A Pinay in Europe

We can’t believe that we are finally in Corfu!  It’s been our dream to come here for a holiday but it just remained as that - a dream, until today.   Two reasons why we are finally doing it.  First, to check on the Marina where we could relocate our tiny boat which is currently moored in Saint Laurent du Var in France.  Second, to de-stress.  H has just finished a long and stressful assignment,  he badly needs a holiday.

 The first time my husband set foot in Corfu was when he was in university.  He passed his holiday on this tiny Emerald isle with his bestfriend and it left wonderful memories.  He promised himself that he would return someday.

The trip to Corfu takes 24 hours by ferry originating from Venice…..

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Day One -

The next day, we took a drive around the island.

Kentroma.  We saw the sign “Way to the Beach” so we parked the car and started the descent towards the beach.
 

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The next village we went to - Nimfes

As a self-declared floriphile, Nimfes took my breath away..

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The beauty of sailing is being able to get to places impossible to reach by car or by foot.

Found this jewel of a bay and decided to moor here to have our bbq and a little swimming.
in just few minutes of arriving, swarms of yachts and tour boats started mooring….

cooking lunch…..in the boat!

we will be sailing this way SOON! in the meantime, our tatty and hole-y sails need replacing!

Kalispera (Good afternoon)!

Corfu is just blowing us away! it’s the emerald isle of the whole Greek islands because of the color of her bays, .so sparkingly emerald! and it’s the greenest of them all, too!Everything grows here! Plants which I have never seen before in Western Europe, and if there are similar ones, they are much much bigger, thicker and really growing more beautifully! What is it in the soil here? i wonder..

Now, since I am a plant fanatic, I can see myself living here! Well, H is already toying with the idea especially that his dream of sailing the Greek islands is close to happening!

The way of life here is so relaxed, no stress, a bit disorganised and unkempt, with holes, very narrow. In fact, I have already labeled the island as the “one-laner” capital of Europe! And you or the other incoming car has to give way to let you pass the very narrow stretch. But that’s exactly the reason why it is so easy to live here! No rules. Everybody takes their time! Nobody is in a hurry! Their lunch hours are from 2pm to 5pm!

And it is sooo hot! The temperature in the car yesterday was 50degC and outside was 45deg! if not for the seabreeze, it would have been like the Mid-East!

Corfu is the stronghold of the British! Many British families already have their second homes here and if they are tourists, they try to visit several times a year!

As to the buffet, we went for a 20euros per head buffet dinner the other night. good grief! 18 courses and the table was endlessly being re-filled with food! the price includes half a liter of wine for a couple, a fruit buffet afterwards and long hours of Greek dancing, music and everybody dancing afterwards. I imagined, it was not a buffet-for-profit after all but just a big Party! The Greeks sure know how to throw a big party, everybody had lots of fun and fill that night!

Greek men love to gather and talk in cafes….

Greek women are very chic!

Greek dancing.
If you have seen the men dance together a-la-Aristotle Onassis, you will cry - in regret -
why the heck you did not marry a Greek!

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Our sailing boat in its “towed” state

From the trailer, the craning stage…

slowly-slowly…

down…..

and into the Greek waters, to stay there permanently…

Greetings from Corfu, Greece!

We made it!  H and I arrived here yesterday in 3 pieces - the third piece is our tiny sailboat which we towed from our home in the south of France to Venice (8 hrs) then by 24-hour ferry to Corfu.”
“A grand achievement!”, he says. 
A nerve-wracking trip all the way, eternally worried that the boat might “capsize” on the road or snaps off from our virtually decrepit car but we simply did it!!! Hurray!!

Each day i am learning few words of Greek and it’s free! Gosh, the Greeks are the friendliest people we’ve ever met! we’ve just been here for a while and we already made friends to most of the people we are dealing with - the boutique owner where i bought my (wedding anniversary) clothes, the barber shop where the hubby had his haircut (the 10 yr old son taught me how to count in Greek!), the pastry shop owner (mother and daughter who seem to recite the same introductory line everytime a new customer comes to buy their hmmm sooo lovely patisserie!), the coffee shop owner (where their spinach pie is to die for ….huh! we really feel very much at home here, the food is lovely, the people are so friendly and welcoming, the island is a paradise of flowers, blanketed with 400-year old olive trees which have been planted since the Roman times!!

And by the way, when I said the people here look like gods and goddesses, i really mean it!! Their good-looking physique and looks seem very godly - the woman with long flowing curly hair, very sexy shapely body (unlike the French who are almost bordering anorexism), perfect skin (despite the island continuously hovered by mosquitoes at night) and the men, muscular, dark, hairy arms and legs, black hair and the eternal pair of sunglasses…..put these man and woman together in a motorbike, and voila, you would think you’re in some temple of the gods!

We are actually living in our boat - boatpeople - you may say, but we’re not alone. we have, as neighbours in the water, other families from all over europe who own or charter boats here, instead of hotels, they live in the boat and go sailing every day. Yes, that’s what hubby and i are doing everyday, sailing off to some nearby bay, anchor and we have the whole Adriatic sea as our swimming pool!

I’m telling you, this is a different level of holidaying!

It’s so much fun, cheaper, and gives a very different perspective of the mountains, villages and resorts when viewed from the water. the marina has excellent (or shall i say 5-star) facilities, shower cubicles bigger than ours at home, unlimited use of electricity and water (goes with the annual mooring fee of the boat) and the atmosphere is kind of the “playground of the wealthy” type because who else could stay here than those who could afford to charter or own boats? Except that H and I are probably the odd ones out, our boat being tiny and nothing of the frills their boats are made of. But heck! we don’t care, we just love it!

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Burano a fishing village half an hour from Venice

- houses are colored differently so that the fishermen would easily recognize their houses when they’re out at sea!

The “leaning tower “of Burano

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