At around mid morning we joined about thirty other holiday makers when we arrived at the concrete quayside opposite the hotel and were welcomed on board by George himself, a man with a big flashing smile and a flamboyant sense of humour who worked hard to get us all to enjoy ourselves before casting off and steering the brightly coloured boat with the steady rhythm of its chugging diesel engine away from Corfu, out into the Ionian Sea
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Corfu, Culture, George's Boat Corfu, Greece, Holidays, Life, Travel
In Corfu we visited the Achilleion at Gastouri, in between Perama and Benitses, which is a casino and a museum now but was once a summer Palace built in 1890 by the Empress Elisabeth of Austria who was a curious woman obsessed with the classical Homeric hero Achilles and with all things beautiful (including herself apparently).
Earlier this month I spent a week with my family in Corfu. We stayed in the village of Kalami which is a favourite of mine and where we have stayed several times before.
I have written about Kalami before so this time I was looking for something new and came up with these mooring rings in the nearby harbour…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Beaches, Europe, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Corfu, Kalami, Kouloua Bay, White House Kalami
In the 1980s Corfu was expanding rapidly as a tourist destination and was acquiring an uneviable reputation as a party island and magnet for unruly British tourists on boozy Club 18-30 holidays. They were drawn in the main to the hedonistic town of Benitses which was well known for heavy drinking, beach parties, wild behaviour and street fighting. There was a story at the time that even the island police were frightened to go in there after dark but I am not sure if this was really true.
Over the next twenty years or so the locals who lived in the village grew tired of its reputation and ill-disciplined guests and made a determined effort to throw off its bad ill-repute. Benitses set about reinventing itself with the addition of a swanky marina, up-market hotels and a string of classy bars and tavernas.
The rowdy youngsters were carefully redirected to Kavos in the the far south of the island where they were kept as far away as possible from families and the mostly well behaved.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Beaches, Europe, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Corfu, Greek islands, Greek Windows, Ionian Islands, Postcards
The odd one out is the only door with an even number…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Europe, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Amorgos, Athens, challenge, Corfu, Greece, Kimolos, Odd One Out
My last ‘Odd One Out’ Challenge turned out to be a bit easy so I am hoping that this one is a little more challenging.
Pictures of doors taken in Greece – which is the odd one out?
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cyclades, Greece, Greek islands, History, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Amorgos, Athens, Blue doors, challenge, Corfu, Greek doors, Kimolos, Odd One Out
When it comes to taking pictures I like doors, statues, balconies and washing lines, Kim on the other hand likes people pictures so I thought I might share a few of them with you.
This one was taken in the Polish City of Wroclaw, a party of nuns visiting the Cathedral…
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Hotels, Literature, Poland, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Achilleion Corfu, Berlin, Breslau, Corfu, George Clooney, German Kaisers, Hohenzollern, Potsdam, Poznan, Prussian Kings, The Monuments Men, Wroclaw, Wroclaw Historical Museum
I am coming to the end of this project now. This one is from Corfu in the Greek Islands…
Posted in Age of Innocence, back packing, Cyprus, Europe, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Corfu, Gerald Durell, Kalami, Laurence Durrell, Life, Photography, Travel, Washing Day, Washing Line Challenge
Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 20th August 2014 I was in Corfu in the Greek Islands with my family and a new pal…
There were a lot of steps at the Adonis and Asonitis Apartments so the sensible route to ground level was by the lift (elevator) so rather than tackle the challenging vertical concrete stairs my habit was to take the easy route. Today, after clearing up the rooms as best I could before the hotel cleaners came in and passed out it was my job to follow the children down to the beach and bring with me the inflatable turtle.
We were on level four and I had to go to level minus one but somewhere between one and three the lift suddenly groaned, juddered then abruptly stopped and the lights all went out as though there was a sort of power failure. I waited a minute or two (actually, if I am being completely honest, only a second or two) and then I descended into frantic panic. I have always had a fear of being stuck in a broken down lift. I jabbed at the control buttons and it was then that I noticed that they were all damaged and caved in as though someone had attacked them with a lump hammer so I could only conclude that this sort of thing was a regular occurrence.
I waited a minute or two (actually only a second or two) and then pressed the alarm button which emitted a deafening screeching sound rather like someone having open heart surgery without an anaesthetic but still nothing happened and I started to contemplate a day stuck in a broken down lift and wondering how I was going to pass the time.
I had no mobile phone (probably wouldn’t have worked anyway) no water, worse still no Mythos, no book to read, no knife and fork in case I was here for so long that I had to eat my green reptile companion and no weapon to defend myself with if it decided to try and eat me!
It was very hot and very humid stuck in the confines of a metal prison cell dangling from a cable and probably about to crash to the bottom in a nasty, messy accident.
I pressed the alarm several times, blamed the turtle for our predicament and looked for a hatch in the roof like you see in a James Bond movie but the situation was hopeless so I put the turtle in one corner and told it to leave things to me and had another attempt at operating the controls. The turtle didn’t seem to be as concerned as I was I have to say. Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, but then after a few moments the hopeful flicker of lights, a welcoming hum of air conditioning and a faintly reassuring whirr of machinery as the lift returned to the top floor and to my relief the doors thankfully opened.
After that lucky escape I wasn’t going to risk the lift again so I walked down the steps to the beach and at the poolside bar realised that I needed a Mythos. I found a table in the corner for Turtle and me (after sharing a traumatic experience together we were bonding nicely now) and went to the bar and ordered a glass of beer and a dish of nuts for me and a beaker of plankton and a side of seaweed for Turtle.
I sat and enjoyed the Mythos and had ten minutes lad chat and then left and made my way to the beach where everyone wondered why it had taken me so long to get there and completely refused to believe my (admittedly) unlikely broken lift story and accused me of just hanging around the bar while I continued to protest that I had been literally hanging around in a lift!
I didn’t do a great deal more for the rest of the day but Turtle had to entertain the children. He was exhausted by the end of it all so I gave him a lift back to the apartment.
This is my son with a Turtle in 1993…
Can anyone name the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
While the current travel restrictions are in place I have no new stories to post so what I thought that I would do is to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.
On 28th July 1983 I was enjoying a boat ride on the Greek Island of Corfu…
This was George’s boat and at mid morning we joined about thirty other holiday makers when we arrived at the untidy concrete quayside opposite the hotel.
We were welcomed on board by George himself, a man with a big smile and a flamboyant sense of humour who worked hard to get us all to enjoy ourselves before casting off and steering the brightly coloured boat with the steady rhythm of its chugging diesel engine away from Corfu and out into the Ionian Sea.
Have Bag, Will Travel 