"A Lovely Day......."

......"When I wake up in the morning, love
And the sunlight hurts my eyes
And something without warning, love
Bears heavy on my mind

Then I look at you
And the world's alright with me……."

The season is well under  way now,  more tourists are arriving each week onto the island; amongst them  were our friends Katherine & Shirley  (aka Pepsi  ‘n’ Shirley) who had opted to stay with us for a week.  We managed to cram 10 days worth of stuff into 7 action packed days and nights, and I’m sure they went home more tired than when they arrived.

We had several great days out with them, one road trip to Paleaokastritsa where we stopped at our favourite honey seller and then onto a beachside taverna lunch. 

This was followed by a trip up to the Monestary.  And for the first time since we’ve been coming to Corfu (over 9 years) the doors were open and we were able to walk around the beautiful gardens and buildings.  One of Pepsi’s favourite sayings was  “oooh its lovely here”… a phrase we heard a lot of for the next 7 days!

We were also treated to seeing a goat herder with his flock walking down the Paliokastritsa main street.

Keith had to visit a hotel in Agios George one evening, so we decided to combine the visit with a meal out in a restaurant overlooking the beautiful bay where we shared a fish platter, wine and an amazing sunset. To get to the taverna you have to drive along a narrow road that is crumbling into the sea and has some interesting sections where it hangs over an empty space left under the tarmac from the winter storms! Coming back seemed easier as we had all had a few scoops so getting back seemed to be plain sailing!

We called into the Golden Beach Hotel in Agios George on the way back that Keith works in.  We received the usual warm greeting and suddenly discovered that we were roped in to doing karaoke with the staff and owners.  The “girls sang songs from Mama Mia and Keith dueted with Dimitris (the owner) on the classic “sailing” with arms locking and lots of swaying in time to the music.

Of course no visit to us is complete without a Keith Mitchell gig, and a couple of hours before the Athens Bar gig we had an email and text contact from our friend and fellow musician Simon Hayes, who just happened to be on Corfu  for a few days  sailing a yacht  with 7 Dutch girls on board as crew.  As we felt sorry for him, we invited him to come over to San Stefanos  and drink beer and play some guitar!  Not really expecting him to turn up as he was based in Govia  30km away on the other side of the island but he appeared on a 50cc scooter having ridden over the mountain pass to get to us.

Being the rugged outdoor type and having sailed boats around the world for the past few years, it sadly hasn’t  improved his looks but Pepsi & Shirley were, to say the least, slightly in awe of actionman friend dropping in to see us, and certainly increased the enjoyment factor of the gig for the girls.

Another must do for our visitors is to visit the bar above the bay called Akritiri, which has the combination of superb views over the bays of San Stefanos and Arillas but also the best uninterrupted sun set views and………  fantastic red wine.  Another ‘Oooh this is soooo lovely’ moment for the girls.

It wasn’t all sun sea sand and ….. relaxing though, in fact the girls got to the beach just once in the whole week, we persuaded them to come on a long walk with us to Sidari via the olive groves and country lanes.  In fact it was the inaugural walk of the weekly walk to Sidari and we were the guinea pigs for the walk.   The girls decide to take part and splashed out on some proper walking sandals  for 6 euros each, so armed with correct footwear bottles of water ,we spent 6 hours walking (with a pit stop at a cake shop, lunch in a taverna and a beer stop just before the ferry home) we walked through lanes that hadn’t been used for years and saw some of the finest scenery in the area that you could never see from the roads, we caught the local ferry home, with sore feet and dozens of spectacular photos,  and it proved to be ‘another lovely day out’!

On the girls last day we planned another adventure, to Corfu Town.  We met up with our local friends Keith & Sue who caught the bus to visit the British cemetery.  In a quiet part of Corfu Town there is a cemetery dating back to pre-Victorian times and dedicated to British victims of wars in the area and other epitaphs to ex pats from days gone by to present day.  It is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places we have ever been, we were greeted on arrival by the gardener and curator “George” who at the age of 83 was the last of 3 generations who had looked after the gardens.  The grounds were full of rare orchids, tortoises and lovely trees and bushes, a most delightful place to visit. 

Thanks to Pepsi and Shirley for a great week.

..."Then I look at you
And the world's alright with me
Just one look at you
And I know it's gonna be
A lovely day......"