Tuesday 24 June 2014

Wild Wood

"....High tide - mid afternoon
People fly by in the traffics boom
Knowing - just where you're blowing
Getting to where you should be going......"

With the summer season in full swing, the temperature is rising and many of our friends are turning up in San Stefanos for holidays; including Enid and John from Preston and  Dee and Paul Woodruff from Lancaster (‘Woodie’ to his friends).

Woodie and Dee stay in San Stefanos for a few weeks and then go to Kalami  for a few  weeks.  It was their recommendation that got Keith the superb gig in Cocktails and Dreams in Kalami, so we took them with us to the Tuesday night gig!  Half way through the gig, Woodie was ‘persuaded’ to get up and sing! ‘Reluctantly’ he did, and with a great rock’n’roll performance he went down a storm!
\Woodie being great fun as always
Enid and John have visited us in San Stefanos for the last 4 years and have completely fallen in love with the place!  And they have made many friends here, whilst staying at the Romanza Hotel
We always try to go out walking with them at least once during their holiday.  We (Keith) had planned to do the 17k walk to Paleokastritsa with them but the weather  suddenly turned hot and we opted to revisit the Sidari walk, a mere 7k!

At 9.30am prompt, five went forth to walk to Sidari.
Keith, Sue, John and Enid
Leaving Liz in charge of the village and on standby to do an emergency pick up;  if (a) anyone couldn't complete the walk, (b)  the ferry home wasn't running or (c) too long had been spent in the various pit stops along the way, resulting in missing the ferry or being too drunk to be allowed on board!  Liz reluctantly agreed to stay at home and put her phone next to the bed and retired to her office!

Coincidentally, the first people we saw at the start of our walk, were Woodie and Dee on their balcony,
catching some early sunshine before their own adventures with a beach buggy.
Woodie and Dee travel in style
After exchanging a few pleasantries, we trekked up into the steep olive groves above the village.  At this time of year there is still lush vegetation everywhere and plenty of wild life to spot and photograph.
Beautiful olive grove


   

Up in the olive grove an Eco-friendly house is being built and since last summer significant progress has been made in completing the structure made out of mud, recycled materials and a wattle and daub principle of rendering.   We scrambled down to take a closer look and some of the ingenious art and glass work used in the construction.

After an uphill hike we arrived in Avilotes and meandered the quaint and interesting back streets, viewing parts of the village tourists seldom see, which is largely unspoilt or changed by modern life or tourism.  Stopping by the local chemist in Avilotes, we again bumped into Woodie and Dee, now with their beach buggy; a few more pleasantries exchanged and onward again.
Doing her washing on a scrub board in the garden
We walked on to Peroulardes  for lunch, firstly taking a detour through the village to visit the Lagos beach resort with  The 7th Heaven Cafe Sunset Bar's spectacular viewing platform!
  

It was a must have photo opp for John and Enid but as we turned round to leave, who should we bump into?  Yep Woodie and Dee, looking very chilled, sitting at a table drinking cocktails!

We headed off back through the village towards Yiannis Taverna for lunch; passing houses festooned with colourful window boxes /old feta tins / and pots with an array of bright flowers and coloured grasses.  And of course during our very pleasant lunch stop we saw Woodie  and Dee ‘flying’ past in the buggy and into the distance.

We followed lunch by visiting a must see café neon with an enchanted garden, one of Keith and Sue’s discoveries; it is an oasis of wild plants and flowers in a garden constructed in the shell of a old collapsed building.

The next section of the walk is the hardest, up the long long hill to Cape Drasis ........

......for the most magnificent views of the coast and the beautiful blue/green waters in the cape.  Again many flowers and butterflies around, also an abundance of ‘critters’, either locust, grasshopper or crickets about the size of a cigarette packet.

This is a walk that Keith and Sue often do during the summer, as an organised day out for tourists for San Stefano Travel  and this was the trial first outing of the year.  We had some reservations about whether the paths may not have all been cleared yet, and as it turned out we were right to be concerned.  The path we needed down to Canal d’amour was completely overgrown with  long grass, and brambles,  so using  some local land marks and John’s in built sense of direction we followed a farm track, arriving on the main road ½ a mile up from our expected  arrival point In Sidari for a well-earned beer stop.

Then a quick trek across the ‘smelly bridge’ and the beach, to the harbour just as the ferry arrived.  We were greeted warmly by Nikos the boat captain and seconds later we were on our way home with some spectacular views of the walk we had just done.  We phoned Liz on route and she was waiting quayside as we disembarked and ran us all home, enough walking for one day.


As we pulled into the harbour,  on board a boat next to the ferry berth, two guys were  making steaks from a large freshly caught monster fish,  using what seemed like a hacksaw, a priceless’ living in Greece’ moment. 


Many people come to Corfu for the walking and there are various resources and marked out walks to do.  
......Back home, a quick siesta, then I sent Keith off to his gig in Roda … well he says he’s not on holiday! 


".....You're gonna find your way out - of the wild wild wood
Said you're gonna find you way out - of the wild wild WOODIE!….."

Saturday 7 June 2014

Distant Sun.....

"....When your seven worlds collide
Whenever  I am by your side
And dust from a distant sun
Will shower over everyone....."

As we settle down into our work routine it’s nice to take a day out and do something completely different, and last week we had a day off! We took our local friends Keith and Sue to the airport, as they were flying back to the UK for a quick family visit and to collect their car and drive it back to Corfu.  Coincidentally on the same morning our friends from Preston, Lynda and Steve, who are on a Mediterranean cruise, arrived in Corfu Town for the day as part of their itinerary.

On our way to the airport, we made our usual pit stop at the Emeral bakery, which is the best pit stop/ coffee shop/ transport café you’ll ever visit here.  All the world calls in there, either on a lunch/coffee break or to pick up sandwiches/cakes/pastries or a delicious ice cream treat, it’s also a fabulous people watching location.

We had arranged to meet Lynda and Steve at midday on the Liston.  We arrived in town early knowing it was a bank holiday and celebration day, some of the main roads were closed due to the processions being held around the Liston and sea front areas, but with a bit of skill and local knowledge we have picked up over the years, Keith managed to steer us via some back streets to the old port.  Parking was difficult because of the bank holiday and all the car parks were only letting the parade ‘band’ members park.  Luckily we found one small space just outside the car park and in any other city we would've been causing an obstruction and had the car towed away but when Keith asked a policeman if it was OK, he just shrugged, nodded and walked away, so we took it as a yes!  We abandoned the car and set off on foot through the streets of Corfu Town to the Liston.
Fruit and veg shop - Corfu Town
It was ‘Unification Day’; marking the unification of the Seven  Ionian Islands with Greece in 1864. You’d have thought the Corfiots would be ruing such an event, in the current circumstances; however the streets were full of marching bands, local dignitaries and thousands of tourists, all in all a great atmosphere, not quite like the Easter celebrations we witnessed last year but a great sense of occasion.

There was one point when local MPs /officials/high ranking clergy, walked through the main street flanked by paparazzi and police armed bodyguards, followed by hundreds of scouts and guides, it was a scene straight out of the Godfather movies!

We met Lynda & Steve on the edge of all this chaos in a café on the Liston, and after a quick planning meeting over a cheeky red wine and ouzo meze we decided we should explore out of town because it was so crowded.  Lynda & Steve have stopped off in Corfu a couple of times before and we wanted to try and show them something of the island they wouldn't get by following a tour guide off the ship!
This time we went out of town and up to Kaisers Throne. 
Keith, Lynda and Steve
A place of interesting history and some of the best views of the middle of the island, dominated by the 2 huge cruise ships anchored at the port in Corfu Town.  Between 1908 and the first world war, Kaiser Wilhelm II spent his summers at Achillion Palace but his favourite location was the village of Pelekas.   It’s not difficult to understand why.  Standing at his ‘throne’ you have a 360 degree panoramic view of the island and one of the most impressive sunsets.
The Kaiser's Throne

After a few photo opportunities we came back down to the small town of Pelekas for lunch.   The location of one of my all time favourite films, the 1964 film Zorba The Greek, starring Anthony Quinn! Across the road from the taverna is a blue and white painted old 2nd WW mine which featured in the film!
Pelekas now

Anthony Quinn 1964


After a pleasant lunch we still had some time on our hands before they had to be back on board no later than 5pm.  We checked the map and satnav and decided we could do a quick trip to Paleokastritsa;   ½ hour later we were sat on the waterfront in Paleo, beer in hand, basking in beautiful sunshine, watching people jumping on and off boats and swimming in the sea, which could only be icy water  at this time of year.
Palio Bay

Fixing the windows on the submarine in Palio

Beer drunk and no time for souvenir shopping, we piled back into the car and returned our guests back to their ship!  We made our way home leisurely via the east coast taking in Ipsos, Kalami, Kassiopi and Roda en-route.
We are now looking forward to our next day off, which will be this Monday, 3 weeks since our last one and Keith’s first night off since 22nd May!
(Keith made me put this.... I think he is looking for some sympathy?) (*shrug*)
Corfu flowers in May

.....You're still so young to travel so far
Old enough to know who you are
Wise enough to carry the scars
When your seven worlds collide……