"All Summer Long......"

".....It was 2009, my thoughts were short, my hair was long
Caught somewhere between a boy and a man....."

"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???!!!......."

During our second week with Becky, Pig and Hannah we decided to risk trespassing on Paul Deuchlands land once again, and took them to see Afianos village.

This time however we were offered the most priceless photo opportunity. There were 4 little Greek old ladies sat on a wall, and when Becky asked them if it was OK to take their photo, they beckoned at Hannah to come and sit with them. But Hannah was too scared so Pig very enthusiastically took the opportunity to squeeze in-between them and have his photo taken and they became very giddy and excitable.
Pig with his Greek Biatchos

Becky has very enthusiastically embraced Liz’s unhealthy obsession with “Greek Little Old Ladies” and never missed a chance to photograph them!!

................here is just a small sample of some of her great photos.

We hired a boat again, but this time we sailed round the Sidari coastline, we had been here before and seen young lads jumping from 1000 foot high (slight exaggeration) rocks into the sea. Keith & Pig decided to re-live their youth and do the same. We moored the boat and they swam off the boat and over to the rocks, but getting out of the water proved tricky, as the rock had a slippy mossy ledge and a difficult surface to climb onto. So instead of coming out of the water like Greek gods, they both emerged on all fours like a pair of grannies on ice!!!

Then to the rock itself! Keith had jumped off here last year with Gemma and Caitlyn but he said it looked a lot higher than he remembered and so he opted for diving in off a lower ledge. Pig on the other hand, was so inspired by the nubile local girls jumping from the top rock, that he just went for it!!!

Pigs can fly!!!....

He said afterwards he was in the air a long time, long enough to reflect on the wisdom of what he was half way through doing! They both survived and swam back to the boat, which had drifted somewhat, so they had a few hundred-metre swim to add to their death-defying feat.

We had another trip to Corfu town for some more sight seeing and some shopping therapy. It is getting much much busier now, it felt so much more lively than previous visits. As we meandered through the streets we suddenly found ourselves following a procession of traditional Greek musicians and singers, all in traditional costume, they looked like a salvation army band in gondoliers outfits; With guitars, an accordion player or two and a couple of women with tambourines They were fantastic, the singers were singing perfect harmonies as they strolled through the crowded streets, to the delight of shop owners customers and tourists alike, they were clearly busking for money encouraging all to leave money in their upturned tambourines, we followd them to the exit point of the narrow streets near to the old port.

Where Keith & Pig had to do another typical blokey thing!! Try on hats with hair!!! They were not alone in this pursuit as several German Dutch and Italian men were making equal fools of themselves much to the delight and embarrassment of their wives girlfriends and teenage children.

............................................................Chuckle brothers!

As usual we had lots of meals out in Restaurants and Tavernas but there was one treat that Becky had insisted on having, and that was to go to one particular restaurant…..The Three Brothers on Astrakari beach. It is a Fish Taverna that we often visit, although Liz doesn’t eat fish she is always very enthusiastic about going there. This is because the three brothers are great Greek ‘eye candy’ and always flirt with her. And having been there last year Becky (who also doesn’t eat fish!!?? )Was very enthusiastic to take us there to treat us to lunch for Liz’s birthday. The food was fantastic as usual, the girls had their flirt with the decidedly average looking George & Yannis, his equally plain twin brother, we all agreed it was a superb meal except for one minor detail, the wine, which was something else! If you ever want an example of a wine not travelling well this was it, it couldn’t travel off the beach it was undrinkable!!!!! The boys politely finished off the 1/2litre we’d ordered, then we all moved swiftly onto beer to wash the taste away.

On their last night Keith was doing his weekly gig at The Athens bar in San Stefanos. (Hannah couldn’t wait to see her favourite International rock star again!!)

This time we were treated to a guest appearance from a tourist who could sing!! A couple had been in San Stefanos to get married and the bride groom was a singer in a rock band, so with a little prompting from his new inlaws, he and his best man who was also a guitarist, got up and did a couple of songs much to the delight of the crowd of family and well wishers they had brought with them.

Whilst they were playing the mother-in-law came up to Keith to say thanks for letting “Damo” and “Dave” sing and play, and as she shook his hand she slipped a rolled up note into his hand! Thinking it was probably a 5 euro note; he didn’t look at it and transferred it into his pocket before going back up to play, it was only later when everyone had gone that he looked at this note to find it was a 50 euro note!!! Amazing what a thank you that was.

So our 2 weeks of having some great company came to a rapid end and we returned our visitors to Corfu town and the airport, and settled back into our usual routine, to prepare for our next influx of guests at the end of July.

“Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet home Alabama all summer long……….”

p.s.

Keith has done 50 gigs since we got here.......it's knackering and he says he is starting to feel like an old man......so I went and got one for him!!!

"Trains and Boats and Planes........"

...............Well no trains but we do have boats and planes and a carriage…. A horse drawn one!

This is a quick summary of our days out with Becky, “Pig” and Hannah, our most recent visitors from the UK.

Hannah

Becky and Pig

Although they are not staying with us but “slumming it” at the local boutique hotel, Delfino Blue www.delfinoblu.gr

As they are in the poor part of town we thought we’d take pity on them and take them out to see some of the wonderful sights on this island. We started off by showing them the highest point of the island and the monastery, where Becky and Liz managed to get a swift peek at a local “hunky” monk.
On the way up to the monastery, we noticed something slowly crossing the road, we thought at first it was a hedgehog but as we got closer it was a tortoise!!! Which live in the wild here; Keith had read in books by Gerald Durell and co that they existed in this area but we never expected to see one, we stopped and had a 5 minute photo opportunity with him then carried on up the hill.
We followed this with lunch in a mountain village where we planned the next few days. On our way back we called into the fishing village of Kassiopi, where our intrepid guests spied boats to hire and having negotiated an excellent rate of hire arranged to come back later in the week for a 6 hour adventure around the north eastern coastline. We’d only ever hired boats around San Stef. So we were very keen to join them on their adventure into what was for us an unknown area.

Liz, prepared a huge picnic including sandwiches, cheeses, ham, salami and of course beer and wine, we picked up our intrepid travellers and set off for life on the ocean waves!

B,H and P are experienced ‘boat people’ so we felt very safe setting out from Kassiopi harbour.

We travelled north towards the sandy beaches of Kalamaki Bay, and strayed a little further north to the edge of Almiros close to where Keith plays guitar on a Sunday night. then turned back and travelled south along the coast down to the beautiful and expensive resorts including Agni, where the beautiful and the rich play and dine out in top quality restaurants.

We stopped several times to swim and snorkel and introduce Hannah who is now 7 to the delights of swimming in the sea. We dropped anchor and picnicked in a beautiful bay just below San Stefanos on the east coast (yep they have as little imagination in place names as they have in naming their sons and daughters)
With fish swimming all around the boat in crystal clear waters. Becky and “Pig” or as we were now calling him “Captain Jack’s Eye” took turns at the wheel, as we sailed past beautiful luxury villas with pools

and even some with their own beaches and jetties, and at one point there were so many villas with pools that even 500 metres off shore we could smell the chlorine from their pools.

We arrived back in port late afternoon very happy and tired Keith and I saw areas of the coastline we didn’t know existed which we will explore again maybe on land or maybe hire a boat and visit some of these hidden gems of villages that are not evident from the road.

Another day we visited the marina at Gouvia, where the sea planes are based, with the idea that Becky, Hannah and Pig could maybe do the trip we once did to the local island Paxos, however the sea plane service is not running this year, but we did have a good old brows around the 100’s of very big stylish yachts and cruisers in the marina (how the other half live)

Then onto to Corfu town, as we’ve said before we never tire of visiting the town and its always nice to show people around for the first time, so as usual we parked in the old port and walked into the old narrow streets that surround this area. It was so hot that we had to keep taking refreshment stops; so on to the Liston for an ouzo meze and into the back streets for a lunch in a ‘locals only’ taverna.

Hannah was fascinated by the horse drawn carriages parked up on the edge of the liston and as we crossed the area leading to the old fortress the old guys who drive these carriages started to try and draw us in to a carriage ride we resisted then walked away discussed tactics and offered them a silly price to take us all for a drive, they said Yes!!!! So ½ hour touring the streets of old Corfu in a horse and cart with Hannah sitting proudly up front with the driver was a great treat!!
We’d planned to finish the day out by visiting Mouse Island again; this time we did route one straight to the key side just as a plane was landing (it was Friday, transfer day) and we all looked at each other and said ‘wouldn’t it be fab if we were on the causeway at the end of the runway when a plane came in’!!!!!!

As we waited….. Piggy spotted the lights of a plane coming in towards us, we positioned ourselves right in the middle of the flight path and braced ourselves on the footpath for the plane landing 100 metres away from us and flying right over our heads. What a noise, what a scary but exhilarating experience, which made us all scream!! it was a real white knuckle moment!!!

But not quite as crazy as the scooter riders who use this causeway to short cut the journey to Corfu town by 5 miles by driving along the narrow concrete track over the waterway; where there is just enough room for the bike or a pedestrian but not both but that doesn’t stop them hare-ing along oblivious to the dangers or anybody on the footpath……….just one kick……. !!
Anyway back in the car but before we set off home time for a couple of more photo opportunities as 2 more planes landed and 2 taxied to the end of the runway and took off, it was just like Keith’s lunch breaks at Yeadon tarn, next to Leeds Bradford Airport!!!

Thursday was the highlight for Hannah, she was going to actually go to one of Keith’s gigs!! She really is very excited that she actually knows a proper’ rock star’…..in real life! Thursdays gig is local in San Stefanos and is always a very lively one. Hannahs’s only issue, (which she pointed out to Keith) was that he played Sweet Home Alabama wrong!! It sounded nothing like Kid Rock? But she had a ball and was allowed stay up til 1am!!
What a perfect end to their first week here!

……..You are from another part of the world
You had to go back awhile and then
You said you soon would return again
I’m waiting here like I promised to
I’m waiting here, but where are you……?

Riders on the storm.....

It’s just over 3 weeks since Paddy and Lorraine went home,

Paddy and Keith acting the goat....

........so we have had a couple of weeks to recover before our next visitors arrived last Friday.

On the last day of Paddy and Lorraine’s stay, Liz and Paddy decided to hire a moped each and do some exploring. They assured Nikos that they were both experienced bikers, so he gave them 2 brand new bikes!!

But this was the first time Liz had ever ridden a bike! So a quick 10-minute lesson from Paddy in our back garden

and off they went through the mountains all the way to Paliokastritsa for their first pit stop.

A quick meze taverna lunch then back to base after a 4 hour adventure Liz is now sooo expert on 2 wheels she wants to get a bike for home (Mid life crisis?) And we are considering hiring one here for the rest of the summer, because even the rental people are suffering the downturn and what would normally cost 20 euros a day to hire a brand new scooter we can have for 3 euros.

We all agreed our favourite time of day here is between 5pm and 7pm, when it is still warm but not roasting! So we often went for an early evening stroll along San Stefanos beach; where there is a surprising variety of activities going on at this time of day.

Beach Aerobics (ladies only)

Power walking (fit German ladies only) and jogging

and Fishing,

and Liz havin a fag break (locals only)

and from the safety of our balcony, we have also observed Belly-dancing classes in the evening sun on the beach.

Keith is still doing 6 gigs a week, but things feel very different from our first 2 years here. Hotel and bar owners are all twitchy about the lack of tourists and the limited spending power of those that are in resorts. So as a consequence, they indulge in trying to tinker with everything; the acts that play in their bars, the days and times of gigs, they are watching the clock to see if or when any extra people will be walking down the street to their little empire!!!

A tourist makes a guest appearance at one of Keith's gigs

We have been lucky Keith has managed to keep all his nights booked up and if a venue owner has become “twitchy” we’ve found another one lined up ready to replace it. Some other musicians are not being quite so proactive, trying to trade on past success’s to get work and pricing themselves out of a depressed market and as a result only working 3 nights a week!

A typical audience at Keith's gigs
To add to the local’s misery about the economy etc. we have had a couple of weeks of unusually stormy weather,

whilst you have been having your heat wave in the UK. (the Greeks have even started to talk about the weather just like the Brits do!) We have had a week of fantastic electrical storms lasting for hours, usually at night with the whole sky lighting up, and the noise from the thunder rattles all the doors and windows throughout the town. This has meant cooler daytime temperatures, which we have taken advantage of and done some of the exploring that is difficult to do when it is ‘scorchio’.
Last week we spent a few hours rambling around the remains of the Old Fort in Corfu town. This was built by the Venetians upon the remains of a Byzantine castle between 1400 and 1500. (That’s years, not time of day, cos between 14.00 and 15.00 is when the locals siesta) Then the British made alterations in 16th and 18th centuries.

There is a huge moat around it, and underneath a maze of tunnels to explore.

We climbed to the top to experience the impressive view over Corfu Town and out to sea.

We never get bored of visiting Corfu Town, we just love its unique atmosphere.