Corfu - the island of Love!
My trip to Greece was long hatched, but organized very quickly.
The most important question was - where to go after all? I read reviews for a long time, looked at photos, and stopped on the island of Corfu. The same one that is described in the famous book "My Family and Other Animals".
Let me tell you, I have not regretted it for a second! And now in more detail:
There were some minor problems during the visa application process. I like to travel by myself: look for a flight, choose apartments, etc. In this case, I had to contact an agency, because for individuals, the next day for submitting documents was 2 days before the end of my vacation. In general, I provided the agency with several apartments to choose from, their Greek partners, having wound up 35% on every day, billed me. I paid + agency services were added, but I received a visa on time - on the eve of departure.
She flew Kyiv-Budapest (with Aerosvit) and Budapest-Corfu (with Wizzair). Aerosvit - well done.
They honestly worried that they didn’t have vegetarian sandwiches for me, at the request they gave me a clean pillow, there was a flight delay on the way back - both the stewards and the captain on the speakerphone apologized for a long time and very thoroughly. Wizzair is a budget horror. Although, in my case, the tickets were 40 dollars. more expensive than aerosvit ones. Both there and back landing began 5-10 minutes later than the declared departure time. Given that the plane was about 200 people, the flight was delayed by 40 minutes. And it seems that no one cared. The flight attendants limited themselves to the standard safety instructions at the beginning of the flight, then they also rolled a cart with edible nonsense that you can buy as standard, the rest of the time they chatted among themselves and giggled loudly. By the way, for the first time I saw a plane, where they don’t even pour water for free.
I flew to Corfu at midnight, I was wildly tired, but when the lights of the road encircling the coast of the island appeared overboard, it seemed to me that an expensive necklace was beautifully laid below and I instantly woke up.
I got off the plane and with the first breath I admired the moist fragrant air of the island.
The owner of the hotel met me (he also took me to the airport a week later). I lived in the Brentanos Hotel. All rooms overlook the sea. The view is magnificent. Around grew lemons, oranges and figs. The latter were still green, but the lemons were ripe. Every morning I picked a fresh lemon from the tree and made myself lemonade with honey - it was refreshingly great, and it was very fragrant. Lemons were everywhere. They fell to the ground and, useless to anyone, were left lying around. If the Greeks knew how much a kilogram costs in Kyiv...
The owners of the hotel were very friendly, caring people. They treated me to plums and grapes. The owner even paid for me (ie.
I had only dollars in my hands) when on the way from the airport I asked to look into the greengrocer's shop.
The hotel itself is excellently located: it is only 15 minutes by bus to Kerkyra (if you go, rewrite your schedule! ), 7 minutes walk - a grocery store (although there are no vegetables, but everything else is present), your own pool, WiFi, you can walk to one of the most beautiful sights - the white palace of Princess Sisi "Achilleion". The fact that this is almost the most beautiful, you understand only after driving around the island.
The island, to be honest, conquered. My subjective opinion: there is an atmosphere of love. It only remains a mystery to me: either the island loves me, or I love it, or it wants someone else to love it besides me, or I want it. Definitely need to come back to find out : )
Initially, I chose for a long time where to live.
On the spot, taking a typewriter, I swept around the island and my conclusions are as follows (suddenly it will help someone):
- Benitses, Perama - for those who are looking for peace and quiet (I belonged to those). The terrain is hilly, there are many flowers and fruit trees, incredible smells replace each other and mix every 5 meters, doves and cicadas constantly sing. If you are a fan of the sea, then settle directly in the village of Benitses. In addition, pleasure ships of Ionian Cruises sail into the port of Benitses - you do not need to go to the port of Corfu.
- Moraitika is an ordinary resort village. Subjectively - not impressed.
- Glyfada is a wonderful sandy beach, but the sea can be cold (as it was during my visit). Suitable for those who like to lie in a sun lounger under an umbrella for a long time. It's good for kids - you can dig in the sand and play in the sand.
In general, the southwestern coast is cozy sandy bays + beautiful turquoise sea.
But "civilization", as it seemed to me, begins with Glyfada and further north.
- Paleokastritsa - insanely beautiful, but a lot of walking up and down
- Sidari - I did not find the famous Canal of Lovers. The village - nothing interesting
- Roda - Acharavi - wonderful, for an amateur. The area is flat. There are hotels with slides included in the pool. It is convenient for parents with children. While the parents are drinking a cocktail in a sun lounger, the children have fun under their supervision - everyone is happy. The villages are resorts, that is, they have everything you need: from souvenir and clothing stores to grocery stores and cafe-restaurants. The villages themselves impressed me more than Moraitika. The beach is long and sandy. The sea without breakwaters, so there are always waves. I was a little confused about how to swim there. But no one swam - because that day there was a storm. The only drawback for me is very little greenery.
There are practically no trees, which means there is nowhere to hide from the sun, except in a sun lounger under an umbrella. But such a holiday is not for me!
- brought me to the bay of St. Spyridon (between Acharavi and Kassiopi) - the same sand, plain, but due to the fact that this is a bay - the waves are smaller - you can swim, yes, and there is more vegetation. Quiet, calm. Disadvantage: I saw scattered apartments, but not an ounce of "resort" bells and whistles - restaurant shops. Maybe I didn't look well.
- Cassiopi - beautiful, cozy, interesting. Good place for couples and groups. As for the kids, I don't know. Kassiopi is a very nice compact town (not a village! ), over which an old fortress rises. The fortress itself is a thick wall around the perimeter with olive trees on the territory. The town has a developed infrastructure, a charming promenade, you can take a boat ride, there is where to swim in the sea.
- Kalami - bays with a pebbly beach and a signature turquoise sea, a lot of greenery. Kalami is a rather secluded place with several hotel-apartments. It seemed to me that somehow for the rich.
- Nissaki is a pebbly beach, it seemed to me that there was no entertainment, and generally boring + a lot of walking up and down. To be honest, I flew Nissaki on a typewriter, dropping in for a minute to take a picture of the beach. If nothing particularly attracted me, then there was nothing special.
- Barbati is cool! Big bay. You lie on a pebble, look at the sea, behind you rise mountains, abundantly covered with greenery, smells of flowers and the sea, the road is a little further from the beach, and nothing interferes with you. At the same time, the infrastructure is developed, but not as sticky as, for example, in Sidari. Cafes-shops are not whole streets of houses adjoining each other, but separate houses standing in green gardens.
I recommend to settle closer to the sea, so that you don’t have to go up and down the beach apartment several times a day. Because of the mountains, the sun most likely leaves the beach around 6pm, but I'm not sure.
- Ipsos is complete bullshit. Yes, there is a beach. Good pebble. Beautiful panorama. It seems like a developed infrastructure, but! . . Imagine the location: sea, beach, road! ! ! , shops, cafes, apartments, hotels. Personally, I would not want to lie on the beach and listen to the cars breathe - the road is busy.
- Gouvia - it's right that I didn't settle there. Gouvia is a rather closed bay. On this the sea is muddy, the beach is so-so. Lots of boats and boats. And there are many more hotels-apartments with a very beautiful green area, where the delicious smell of flowers. If you are not a fan of the sea, then you may well settle here, swim in the pool and ride around the island for your pleasure.
- I didn't get to Lefkimi.
And now the tourist notes:
Everything closes at one or two in the afternoon. If you want to solve some issues: buy fruit at the market (I found the only one in Corfu under the wall of the New Fortress), change money, rent a car, visit museums - you will have to get up at dawn, run for breakfast, carry out all your plans, and only after dinner, with a calm soul, stomp on the beach to sleep off. Souvenir and jewelry shops open by 6-7 pm. Everyone else is open until noon. Even the fortress in Angelokastro closes at 15.00 I was there at 17 : (
- cars for rent somewhere from 40 euros in the "low" season. It’s not easy to find an “automatic”, but I really needed it, so I was lucky: I took a Getz for 50 euros a day - it can’t be cheaper.
- boat trips (of which there are only 4 to choose from) - this is quite specific. Be sure to stock up on motion sickness pills! I opted for the islands of Paxos-Antipaxos.
There was a slight breeze while we sailed along the island - still nothing, but when we sailed into the open sea - it turned out that I could not stand the storm of 4 balls. And not only me. Because of the storm, we didn’t swim in the grottoes (for which I, in fact, chose this cruise), I didn’t have any strength to swim in the chic bay from the brochure, especially since I had to jump from the boat. I came to my senses a little when we moored in the city (I don’t remember the name) on the island of Paxos. There, at the end of the promenade, there is a small, but very successful and beautiful beach. By the way, this was the only place where I swam, because the sea was cold in Corfu. In the same city, I bought a souvenir, which they called me "house" - a kind of facade of a house with a bunch of details, 20cm * 20cm. Feel free to bargain! I then saw such souvenirs only in Kassiopi. Already hung on the wall in the kitchen and very satisfied. In general, I do not regret that I bought it, even though it was not cheap.
- in the administrative center of Corfu - Kerkyra many worthy museums. Archaeological - not particularly impressed. I liked "Byzantine" more. There are very interesting icons of the 11th-19th centuries. The "Asian" museum is also incomparably good, in which rich collections of art from different eras of China, Japan, India, Pakistan, etc. are exhibited on two floors. The Chinese collection is amazing. I have never been particularly fond of Asia and doubted whether I would understand anything without a guide, but the signs on the walls contain everything you need in detail. If you know English - no problem. The museum will take about an hour and a half, but spend your time with benefit and pleasure. Another interesting museum of paper money - right next to the church of St. Spyridon. Only there I saw a banknote with a face value of 500 million. As a friendly woman, a museum worker, said, in 1944. for this money they bought bread - there was such inflation.
If you are going to visit all the museums and the Old Fortress, it makes sense to buy one general ticket to save a little.
- a jeweler in Kerkyra is a separate conversation. A lot of things. Everything that is, fabulously beautiful, original. In the very first store (I was still naive then, and did not know what a jeweler was in Corfu), I liked the ring: white metal, white and blue stones lined with a classic Greek pattern. Sellers write the price inside a tiny price tag, so you won’t know until you pick it up. What was my grief when I saw 560 euros: `(I naively thought that these were some kind of quartz (there are a lot of jewelry stores, they are tiny and side by side with simple souvenir shops, I somehow got used to the fact that an expensive jeweler "serves" myself differently), but they had diamonds and sapphires. This is the most unpleasant thing that happened to me on the island. I still can’t forget the ring - a rare beauty!
By the way, it turned out to be one of the smallest prices for jewelry.
- if you go to the fortress of Angelokastro, then at the fork (to the right is the village of Makrades, straight to the fortress, to the left is something else) you will see a mini-bazaar. I highly recommend stopping there, trying and buying local Greek delicacies for yourself and as a gift - both the products of the surrounding villages and classic Greek products are presented there. I really liked the shop of the elderly Sophia (second or third from the left). Her family has their own farm in Makrades and you can buy a lot of homemade stuff. I took the spices mixed by Sophia herself, homemade honey from almonds and thyme, canned olives.
- Be sure to hit the Pancrotator. Corfu is famous for its serpentine, but here, in general, something special. The mountain is only 900m above sea level, but from the foot up somewhere 17-20km. In some places you ride on a plateau, in some places over a cliff. The main thing here is not to look down and not to break away from the road.
I advise you to climb the mountain "fresh", not tired from the journey, because the road requires maximum attention. The silence and some incredible peace that reigns in the mountain church is worth this trip. I just sat down on a chair and sat for at least a quarter of an hour, breathing in peace and quiet happiness. I didn't want to leave at all.
Corfu is an amazing island with free parking, incredibly good-natured and friendly people, incomparable nature and delicious air.
I hope next time to go there with a loved one and go through the whole vacation by the hand - the atmosphere of the island is 100% conducive to this.
