TravBlog: 100 m to Corfu

Our Corfu getaway idea started as ‘where can we get away for the long weekend that’s the warmest and the cheapest’, and ended up a delightful holiday filled with great food and exploring the virtually deserted island with Min and Andrew...it also was their first Euro trip since they moved to London...one of MANY most certainly!

Corfu is an a Greek island, northwest of the mainland and visible from Albania. As anything in Greece, it’s ancient, has been ruled by many different nations, and has a ton of history as an outcome. Normally the tourist season starts in May, and coming there in May turned out to be perfect as we got the beautiful 25 degree summer weather and sunshine, yet there were absolutely no tourists! All the beaches were literally ours, and in all the restos for which you have to fight to get a spot days in advance, we were the only customers getting the most personal treatment. This makes for a perfect vacation in my books!

At the risk of sounding terrible, as a combination of coming in an off-peak season and Greece’s financial troubles, we were able to afford a lot more than we would normally shell out money for. A convertible and a stunning private 2 bedroom villa on top of a mountain cost us less than 100 euros a person for the whole weekend. Now, I probably shouldn’t advertise my little secret hehe or else everybody would flood Greece, which is not the point here J

As soon as we arrived we jumped into our convertible and headed straight to the beach! Driving in Corfu is absolutely amazing, as it’s a mountainous island, and one constantly has to go up and down, so the views are stunning: the ocean, the beach, the cliffs, the forests, the villages...you can even see Albania! Hehe. What’s not great about driving in Corfu is the act of driving. Poor Mark and Andrew had to navigate the narrowest of streets and the windiest of roads and deal with oncoming traffic (because a one way street in Greece is actually a two way street). Having driven in these scenarios myself for the first time in Rioja, my props go to them. It’s stressful! Min and I had a lot of fun amusing ourselves with watching the guys navigate around tight corners sitting in the back hehe. The beaches vary in the look and feel, but our fave was the pebble beach surrounded by the clearest and bluest water. The beach was also separated by a cool cliff that is a cool place to climb around and explore (and took some awesome pix while you are at it, of course!)

Besides the scenery, another favourite was the food! We were actually quite surprised that we were able to get very tasty stuff everywhere we ate, even at seemingly touristy places, such as a resto on the beach and a beachside bar. Our fave dining experience was on Saturday night when we chose to have dinner in a family-run tavern right in our village. Our villa was located in Sokraki, a small village with population of about a hundred people and located at the very top of the mountain. Talk about being in the middle of nowhere, but talk about stunning views of the rest of the island and the water up there. Having arrived there on Saturday night, there was no way we were to drive anywhere else to dinner, so we opted for a local option (the only one), which ended up the best (as it usually is). We were the only people in the restaurant, serviced by the mom, who is the owner and the chef. She suggested all her best dishes for us, and when we commented on how much we liked our dessert consisting of Greek yoghurt and home made jam and asked if we could buy the jam, she came back from the kitchen with a whole jar for Min to take home! I hope Min is reading this as she’s yet to have us over for brunch to finish that jam (hint hint hint! Haha).On Sunday night, we dined at the top resto in Corfu, once again having the best seat in the house as we were the only ones there. We ended up sharing the catch of the day and going home about a pound heavier.

Staying in that village was great, and the more I travel, the more I learn that staying in smaller, more local places is always better. This time around we got the most personal service from our host. He greeted us with bottles of wine, gave us a tour around the village, and a tonne of tip on top that. The villa was right next to a hiking trail that explored on Sunday morning, finding some observation spots (Andrew found better ones), and an abandoned olive grove where I temporarily got lost (cue temporary panic), but good thing I watch a lot of Amazing race hehe.

We got to check out Corfu Town, the main town in Corfu that is quite developed (i.e. it has a McDOnald’s hehe) on our last day. It looked cute, but was way too packed with tourists and actually didn’t look anything like the rest of the island. My recommendation to anybody who goes to Corfu is to skip Corfu Town and head far far into the island to get a representative experience, the beaches, and the views.

Now, the picture slide! Starting with Min’s amazing fuscia pants (aka best pants I’ve ever seen hehe).

P.S. You may wonder why I call this entry 100 m to Corfu. This is because 100 m seems to be the universal measure of distance there. In every case of us asking for directions, the answer always was ‘it’s a 100 m’ lol. Makes things really simple, I guess!

Corfu Town