad. There are loads of alpine swifts around making a din. I saw a lizard near me at lunchtime that darted up a tree.

Arrival

After a pleasant taxi ride to Norwich (David from Martin Claydon Taxis) our plane left about an hour late. At Corfu, after a rather bumpy landing, we were escorted to a bus, even though we paid for a taxi to the hotel. Later we were taken off the bus and into a taxi. When we arrived at the hotel (room 603) we were tired and went to bed early after some fruit and wine in our room.