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Corfu, Greece
March 25-30, 2001
Sunday, March 25, 2001
Good morning all,
We have begun to do some things
off of the boat. We have been to Corfu town a couple of times
and seen a church or so. Today is Independence Day in Greece.
They are celebrating 180 years of independence from Turkey. There
are blue and white flags all over town. Everywhere also are all
the colors of spring, trees blooming and leafing, tulips &
iris& daffodil, red poppies, calla lilies, wisteria, wildflowers
of every kind.
We have found another grocery
store, one which specializes in Italian food. There is also a
German specialty food store. We have not found a FRYS yet. It
has been very beautiful here for the past several days, sort
of like spring is here and it is about to get hot. Corfu is the
island that is referred to as the breadbasket of Greece. They
get more rain than any other part of Greece and there are gardens
everywhere. We have access to a great variety of fresh vegetables.
It is really strange here with
respect to the birds and insects. There are few of either. I
have seen 1 seagull. There are a few English sparrows and of
course a lot of pigeons. But, there are very few other birds.
We also noticed that there are few insects. Like there are none
around the lamps at night. There are no flies, except those at
the meat markets.
Yesterday we went to a small
village on the western side of Kerkyra, Corfu. The village is
Paleokastritsa. Paleo meaning old and kastritsa meaning castle.
It is a must see for one who might come to Corfu. The bays are
open to the west and not suitable for a long stay. In fact you
could get in trouble in a hurry with a west or south wind. There
is a monastery on a promontory from which you have a great view
of the sea. This spot is one if the places alleged to have been
where Odysseus came ashore and met with King Alcineous. Of course
there are several places that lay claim to that distinction.
It is where he was washed ashore and found by the king’s
daughter and her maidens. They clothed Odysseus and took him
to her father’s castle, supposedly on the spot where the
monastery is located. It looks like a great spot to build a castle
to me.
We went to a local pub last night.
It is the closest to the marina and frequented by many sailors,
but it is really a home for expatriate Brits. The food is Brit
and the language of the place is English, so it is very comfortable.
It was karaoke night, as is every Saturday night. We sat with
a group who own the boat next to us in the marina. There was
also a young couple that chartered their boat out for the season.
Also at the table was
a young man from Albania. He was quite good at singing Elvis
songs. So the combination was a bit mixed, in a Brit Bar in Greece
with an Albanian singing Elvis. He was glad to converse with
us. His dream is to emigrate to the USA. His parents are both
Greek but he was born in Albania so he has an Albanian passport.
He is currently attempting to get a Greek passport
based on his parents being Greek. If he gets that he is on the
next plane to the USA. He is a waiter and only works during the
tourist season, six months. During the other six months he works
at whatever. It is very difficult here, something like a 20%
unemployment rate. We may be having a bad market day, but we
live in the USA and that brings privileges and opportunities
that you can’t put a price on. We are all lucky to be able
to call Old Glory our flag.
We are contemplating going for
a sail today, perhaps up the coast a ways and return to practice
backing and other activities associated with a med tie docking
operation. We will write more as it happens..
March 28-30, 2001
Last night we had our last evening
in Corfu, really Kondokali. We went to the Navigators Grill and
Saloon, where we met Robin and Robert. They are from Australia
and have lived on board for 12 years. They left Australia and
have taken that long to get here. They have a 52’ S&S
made of wood. Her prize possession is her washing machine, and
his is his work shop on board.
Delightful couple and they are now heading for France and Spain.
They will cross to the Caribbean in Jan of 2002.
We have really enjoyed Corfu
and as a matter of fact it is one of those places, somewhat like
La Paz, where it would be easy to stay for a long time. All of
the supplies and services, plus a constant changing of transient
world sailors. We have met people from several European countries
plus Australia and New Zealand. Truly a place where I would like
to return some day.
This morning we were prepared
to leave at about 10 am. Several of our new acquaintances came
by to say adios and wish us a pleasant season. We will most likely
come across one of the neighbors sometime later this year in
the Aegean. The day is crystal clear and one in which anyone
would want to go sailing. Slight breeze on our tail so we ghost
out of Gouvia and head
south to Paxoi Island. It is about 30 miles from Gouvia and the
island itself is only 7 miles south of Corfu Island.
We can see several miles inland
and see some snow capped mountains which are probably 40 or 50
miles inland in Albania. They look like the Alps. We are the
only private boat on the sea this morning but there are several
ferries. After we pass the south end of the island the breeze
picks up to about 22 knots so we have a good sail to Paxoi. Sailing
into Paxoi is somewhat
neat. It is sort of like Poros. You sail between two islands,
with the small one being a shield from the winds. The path to
get between them is crooked but once out of the wind and seas
you are in a narrow piece of water where the town quay is right
in the center of town and you are invited to anchor for free.
I feel as though we are finally
on our way for an Eastern Med cruise. Everything is working well
except that we have heard that the Med has a higher saline content
than other oceans and thus our decks are very salty.
As you might know Greece wants
to join the European Union. To do this Greece has several areas
wherein they must make a change. Clearly they will have to give
up their coinage, the drachma. Also they are being pushed, if
not an absolute requirement, to adopt the Latin alphabet. All
of the European
Union countries retain their spoken language but they universally
use the Latin alphabet or one very close to it. It would seem
to be a great loss if in fact Greece was forced to yield to this
persuasion. A great many of the English language words have their
root in either Latin or Greek. The Greek character set, Cyrillic,
is perhaps strange at first but not so hard to become accustomed
to. In the study of sciences the Greek characters are common
when referring to ohms, small differences, farads, volts, rays
and so on. I really believe it would be a lost treasure. This
is just a thought for the day.
We did an anchor drill, MED STYLE,
yesterday and made a passing grade. This morning we moved to
the center of town. This island Paxos or Paxoi, is an incredible
place. It is small, quaint, friendly, beautiful and so on. We
walked the island this morning and got back to the boat just
in time for lunch and a siesta. Yes everyone over here takes
a siesta. We have been
checked in by the first of many officials and passed that little
test also. The island is covered with olive trees, some as many
as 500 years old. The trees have trunks that are as much as 10-12
feet in circumference. They also have areas from the lowest areas
to quite high in the tree where you can see through the tree.
They are truly the most knarled trees that I have seen. This
is surely a place to return to, at a later date. This morning
we met a German fellow who asked where we were going and
then proceeded to give us information regarding the places. This
is what we had planned on, you only plan your trip a few days
ahead of yourself. Someone will fill in the details.
We walked to a taverna out of
town and were the only guests there. This is most likely the
cleanest of all restaurants that I have been in. There is a 5’
long window so one can see the chef at his duties. The food is
really great and we have a walk home at about 9:30 in the dark.
It is a nice walk in the olive groves. As we passed back through
he village on the way to the boat we found that most of the town
was out and about in the center of
town. They really come out for the evening. They were shopping,
talking, drinking coffee, eating and walking. We were going to
pick a wild canna lily on the way home, but forgot it. The night
got a little disturbed and we woke to find that it had been raining
and we were being blown against the sea wall, so we decided to
move to the north end of town. There is little or no wind and
the sea is absolutely calm. We will spend the day here. This
afternoon we walked almost to the southern end of the island
to an old church. This is the eastern side of the island and
has some fine small beaches. The stratum of the bedrock is such
that it slopes toward the sea. Thus there are large areas where
the rock is flat and sloping to get the sunshine. The houses
are villas. We have been told that the Italians take over the
island in the summer. Some of the homes being built have fantastic
views.
We got back for a bit of happy
hour and decided to walk to the town square for our evening meal.
It looked like rain, really like rain but we went anyway. No
sooner had we ordered than it came upon a cloudburst. It rained
buckets of rain for about 15 minutes. We were eating on the patio
with a canvas roof keeping the rain off of us. It was lightening
and thunder like a summer in Tucson. It finally slowed down enough
for us to run to the boat.
What a great day. |
