Purple Ferrari: BEAUTIFUL CORFU – THE START OF OUR GREEK ODYSSEY

I flew to Athens from Marseille and was met at the airport by Adrian Slaughter, my Maths teacher friend from Hudson Park High School. After some time at the airport, we flew to Corfu, not realising how tiny and picturesque our airport was until we saw it a few days later. Tina, the daughter of our Airbnb hostess, met us and took us to our apartment in the oldest part of Kerkyra, old Corfu town. I am sure this area is many centuries old. We soon got to know some locals in our area, including Angelo who makes the best pork souvlaki (sosaties). There are taverns everywhere and life wakes up late and goes to sleep very late! Luckily, we had double glazing and could sleep at night as the parties continued outside. as soon as we heard of the impending money crisis and that shops would be shut, we bargained with a waiter and managed to buy - a toilet roll - caterer's size - for R90!

We were in such a super area – close to the harbour, close to the “new” fortress – (only from the sixth century!), close to the alleyways of shops and close to so many lovely taverns and restaurants. We met a lovely Greek-Australian couple who told us to visit Kanoni – where you can watch planes land and take off at close range and from high up. It was spectacular! We spent a day on a delightful cruise to Paxos and Anti-Paxos and they were on that trip too.

We also spent a day on a coach trip covering most of the island. The driver was beyond perfect – the windy roads and narrow alleys would have terrified most of us! The views were spectacular and our guide, Vasili, charming. We visited Sissi’s Palace – she was an Austrian princess who loved Achilles and her palace is called Achilleon. We had lunch at Paleokastritsa – amazing lamb kleftiko for me and more pork souvlaki for Adrian – and then climbed (by bus) up a winding mountain to a beautiful monastery.

Another highlight was a one-hour boat trip in a glass-bottomed boat to see the fish and a sea lion show. The sea lions live in a cage/pen out at sea. It was very cute.

And my friend, Kate, from Intengu Publishing, sent me a proofreading job… what a challenge! I found a computer shop near to our accommodation – and the computer only spoke Greek! I had to print the pages – very slowly…old computer, Greek translator needed, ink finished so owner had to jump on his motorbike to go and buy some…. And then I had to photograph and send the work back to East London! All the while, I had to dodge in and out of free WiFi zones, send some pages from the palace, send more after the boat trip… it all worked out in the end though and I am grateful to be doing some work on my big fat Greek holiday!

So to sum up Corfu…. Relaxed, friendly, beautiful scenery, delightful shops, lots and lots of walking and wonderful Greek food! Adrian couldn’t do without his daily nutella crepe! In fact, I am sending pictures of my food to Veronica Buchler, my weighless lady – and she approves of my diet – so far!

Next stop…..Athens – and lots of politics!